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    The Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch in Nature

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    by David George Haskell

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    • ISBN-13: 9780143122944
    • Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
    • Publication date: 03/26/2013
    • Pages: 288
    • Sales rank: 34,156
    • Product dimensions: 5.30(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.00(d)
    • Age Range: 18Years


    David George Haskell is a professor of biology at the University of the South and was named the Carnegie-CASE Professor of the Year in Tennessee in 2009. In addition to his scholarly work, he has published essays and poetry. He lives in Sewanee, Tennessee.

    Visit his blog at davidhaskell.wordpress.com.

    Table of Contents

    Preface xi

    January 1st-Partnerships 1

    January 17th—Kepler's Gift 8

    January 21st—The Experiment 12

    January 30th—Winter Plants 21

    February 2nd—Footprints 25

    February 16th—Moss 35

    February 28th—Salamander 41

    March 13th—Hepatica 46

    March 13th—Snails 51

    March 25th—Spring Ephemerals 54

    April 2nd—Chainsaw 63

    April 2nd—Flowers 68

    April 8th—Xylem 73

    April 14th—Moth 78

    April 16th—Sunrise Birds 81

    April 22nd—Walking Seeds 86

    April 29th—Earthquake 93

    May 7th—Wind 97

    May 18th—Herbivory 102

    May 25th—Ripples 109

    June 2nd—Quest 117

    June 10th—Ferns 122

    June 20th—A Tangle 127

    July 2nd—Fungi 131

    July 13th—Fireflies 137

    July 27th—Sunfleck 141

    August 1st-Eft and Coyote 147

    August 8th—Earthstar 156

    August 26th—Katydid 160

    September 21st—Medicine 164

    September 23rd—Caterpillar 169

    September 23rd—Vulture 174

    September 26th—Migrants 180

    October 5th—Alarm Waves 184

    October 14th—Samara 188

    October 29th—Faces 194

    November 5th—Light 199

    November 15th—Sharp-shinned Hawk 207

    November 21st—Twigs 213

    December 3rd—Litter 222

    December 6th—Underground Bestiary 230

    December 26th—Treetops 236

    December 31st—Watching 239

    Epilogue 243

    Acknowledgments 247

    Bibliography 249

    Index 261

    What People are Saying About This

    Greg Graffin

     “In the style of Aldo Leopold, John Muir, and Thoreau, David Haskell has captured the beauty and intricacy of evolution in these pages. For those who are looking for inspiration to spend more time in the wild, this book is the perfect companion. Haskell’s vast knowledge of the forest and all its creatures is the perfect guide to exploring wilderness. The prose is a perfect match for the poetic tranquility found through the study of nature. A true naturalist’s manifesto.” 

    E. O. Wilson

    "Haskell leads the reader into a new genre of nature writing, located between science and poetry, in which the invisible appear, the small grow large, and the immense complexity and beauty of life are more clearly revealed."

    From the Publisher


    "[Haskell] thinks like a biologist, writes like a poet, and gives the natural world the kind of open-minded attention one expects from a Zen monk rather than a hypothesis-driven scientist." --The New York Times

    Edward O. Wilson

     “Haskell leads the reader into a new genre of nature writing, located between science and poetry, in which the invisible appear, the small grow large, and the immense complex and beauty of life are more clearly revealed.”

    Bill McKibben

     "David Haskell trains his eye on a single square meter of the Cumberland Plateau, and manages in the process to see the whole living planet as clearly as any writer in many years. Each chapter will teach you something new!"

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    A 2013 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for General Nonfiction
    Winner of the 2013 Best Book Award from the National Academies
    A Finalist for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award
    Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award
    Winner of the Reed Award from the Southern Environmental Law Center

    A biologist reveals the secret world hidden in a single square meter of forest

    Written with remarkable grace and empathy, The Forest Unseen is a grand tour of nature in all its profundity. Biologist David George Haskell uses a one-square-meter patch of old-growth Tennessee forest as a window onto the entire natural world. Visiting it almost daily for one year to trace nature's path through the seasons, he brings the forest and its inhabitants to vivid life. Beginning with simple observations—a salamander scuttling across the leaf litter, the first blossom of spring wildflowers—Haskell spins a brilliant web of biology, ecology, and poetry, explaining the science binding together ecosystems that have cycled for thousands—sometimes millions—of years.

