Nature's Quiet Conversations

xxii, 199 pp. Includes black-and-white line drawings. A compilation of some of the best essays by renowned naturalist and Central New York's own modern-day John Burroughs. John Weeks is one of the region’s most revered naturalists. Each week listeners are treated to his commentary, The Nature of Things, on conservation, biology, and wildlife. This book shows the structure and dynamics that characterize each season, stage by stage, emphasizing the beauty and mysterious interactions between nature and humankind. Profiles of places and descriptions of the natural world provide nature lovers with eloquent and instructive observations. Central New York yields some of the most outstanding natural areas in the state, from the Finger Lakes to the Adirondacks; its locales have offered an eclectic haven for environmentalists and scientists for decades. In this book, Weeks not only provides personal reminiscences but a comprehensive view of the region and the distinctive environmental conditions and features that have marked and altered the landscape from pre-WWII to the present. Included in his discussion are reviews of work from natural history, literature, and art, all of which inspired his own lifelong study of nature.