Hungry Hollow: The Story of a Natural Place

by A.K. Dewdney

Hungry Hollow is simply an ordinary creek winding through about a mile of ordinary forest and meadow somewhere east of the Rocky Mountains. But like all such places, it is also a vast and intricate web of life with extensions that reach around the planet, back into prehistoric time, and within to a teeming, bizarre microscopic world. In dozens of short, wonderfully imaginative chapters, A.K. Dewdney introduces us to the denizens of this world. We encounter a hackberry tree whose branches perfectly reproduce the taxonomic Tree of Life, learn how it would look and feel to shrink by stages to the size of an amoeba while swimming in a river, watch a toad win the lottery, and see the world of Hungry Hollow from the viewpoint of bears, earthworms, and even stones. This is an excursion into natural history like no other.

Genres: Nature

247 pages, Hardcover

First published August 21, 1998

About the author

Alexander Keewatin (A.K.) Dewdney is a professor of computer science at the University of Western Ontario, a mathematician, environmental scientist, and author of books on diverse subjects.

Wanderers of cyberspace may discover something about my life as a mathematician and computer scientist, environmental scientist, conservationist, and author of books and articles.

The name "Keewatin" is an Ojibway word meaning "north wind."
The name ":Dewdney" is from the French/Jewish name, "Dieudonne."

Reviews

[Jlawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book's tone is curious, as it's somewhat of a mix between a (wildly imaginative) introduction to natural history for young adults, and a more complex popular science book for adults on the same subject. This may account for why it's little known, even though excellent.

Dewdney (otherwise known for books on mathematical puzzles, computer science, and the great sci-fi novel Planiverse) takes a relatively small rectangle of land and through various vivid and well-written vignettes and thought experiments explores the complexity and strangeness of what can at first seem to 'just' a typical nature scene. For instance, he has the human representative of Hungry Hollow, Diane, imagine herself shrinking in size to travel through a succession of 'micro-worlds', each one as bizarre as vivid as a well-done fantasy or science-fiction landscape. He almost tries to cover too many topics (biology, chemistry, botany, fossils, geology, meteorology, genetics, etc) in a short space, but it's clear he was inspired by his contemplation of nature in particular details, and this comes through in the writing.

[Maryanne]

Hungry Hollow : The Story of a Natural Place 05202005
by A.K. Dewdney