The Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch in Nature

by David George Haskell

Overview

Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award

“Injects much-needed vibrancy into the stuffy world of nature writing.” —Outside, “The Outdoor Books That Shaped the Last Decade”

The biologist and author of Sounds Wild and Broken combines elegant writing with scientific expertise to reveal the secret world hidden in a single square meter of old-growth forest

In this wholly original book, biologist David Haskell uses a one-square-meter patch of old-growth Tennessee forest as a window onto the entire natural world. Visiting it almost daily for one year to trace nature's path through the seasons, he brings the forest and its inhabitants to vivid life.

Each of this book's short chapters begins with a simple observation: a salamander scuttling across the leaf litter; the first blossom of spring wildflowers. From these, Haskell spins a brilliant web of biology and ecology, explaining the science that binds together the tiniest microbes and the largest mammals and describing the ecosystems that have cycled for thousands- sometimes millions-of years. Each visit to the forest presents a nature story in miniature as Haskell elegantly teases out the intricate relationships that order the creatures and plants that call it home.

Written with remarkable grace and empathy, The Forest Unseen is a grand tour of nature in all its profundity. Haskell is a perfect guide into the world that exists beneath our feet and beyond our backyards.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143122944
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/26/2013
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	100,679
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

David Haskell’s work integrates scientific, literary, and contemplative studies of the natural world. He is a professor of biology and environmental studies at the University of the South and a Guggenheim Fellow. His 2017 book The Songs of Trees won the John Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Natural History Writing. His 2012 book The Forest Unseen was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, and won the 2013 Best Book Award from the National Academies, the National Outdoor Book Award, and the Reed Environmental Writing Award. His new book, Sounds Wild and Broken: Sonic Marvels, Evolution’s Creativity, and the Crisis of Sensory Extinction, will be published in March of 2022.
 
To listen to a collection of sounds from the trees in this book, visit dghaskell.com.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

January 1st-Partnerships 1

January 17th—Kepler's Gift 8

January 21st—The Experiment 12

January 30th—Winter Plants 21

February 2nd—Footprints 25

February 16th—Moss 35

February 28th—Salamander 41

March 13th—Hepatica 46

March 13th—Snails 51

March 25th—Spring Ephemerals 54

April 2nd—Chainsaw 63

April 2nd—Flowers 68

April 8th—Xylem 73

April 14th—Moth 78

April 16th—Sunrise Birds 81

April 22nd—Walking Seeds 86

April 29th—Earthquake 93

May 7th—Wind 97

May 18th—Herbivory 102

May 25th—Ripples 109

June 2nd—Quest 117

June 10th—Ferns 122

June 20th—A Tangle 127

July 2nd—Fungi 131

July 13th—Fireflies 137

July 27th—Sunfleck 141

August 1st-Eft and Coyote 147

August 8th—Earthstar 156

August 26th—Katydid 160

September 21st—Medicine 164

September 23rd—Caterpillar 169

September 23rd—Vulture 174

September 26th—Migrants 180

October 5th—Alarm Waves 184

October 14th—Samara 188

October 29th—Faces 194

November 5th—Light 199

November 15th—Sharp-shinned Hawk 207

November 21st—Twigs 213

December 3rd—Litter 222

December 6th—Underground Bestiary 230

December 26th—Treetops 236

December 31st—Watching 239

Epilogue 243

Acknowledgments 247

Bibliography 249

Index 261

What People are Saying About This

Greg Graffin

 “In the style of Aldo Leopold, John Muir, and Thoreau, David Haskell has captured the beauty and intricacy of evolution in these pages. For those who are looking for inspiration to spend more time in the wild, this book is the perfect companion. Haskell’s vast knowledge of the forest and all its creatures is the perfect guide to exploring wilderness. The prose is a perfect match for the poetic tranquility found through the study of nature. A true naturalist’s manifesto.” 

E. O. Wilson

"Haskell leads the reader into a new genre of nature writing, located between science and poetry, in which the invisible appear, the small grow large, and the immense complexity and beauty of life are more clearly revealed."

