Wild Thoughts from Wild Places

by Quammen, David

• ISBN13: 9780684852089
• ISBN10: 068485208X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-03-16
• Publisher: Scribner

Summary

InWild Thoughts from Wild Places,award-winning journalist David Quammen reminds us why he has become one of our most beloved science and nature writers.This collection of twenty-three of Quammen's most intriguing, most exciting, most memorable pieces takes us to meet kayakers on the Futaleufu River of southern Chile, where Quammen describes how it feels to travel in fast company and flail for survival in the river's maw. We are introduced to the commerce in pearls (and black-market parrots) in the Aru Islands of eastern Indonesia. Quammen even finds wildness in smog-choked Los Angeles -- embodied in an elusive population of urban coyotes, too stubborn and too clever to surrender to the sprawl of civilization.With humor and intelligence, David Quammen'sWild Thoughts from Wild Placesalso reminds us that humans are just one of the many species on earth with motivations, goals, quirks, and eccentricities. Expect to be entertained and moved on this journey through the wilds of science and nature.

Author Biography

David Quammen has been awarded a Lannan Literary Award for nonfiction and an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for his novels, stories, and essays. He is a two-time winner of the National Magazine Award for science essays and other work in Outside magazine. He is the author of several books, including The Song of the Dodo. Quammen lives in Montana.

Table of Contents

Contents

Introduction

I. THE RIVER

Synecdoche and the Trout
Time and Tide on the Ocoee River
Vortex
Only Connect
Grabbing the Loop

II. THE CITY

The White Tigers of Cincinnati
To Live and Die in L.A.
Reaction Wood
Superdove on 46th Street
Before the Fall

III. THE MOUNTAINS

Pinhead Secrets
The Keys to Kingdom Come
Karl's Sense of Snow
The Trees Cry Out on Currawong Moor
The Big Turn
Eat of This Flesh

IV. THE HEART

The Swallow That Hibernates Underwater
Trinket from Aru
Bagpipes for Ed
Point of Attachment
Voice Part for a Duet
Love in the Age of Relativity
Strawberries Under Ice

Notes and Provenance
Bibliography
Index