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Naming Nature: A Seasonal Guide for the Amateur Naturalist
This charming book deftly fills the information gap that thwarts most would-be environmentalists, offering an endlessly informative and accessible guide to nature--from mosses to maples, from chipmunks to chickadees. With clarity and an infectious sense of discovery, Blocksma offers a directory of nature that not only instructs, but inspires. Line drawings.
- GenresNatureNonfiction
352 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 14, 2025
A refreshing and unexpectedly interesting read, this book reminded me of the deep pleasures of nature and rekindled a desire to spend lots of time there. The book chronicles the performance of a new year's resolution to become "nature literate" and the author's first two years (collapsed into one for the book) of learning to identify the birds, animals, plants, insects, and trees around her home on the shore of Lake Michigan (and, during the summer, on Beaver Island).
Most of the book consists of nearly day-to-day diary entries describing one nature find, together with a little narrative about the find, and pointers for distinguishing it from lookalikes. It's a pleasant book to read, though not a page-turner (I usually got through one month per sitting). The writing is uniformly engaging, rising to brilliance on occasion. And it is a friendly book for someone just getting into nature study, with much kind advice and cheerful encouragement that you, too, can do what Mary Blocksma does. For me, it was delightfully nostalgic, because those first few January IDs were some of the first few birds and evergreens I learned to name. And the narrative of someone learning to find her way in the world of field guides and birdfeeders and all the logistics of nature study was just enough of a story to make the book more than a month-by-month field guide.
Those early chapters paralleled my own first forays into nature, but by the time spring and summer arrived, the author had gone much deeper into nature, spending more time there and seeing more than I have ever seen. I was tempted to be jealous, saved only by the recollection that she was newly divorced with no children at home, and that she had the ability to consecrate all her free time to this new enterprise.
Still, the book made me long to be more intentional about my acquaintance with nature, and to somehow figure out how to prioritize long and quiet outings. I feel dissatisfied with my recent years of nature study, where encounters have been irregular and perfunctory and brief and, unsurprisingly, have yielded hardly anything new. I know from experience that if you put yourself in nature for long enough (but it has to be deep enough, long enough), nature shows up, just as Mary Blocksma describes in this book. I must learn to submit to the workings of the natural world instead of insinuating that it should submit to my plans. Perhaps that is a belated new year's resolution of my own.
A final note: the book reads quite differently from more recent nature guides in placing much less emphasis on native vs. introduced or invasive species. This fact is sometimes mentioned in the description of a non-native, but not always, and it occasions much less handwringing than I'm used to seeing. I'm undecided as to whether this less-concerned attitude makes the book feel dated and naïve or whether, actually, everyone would be better off not getting too worked up over non-natives.
Most of the book consists of nearly day-to-day diary entries describing one nature find, together with a little narrative about the find, and pointers for distinguishing it from lookalikes. It's a pleasant book to read, though not a page-turner (I usually got through one month per sitting). The writing is uniformly engaging, rising to brilliance on occasion. And it is a friendly book for someone just getting into nature study, with much kind advice and cheerful encouragement that you, too, can do what Mary Blocksma does. For me, it was delightfully nostalgic, because those first few January IDs were some of the first few birds and evergreens I learned to name. And the narrative of someone learning to find her way in the world of field guides and birdfeeders and all the logistics of nature study was just enough of a story to make the book more than a month-by-month field guide.
Those early chapters paralleled my own first forays into nature, but by the time spring and summer arrived, the author had gone much deeper into nature, spending more time there and seeing more than I have ever seen. I was tempted to be jealous, saved only by the recollection that she was newly divorced with no children at home, and that she had the ability to consecrate all her free time to this new enterprise.
Still, the book made me long to be more intentional about my acquaintance with nature, and to somehow figure out how to prioritize long and quiet outings. I feel dissatisfied with my recent years of nature study, where encounters have been irregular and perfunctory and brief and, unsurprisingly, have yielded hardly anything new. I know from experience that if you put yourself in nature for long enough (but it has to be deep enough, long enough), nature shows up, just as Mary Blocksma describes in this book. I must learn to submit to the workings of the natural world instead of insinuating that it should submit to my plans. Perhaps that is a belated new year's resolution of my own.
A final note: the book reads quite differently from more recent nature guides in placing much less emphasis on native vs. introduced or invasive species. This fact is sometimes mentioned in the description of a non-native, but not always, and it occasions much less handwringing than I'm used to seeing. I'm undecided as to whether this less-concerned attitude makes the book feel dated and naïve or whether, actually, everyone would be better off not getting too worked up over non-natives.
April 8, 2023
A really inspiring book I’ve combed through many times but finally just read cover to cover. There are a few errors, nature no-no’s (which she is very open and honest about, and often sorry for having done them), and things that are no longer true, as is true in all pop-sci/nature books, but Mary’s delight and motivation to name nature is contagious and the small details about her life that year sound so cozy and wholesome it’s hard to not want the same one. Her afterword is a bit dated too, mentioning “feminine” vs “masculine” values of nature differing, but the ideas of finding yourself, reclaiming your womanly strength, and connecting to nature again, no matter at what age, are worth the read. Her tips are very easy and helpful and help make her quest less daunting, as is her honesty about not remembering everything she learned but really just enjoying the challenge.
December 31, 2018
I loved this journey! An amateur naturalist myself (and by amateur, I just look up interesting flora and fauna in one of our Peterson guides whenever I come upon something I don't recognize) I loved that Blocksma chronicled her year's observations. I saved my reading to correspond with her daily entries and being a resident of Pennsylvania, found that her experiences in coastal Michigan were still in my realm geographically. (and even if the reader is not an Easterner, the author makes an effort to point out similar species found in the west.) I learned some new names of wildflowers (Campion!) and facts about animals. Buying this guide to share with others now!
March 26, 2025
Has inaccurate and fearmongering information about fungi.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews