Diane Ackerman

author profile

born

October 07, 1948

gender

female

place of birth

Waukegan, Illinois, The United States

website

http://www.dianeackerman.com

genre

Literature & Fiction, Science, Poetry

about this author

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Diane Ackerman received her B.A. in English from Penn State and an M.F.A. and Ph.D. in English from Cornell University in 1978. Her dissertation advisor was Carl Sagan. From 1980 to 1983 she taught English at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has been married to novelist Paul West since 1970. She currently resides in Ithaca, New York. A collection of her manuscripts, writings and papers is housed at the Cornell University Library.
Ackerman's awards and honors include: a Guggenheim Fellowship, the John Burroughs Nature Award, and the Lavan Poetry Prize. She was named a "Literary Lion" by the New York Public Library, and a molecule ("dianeackerone") has been named after her.

combine editions
books by Diane Ackerman

avg rating: 3.67 | 7,300 ratings | 1,941 reviews | 32 distinct works | 19 fans

	The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story by Diane Ackerman avg rating 3.47 — 4,181 ratings — published 2007 13 editions	my rating:
	A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman avg rating 4.14 — 1,551 ratings — published 1990 12 editions	my rating:
	A Natural History of Love by Diane Ackerman avg rating 3.78 — 391 ratings — published 1994 9 editions	my rating:
	An Alchemy of Mind: The Marvel and Mystery of the Brain by Diane Ackerman avg rating 3.82 — 225 ratings — published 2004 5 editions	my rating:
	The Moon by Whale Light and Other Adventures Among Bats, Penguins, Crocodilians and Whales by Diane Ackerman avg rating 4.14 — 148 ratings — published 1991 7 editions	my rating:
	Cultivating Delight: A Natural History of My Garden by Diane Ackerman avg rating 3.91 — 99 ratings — published 2001 4 editions	my rating:
	Deep Play by Diane Ackerman avg rating 3.76 — 75 ratings — published 1999 4 editions	my rating:
	The Rarest of the Rare: Vanishing Animals, Timeless Worlds by Diane Ackerman avg rating 4.02 — 54 ratings — published 1995 6 editions	my rating:
	A Slender Thread by Diane Ackerman avg rating 3.86 — 51 ratings — published 1998 2 editions	my rating:
	Jaguar of Sweet Laughter: New and Selected Poems by Diane Ackerman avg rating 3.57 — 46 ratings — published 1991 3 editions	my rating:

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quotes by Diane Ackerman

"I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I have just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well."
— Diane Ackerman

21 people liked it

"There's no place you can go on the prairie that you don't hear the white noise of the wind, steady and rough as surf curling along a non-existant shore."
— Diane Ackerman

6 people liked it

"It began in mystery, and it will end in mystery, but what a savage and beautiful country lies in between."
— Diane Ackerman

5 people liked it

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