There
is good reading on the land. The records are written in forests, in fencerows, in
bogs, in playgrounds, in pastures, in gardens, in canyons, in tree rings.
Interpreting this reading matter, in place, on the land, seeing living things
in their total environment, is an adventure into the field that is called
ecology. —May Theilgaard Watts, preface to Reading the Landscape of
America |
Reading the Landscape of America
May Theilgaard Watts
Nature Study Guild
Publishers, Rochester, NY
1999 reprint edition paperback 368 pages
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Learn to read the stories written in the land
Naturalist May Theilgaard
Watts was the first to teach ecological concepts to a broad public, to help us
understand land as a biotic community, not a blank slate for development. Her
beautifully written book is still fresh and relevant for anyone who wants to
see more and understand more in the ordinary landscapes around us. She takes us
on a field trip across America, demonstrating that by taking time to observe
the world around us, looking for clues, and asking questions like these . . .
- Why does this plant live here?
- Why does it have this shape/size/texture?
- How is this forest (or field, or roadside) different
from others I have walked through?
- What is missing that I would have expected to find
here?
we can piece together a
narrative—a story—of the forces that have formed and continue to change the
landscapes we pass through. Any place, closely observed, can tell us
many stories, of geology, weather, of the community of interrelated plants and
animals that have shaped it, of the history and culture of the people who have
lived there.
May
Theilgaard Watts was the first to teach that the landscape is intelligible
and that people can enrich their lives by learning to read it. —Chicago
Wilderness A classic in landscape
interpretation, remarkably timely. Unexcelled in the blending of landscape
ecology and lived experience on landscapes.—Holmes Rolston, International
Society for Environmental Ethics. |
Reading the Landscape
of America is a
series of essays about the author’s observations of landscapes across the
United States. Watts explains natural processes, such as plant succession and
dune formation at the Indiana Dunes, or how plants adapt to cold and wind above
timberline in the Rockies. She also considers how the plant life of a place
reflects the history and values of the people who have lived there, as she
considers the plants that grow in a schoolyard, along the edge of a cornfield,
or in a suburban garden.
Praise
for the first edition of Reading the Landscape of America: |
About the author: May Theilgaard Watts was a teacher,
writer, naturalist, and conservationist. The daughter of Danish immigrants, she
began her teaching career in one-room rural schools in the countryside around
Chicago, Illinois. She earned her college degree taking summer classes at the
University of Chicago. At Chicago, she studied with the pioneering American
ecologist Henry C. Cowles, whose work she would later popularize. Watts was an
award-winning poet, a columnist, author of books and scholarly articles, and
mother of four. Her works include several Finders plant identification
keys, originally created as handouts for her students, and Reading theLandscape of Europe. Watts was the first staff naturalist at the Morton
Arboretum near Chicago, where she developed the Arboretum’s innovative
interpretive program. She spearheaded the movement to establish the Illinois Prairie Path, the first major
rails-to-trails conversion. Her charisma, humor, and ability to open her
students’ eyes to new ways of seeing remain legendary among those who were
fortunate enough to hear her lectures.
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copyright © 1957, 1975, 1985 by May Theilgaard Watts. All other material on this site
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