Nature Beyond Solitude: Notes from the Field

by John Seibert Farnsworth, Thomas Lowe Fleischner (Foreword)

John Seibert Farnsworth's delightful field notes are not only about nature, but from nature as well. In Nature Beyond Solitude, he lets us peer over his shoulder as he takes his notes. We follow him to a series of field stations where he teams up with scientists, citizen scientists, rangers, stewards, and grad students engaged in long-term ecological study, all the while scribbling down what he sees, hears, and feels in the moment. With humor and insight, Farnsworth explores how communal experiences of nature might ultimately provide greater depths of appreciation for the natural world.

In the course of his travels, Farnsworth visits the Hastings Natural History Reservation, the Santa Cruz Island Reserve, the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory, the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, the North Cascades Institute's Environmental Learning Center, and more.

Genres: Nature, Science, Nonfiction

216 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2020

Reviews

[Max · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book full of biology related field notes written into a story. I really enjoyed the author's writing, and because I'm a biologist myself I could really relate to the stories about the research station. Highly recommended for people who are in to field work biology! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader's copy.

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 5 out of 5]

These field notes are especially good for bird-watchers but any naturalist or ecologist will be fascinated. If you just enjoy spending time outdoors, you need to read the book too. The author is a teaching professor who spent some months driving to field stations in America to observe nature and observe the observers, delivering a few lectures to the students and learning just as much from them.

On an island ecology base, the author walked around noting the plants which were invasive, the effects of removing one raptor and replacing it with another species which took differing prey, wondered where the butterflies were and counted the foxes he saw.

At Hawk Hill, passed over by migrant as well as resident raptors, the author put in day after day, session after session of focused teamwork, identifying hundreds of raptors in a morning.

Up a forested mountain, the author climbed and hiked, accompanied by younger students who blithely toted heavy equipment for observation posts and roped themselves down cliffs.

On a grassy hill the author counted woodpeckers storing acorns in individually made holes in a tree known as a granary tree - see it on YouTube.

The author, rubbing his sore knees and trudging through snow to retrieve his car before the snow ploughs arrive, fending off sunburn, wishing he'd brought his camera, and making his own meals, laughs at himself and makes friends with everyone he meets. He tells us that it may be time to hand over the torch to the students. Where all the older naturalists he meets are men, I noticed the students seem to be equally male and female. And their work is seriously impressive. The writing flows smoothly and we feel the humour and love for nature rippling off the pages.

Read it, love it.
I read an e-ARC from Net Galley and Fresh Fiction. This is an unbiased review.

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy these books that take us into the field as folks study nature, taking notes on the behaviors and appearance of different species. Sometimes they mention a species I’ve had experiences with and I can share their excitement. Other times they discuss a species I’m unfamiliar with. In almost all cases I end up learning more about this incredible world around us. For this book the author stayed at a number of field stations learning about and participating in the activities at each while also writing. It was fascinating learning about some of these locations and the work they do. A short but very enjoyable read.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is quite good, particularly if you're curious about the life of someone doing animal research in the wild. Not every page was interesting, but collectively well done. The author writes well, has good stories, and has a good sense of humor. Recommended.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!

[Rather.be.reading1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book from the very first sentence in the Foreword. I love nature and Farnsworth's writing/notes were very atmospheric and it took me right along with him in his book. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book. I definitely have a few people that would love this book.

[Anett Kovacs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny, interesting, and incredibly charming! The idea of in situ writing was intriguing and the stories and observations were not only very entertaining but also very well written.
Highly recommendable for people enjoying books on nature!

[Mark Makowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, I know the author. It was numerous years ago we met and he shaped two of my college summers. As for his skills and expertise in the field of Environmental Studies, he excels. He’s modest in his brilliance and saint like in his humble presence in observing nature.

[Michal Strutin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Think of nature writing and John Muir and Annie Dillard come to mind, from a school of solitary witnessing. John Farnsworth’s Nature Beyond Solitude presents a different, interactive view of nature writing, one that has blossomed as solitary environmental visions have engendered environmental researchers of every sort. In Nature Beyond Solitude we meet dedicated, impassioned scientists and their students who are working to protect the kinds of places Muir rambled.

Whereas Muir’s adventures were usually written long after his travels into the wilderness, Farnsworth’s field notes from the five areas explored in this book are exactly that: direct observations written in the meadows and on mountains of the places he chose to observe. His field notes have an immediacy, a five-senses feeling that puts the reader wherever Farnsworth is. His sightings of owls, woodpeckers, foxes, and others are like short stories with natural history details. The same with the students he meets. I particularly enjoyed roaming the sunny chaparral of Santa Cruz Island Reserve and the vertical forests of the North Cascades.

Farnsworth has a winking, self-deprecating sense of humor and a light-hearted empathy with the species he encounters, including the humans. If you’re stuck at home, ramble around the West Coast with Nature Beyond Solitude.

[Natalie Davey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as I was looking after my Mum at her Nature refuge in SE Queensland. The 'in situ' writing about research conservation stations in America was incredibly inspiring. Particularly the research project that is funded for two hundred years (University of Oregon). It has inspired me to help Mum get more support to collect data and knowledge from her place. I also loved the thinking which takes away from the traditional ego alone in Nature to the idea of shared experiences, collaborations and enhanced knowledge and pleasure in (small) groups. It is in our capacity to collaborate and share knowledge about places, habitats and species within them that helps strengthen our ability to care for them and educate the broader public. Writer has a lovely humour too which buoys you through the reading.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an unexpected joy I discovered in the bookshop at Bowman's Hill wildflower preserve in Bucks County, PA and was thankful to have brought home even though I was not budgeting spending money that day. For anyone who has as a student spent time at a field station on day or overnight trips or done research at one, this is a wonderful way to reminisce and recall that unique energy that must come from the interaction of controlled academic activity with messy, loose, free nature. And there was an added element, which was Farnsworth's reflections on the role and nature of field stations and ecological research, as well as the introduction to the world of field note-taking and nature writing, which has got me interested in checking out some of these writing and education programs. Definitely will become a treasured keeper.

[Jet Khasriya · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I started reading this book, I rapidly began to wonder why I was reading it: surely this was not for me. Some of the details and terminology were so specific, that to me (a total nature novice) it seemed like another language. But as I read on, I realised that this book is not about the facts, or really nature. It's about the author's mindset and his approach to life in general. Once you get into his rhythm, which is orders of magnitude more thoughtful and methodical than my own, you begin to envy his ability to enjoy himself in any situation. Being happy within one's own mind is a difficult state to achieve and this book sorta shows you how you might get there.