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    Science & Technology
    Nature
    Ecology & Environmental Sciences
    Agricultural Sciences
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    Ecology
    Natural History
    Nature - Other
    Environmental Conservation & Protection - General & Miscellaneous
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    E. O. Wilson
    "Haskell leads the reader into a new genre of nature writing, located between science and poetry, in which the invisible appear, the small grow large, and the immense complexity and beauty of life are more clearly revealed."
    Bill McKibben
    "David Haskell trains his eye on a single square meter of Cumberland Plateau, and manages in the process to see the whole living planet as clearly as any writer in many years. Each chapter will teach you something new!"
    Greg Graffin
    \"In the style of Aldo Leopold, John Muir, and Thoreau, David Haskell has capture the beauty and intricacy of evolution in these pages. For those who are looking for inspiration to spend more time in the wild, this book is the perfect companion. Haskell's vast knowledge of the forest and all its creatures is the perfect guide to exploring wilderness. The prose is a perfect match for the poetic tranquillity found through the study of nature. A true naturalist's manifesto."
    Publishers Weekly
    Over the course of a year, University of the South biology professor Haskell makes frequent pilgrimages to a meter-wide spot along a slope in an old-growth Tennessee forest. During his visits, he peeks beneath the leaf litter, shivers at the howls of coyotes, and watches the light change as he gazes up at the green canopy of July or November’s bare twigs. Turning the patch of forest into his own natural laboratory, he reveals the science behind these moments of beauty, delighting in the resourcefulness of spring wildflowers and musing on the ecological partnerships that sustain lichens and other creatures. Throughout, Haskell shows the complexity and interdependence of the natural world, in which even the golf balls thwacked from a nearby green play a role. The Buddhist art of the mandala becomes a central reference point for the project, which contemplates the importance of close observation of the world around us. In the end, Haskell finds that even this tiny scrap of woods contains a teeming soup of life beyond the comprehension of our limited human senses. Yet for him, this awareness of his own “ignorance” is a joyful one, the web of life for him transcendentally tangled. This informative and inspiring meditation will give curious readers a few new things to pay attention to when walking through the woods. Agent: Alice Martell, the Martell Agency. (Mar.)
    From the Publisher
    "An extraordinary, intimate view of life. . . . Exceptional observations of the biological world." —-Kirkus Starred Review
    Edward O. Wilson
     “Haskell leads the reader into a new genre of nature writing, located between science and poetry, in which the invisible appear, the small grow large, and the immense complex and beauty of life are more clearly revealed.
    Library Journal
    Following the example of monks and writers, award-winning teacher (and sometimes poet) Haskell (biology, Univ. of the South) turns his gaze to the small things—insects, plants, and birds—living in a single square meter of one of Tennessee's old-growth forests. He returns to the same patch of forest over the course of a year and, in a series of vignettes, draws readers' attention to the quiet details of the place. For instance, he sees a chickadee shiver for warmth in the wintertime and a mosquito feast to stomach-swelling proportions in the spring. Haskell uses these moments to remind readers of their position in a shared, common ecosystem that reaches far beyond the forest. VERDICT Haskell brings the aspects of forest life that most often go unnoticed to the forefront with vibrant detail as he easily moves from microscopic to global observations. His book should prove engaging for a variety of audiences—from serious readers of nature writing to casual readers of nonfiction. Recommended. [See Prepub Alert, 9/11/11.]—Talea Anderson, Ellensburg, WA
    Kirkus Reviews
    An extraordinary, intimate view of life in an old-growth forest. "Can the whole forest be seen through a small contemplative window of leaves, rocks, and water?" This is the question Haskell (Biology/Univ. of the South) set out to answer by examining one square meter of old-growth Tennessee woods. Highly informative and entertaining, these short essays are dense with sensory details and deserve to be read slowly and carefully. The sights, smells and sounds of the forest permeate the pages, bringing readers face to face with a panoply of simple natural wonders: leaves, wildflowers, mosses, ferns, snails, salamanders, deer and more. Throughout an entire calendar year, Haskell scrutinizes this "mandala" of space, connecting the microcosm of birds, plants and animals in this patch of woods to the macrocosm of the outer world. This in-depth look into the natural biosphere emphasizes the idea that nothing--not even the small microbes that exist in the leaf litter--lives unrelated or unconnected to any other thing. What happens in this old forest is affected by and will in turn affect other parts of the planet. Even as Haskell discovered an "ecological and evolutionary kinship with the forest," he also realized "an equally powerful sense of otherness...a realization of the enormity of [his] ignorance…[where] simple enumeration and naming of the mandala's inhabitants lie far beyond [his] reach." Equally as informative as and far more enjoyable than any biology textbook, the book provides valuable insight and perspective on a world that is often missed in the bustle of modern society. Exceptional observations of the biological world worthy of any naturalist's library.

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