From the Publisher

"[Haskell] thinks like a biologist, writes like a poet, and gives the natural world the kind of open-minded attention one expects from a Zen monk rather than a hypothesis-driven scientist." --The New York Times

Edward O. Wilson

 “Haskell leads the reader into a new genre of nature writing, located between science and poetry, in which the invisible appear, the small grow large, and the immense complex and beauty of life are more clearly revealed.”

Bill McKibben

 "David Haskell trains his eye on a single square meter of the Cumberland Plateau, and manages in the process to see the whole living planet as clearly as any writer in many years. Each chapter will teach you something new!"

Editorial Reviews

Praise for The Forest Unseen:

“[Haskell] thinks like a biologist, writes like a poet, and gives the natural world the kind of open-minded attention one expects from a Zen monk rather than a hypothesis-driven scientist.”
—James Gorman, The New York Times

“Very much a contemporary biologist in his familiarity with genetics and population ecology, [Haskell] also has the voracious synthetic imagination of a 19th-century naturalist. More importantly, Mr. Haskell is a sensitive writer, conjuring with careful precision the worlds he observes and delighting the reader with insightful turns of phrase.”
—The Wall Street Journal

“I really enjoyed—and learned a tremendous amount from—[The Forest Unseen] . . . [it] opened the world up to me in a new way.”
—Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction

“What goes on over the course of a year, in one square meter of old growth forest? Everything, to those who look. Haskell’s writing is natural history, in every sense of the phrase, at its very best.”
—Richard Powers, author of The Overstory, PBS Newshour

"[Haskell] documents the marvelous profusion of life . . . [a] magical look at the interconnectedness of the natural world, and the invisible ties that bind us together." 
—The Guardian

“Haskell leads the reader into a new genre of nature writing, located between science and poetry.”
— E. O. Wilson, Harvard University

“[Haskell's] observations—of lichens, snowflakes, salamanders, and more—are deftly interwoven with the science. His account is fascinating, whether he's stripping off in January to experience the physiological effects of severe cold, describing the symphonic sounds of trees in a high wind, or wondering at the bacteriological properties of a vulture's digestive tract.”
—Nature 

“Mixing poetry with natural history, [Haskell] follows subtle scientific threads such as species interactions by observing the seemingly mundane—a deer track, scraps of lichens, even a golf ball—to conclusions of gratifying depth.”
—Conservation Magazine

“[The Forest Unseen] is a 'nature book,' and a great one, but it's also and less obviously a book about human nature. You can't read its lyrical, tactile prose without confronting the whole question of our place in the natural order, and of what we're doing here. If we want to last much longer on this planet, we'll have to learn to think differently and more deeply about those things, and Haskell can be one of our guides.”
—John Jeremiah Sullivan, author of Pulphead 

From the Publisher

\"In the style of Aldo Leopold, John Muir, and Thoreau, David Haskell has capture the beauty and intricacy of evolution in these pages. For those who are looking for inspiration to spend more time in the wild, this book is the perfect companion. Haskell's vast knowledge of the forest and all its creatures is the perfect guide to exploring wilderness. The prose is a perfect match for the poetic tranquillity found through the study of nature. A true naturalist's manifesto."

Greg Graffin

"David Haskell trains his eye on a single square meter of Cumberland Plateau, and manages in the process to see the whole living planet as clearly as any writer in many years. Each chapter will teach you something new!"

Bill McKibben

"Haskell leads the reader into a new genre of nature writing, located between science and poetry, in which the invisible appear, the small grow large, and the immense complexity and beauty of life are more clearly revealed."

