Overview

For award-winning science writer Margie Pitlak, exploring the unique nature of the Maine coast opens a door to deeper ties and insights. Watching a striped monarch caterpillar transform into a chartreuse pendant dabbed with gold, she realizes the limits of life and what passes between generations. She explores the violent geologic collisions that thrust up and fractured Maine’s mountains; digs into the latest scientific thinking on how animals navigate; reflects on the dizzy dance of plankton under the microscope and the dogfish heart that continued to beat while held in the palm of her hand. She looks at moose, fox, fishers, and the tides as well, and shares a chapter about cleaning up the Maine coast by kayak. These facets of the natural world speak a hidden language that is translated by scientific knowledge and reflection. Nature begins to speak about the nature of life.

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9781608937530

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Reviews

"""I found myself rationing the chapters just to prolong the enjoyment..."" -Reviewer ""It is an exquisite treasure in so many ways- part memoir, part poetry, part scientific study, part loss therapy, part adventure and part uplifting hallelujah for life."" --Carol Einhorn, Reviewer ""It was beautifully written, educational, inspiring, thoughtful and moving."" Ronit Sugar, Reviewer ""Margie Patlak has the soul of a poet and the keen observational powers of a naturalist. She feels for nature and takes solace from its revelations. Nature helps her to recapture her emotional stability at times of deeply felt personal loss, first of her mother and then of her brother. Nature restores her soul. And, I must add, that of her readers who have experienced similar losses but who may lack the temperament, and vocabulary, to render the sense of loss in such poignant terms. Thank heavens she found her element on the Down East coast; we who are her neighbors and friends should thank her for evoking the stark beauty of our peninsula and for sharing her personal story."" --Roger W Bowen, President Emeritus, State University of New York ""This book put the fresh night breeze on my eager skin (kayaking at night under stars and over phospheresence, imagine!). It replaced my broken binoculars. It immersed me in flowers and foxes and fishers. Most of all it reminded me that I'm not alone.""--Daniel Bailey, Reviewer"

Author Information

Margie Patlak is an award-winning science writer who has written over two hundred articles about the environment, neuroscience, biomedical research, and technology for popular publications such as Discover magazine, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and many others; and her personal essays have appeared in a number of literary journals and newspapers. She has degress in Botany and Environmental Studies and divides her time between Philadelphia and Corea, Maine.

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