Overview

Starting in 1825, David Douglas made the first systematic collections of flora and fauna across many parts of the greater Pacific Northwest. Colleagues in Great Britain then attached his name to more than 80 different species, including the region's iconic timber tree. A colorfully illustrated essay collection, David Douglas, a Naturalist at Work examines various aspects of Douglas' meteoric career, demonstrating connections between his work and the Pacific Northwest of today. From the Columbia River's perilous bar to luminous mountain wildflower blooms; from ever-changing technology frontiers to the quiet seasonal rhythms of tribal families gathering roots, Nisbet's compositions collapse time to shed light on the area's people and landscapes. Originally published in conjunction with a major museum exhibit, this is the first paperback edition.

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9780874224276

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Reviews

"Nisbet's method of interpreting regional history isn't the usual staid recitation of dates and facts. In pursuit of bringing stories nearly 200 years old to life, he walks trails, visits reservations and tribal elders, charters pilot boats, climbs trees and wild-harvests food."" - Cascadia Weekly ""A text of beauty fit for a carved cedar coffee table. Nisbet opens the lens of history, as the text becomes a parallel experience where the reader visits places both in historical and contemporary time, effortlessly traveling between the two."" - Renée E. D'Aoust, author of Body of a Dancer ""Nisbet's ability to move back and forth across time, from the present-day to the deeper past is the best part of this book. Engaged and engaging, the author becomes his subject--David Douglas the curious traveler and Jack Nisbet the time traveling naturalist."" - Eileen Pearkes, author of The Geography of Memory ""David Douglas, A Naturalist at Work makes perceptive connections between people and place, and tantalizing connections across time."" - Barbara Lloyd McMichael, Bellingham Herald"

Author Information

Jack Nisbet is a teacher, naturalist, and award-winning nonfiction writer who focuses on the intersection of human and natural history in the Pacific Northwest. His award-winning books include Sources of the River: Tracking David Thompson across Western North America, which won a Washington State Governor's award, the Idaho Librarians Book of the Year, and the Murray Morgan History Prize. His book, Visible Bones: Journeys across Time in the Columbia River Country, explores the melding of human and natural history in the Northwest. In 2004 it garnered a Washington State Library Book Award.

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