E. O. Wilson

Over the course of a year, University of the South biology professor Haskell makes frequent pilgrimages to a meter-wide spot along a slope in an old-growth Tennessee forest. During his visits, he peeks beneath the leaf litter, shivers at the howls of coyotes, and watches the light change as he gazes up at the green canopy of July or November’s bare twigs. Turning the patch of forest into his own natural laboratory, he reveals the science behind these moments of beauty, delighting in the resourcefulness of spring wildflowers and musing on the ecological partnerships that sustain lichens and other creatures. Throughout, Haskell shows the complexity and interdependence of the natural world, in which even the golf balls thwacked from a nearby green play a role. The Buddhist art of the mandala becomes a central reference point for the project, which contemplates the importance of close observation of the world around us. In the end, Haskell finds that even this tiny scrap of woods contains a teeming soup of life beyond the comprehension of our limited human senses. Yet for him, this awareness of his own “ignorance” is a joyful one, the web of life for him transcendentally tangled. This informative and inspiring meditation will give curious readers a few new things to pay attention to when walking through the woods. Agent: Alice Martell, the Martell Agency. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

 “Haskell leads the reader into a new genre of nature writing, located between science and poetry, in which the invisible appear, the small grow large, and the immense complex and beauty of life are more clearly revealed.

Edward O. Wilson

Following the example of monks and writers, award-winning teacher (and sometimes poet) Haskell (biology, Univ. of the South) turns his gaze to the small things—insects, plants, and birds—living in a single square meter of one of Tennessee's old-growth forests. He returns to the same patch of forest over the course of a year and, in a series of vignettes, draws readers' attention to the quiet details of the place. For instance, he sees a chickadee shiver for warmth in the wintertime and a mosquito feast to stomach-swelling proportions in the spring. Haskell uses these moments to remind readers of their position in a shared, common ecosystem that reaches far beyond the forest. VERDICT Haskell brings the aspects of forest life that most often go unnoticed to the forefront with vibrant detail as he easily moves from microscopic to global observations. His book should prove engaging for a variety of audiences—from serious readers of nature writing to casual readers of nonfiction. Recommended. [See Prepub Alert, 9/11/11.]—Talea Anderson, Ellensburg, WA

Library Journal

Biologist George Haskell reveals a beautifully complex and nuanced view of the natural world by studying a one-square-meter section of forest in Tennessee throughout a period of time, visiting it in various seasons. Narrator Michael Healy presents this exploration of the world that surrounds us yet remains largely hidden from us. His vocal phrasing is varied but ends up sounding repetitive as he progresses through each section of the book—from microbes to salamanders and wildflowers to large mammals. The interrelationships between the various species are revealed in detail, and surprising truths about the ecosystem are presented, but the narration falls into a distracting cadence that makes it difficult to focus on the intricate details. S.E.G. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2014 - AudioFile

An extraordinary, intimate view of life in an old-growth forest. "Can the whole forest be seen through a small contemplative window of leaves, rocks, and water?" This is the question Haskell (Biology/Univ. of the South) set out to answer by examining one square meter of old-growth Tennessee woods. Highly informative and entertaining, these short essays are dense with sensory details and deserve to be read slowly and carefully. The sights, smells and sounds of the forest permeate the pages, bringing readers face to face with a panoply of simple natural wonders: leaves, wildflowers, mosses, ferns, snails, salamanders, deer and more. Throughout an entire calendar year, Haskell scrutinizes this "mandala" of space, connecting the microcosm of birds, plants and animals in this patch of woods to the macrocosm of the outer world. This in-depth look into the natural biosphere emphasizes the idea that nothing--not even the small microbes that exist in the leaf litter--lives unrelated or unconnected to any other thing. What happens in this old forest is affected by and will in turn affect other parts of the planet. Even as Haskell discovered an "ecological and evolutionary kinship with the forest," he also realized "an equally powerful sense of otherness...a realization of the enormity of [his] ignorance…[where] simple enumeration and naming of the mandala's inhabitants lie far beyond [his] reach." Equally as informative as and far more enjoyable than any biology textbook, the book provides valuable insight and perspective on a world that is often missed in the bustle of modern society. Exceptional observations of the biological world worthy of any naturalist's library.

Kirkus Reviews