Natural Acts A Sidelong View of Science & Nature

"Lively writing about science and nature depends less on the offering of good answers, I think, than on the offering of good questions," said David Quammen in the original introduction to Natural Acts. For more than two decades, he has stuck to that credo. In this updated version of curiosity leads him from New Mexico to Romania, from the Congo to the Amazon, asking questions about mosquitoes (what are their redeeming merits?), dinosaurs (how did they change the life of a dyslexic Vietnam vet?), and cloning (can it save endangered species?).

This revised and expanded edition best-loved "Natural Acts" columns, which first appeared in Outside magazine in the early 1980s, and includes recent pieces such as "Planet of Weeds," an influential new Natural Acts is an eye-opening journey that will please both Quammen fans and newcomers to his work.

This work is a revised and expanded edition of Quammen's first book of nonfiction, and reprints some of his best-loved "Natural Acts" columns, which first appeared in "Outside" magazine in the early 1980s.

Lively writing about science and nature depends less on the offering of good answers, I think, than on the offering of good questions, said David Quammen in the original introduction to Natural Acts. For more than two decades, he has stuck to that credo. In this updated version of curiosity leads him from New Mexico to Romania, from the Congo to the Amazon, asking questions about mosquitoes (what are their redeeming merits?), dinosaurs (how did they change the life of a dyslexic Vietnam vet?), and cloning (can it save endangered species?).

This revised and expanded edition best-loved Natural Acts columns, which first appeared in Outside magazine in the early 1980s, and includes recent pieces such as Planet of Weeds, an influential new Natural Acts is an eye-opening journey that will please both Quammen fans and newcomers to his work.

"David Quammen is simply the best natural essayist working today."--Tim Cahill, author of

David Quammen is the author of The Song of the Dodo, among other books. He has been honored by the American Academy of Arts and Letters and is the recipient of a John Burroughs Medal and the National Magazine Award. He lives in Bozeman, Montana.