Natural Acts - A Sidelong View of Science and Nature (revised ed)

296 Pages·2009·1.52 MB·English

by  Quammen David

Additional praise for NATURAL ACTS

“Quammen’s writing style is so delightful that his content could
almost be secondary. Happily, the author (most recently of The
Reluctant Mr. Darwin) and his subjects are equally engaging….
Abook to ponder and enjoy.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Quammen interrupts his reverent, ruminative and copiously
researched accounts with bursts of puckish humor; at times he seems
to view nature as one grand Zen joke, at which he and his readers can
smile like beatific monks.”
—Time

“David Quammen has earned his place in the front rank of writers on
natural history…. [He has] a tendency to function as a kind of-one-
man Legal Aid Society for those unfortunate creatures long regarded
with fear and loathing by most of mankind…. He succeeds
marvelously.”
—Sports Illustrated

“Natural Acts is one bright jewel of a book.”
—Denver Post

Praise for David Quammen

“David Quammen writes with clarity, precision, and a certain sly
humor about vermin and philosophy; about literature, sex in its
myriad fascination, and exotic beasts I never knew existed.”
—Tim Cahill, author of Lost in My Own Backyard: A Walk in
Yellowstone National Park

“I have been wandering around in the outdoors for forty years and in
recent times have come to depend on David Quammen to tell me what
I’m looking at. He has an extraordinary eye and is a truly
extraordinary writer. I now place him up there with my favorites,
Matthiessen, Hoagland, and Lopez, and will read everything he
writes.”
—Jim Harrison, author of Legends of the Fall and True North
ALSO BY DAVID QUAMMEN

NONFICTION

The Reluctant Mr. Darwin
Monster of God
The Song of the Dodo
ESSAYS

The Boilerplate Rhino
Wild Thoughts from Wild Places
The Flight of the Iguana
FICTION

Blood Line
The Soul of Viktor Tronko
The Zolta Configuration
To Walk the Line
NATURAL ACTS

A SIDELONG VIEW OF SCIENCE & NATURE

Revised and expanded edition, with a new introduction Including “Planet of
Weeds” and the Megatransect series
David Quammen

W. W. NORTON & COMPANY
New York London
To M.E.Q. and W.A.Q.
for everything
Copyright © 2008, 1985 by David Quammen
All rights reserved
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this
book, write to Permissions, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 500 Fifth
Avenue, New York, NY 10110
“September 1, 1939,” copyright 1940 & renewed 1968 by W.H.
Auden, “As I Walked Out One Evening,” copyright 1940 & renewed
1968 by W.H. Auden, from Collected Poems by W.H. Auden. Used
by permission of Random House, Inc.
Production manager: Andrew Marasia
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Quammen, David, 1948–
Natural acts: a sidelong view of science & nature / David Quammen.
—
Rev. and expanded ed., with a new introduction including “Planet of
weeds” and the Megatransect series.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN: 978-0-393-07632-5
1. Natural history—Miscellanea. I. Title.
QH45.5.Q36 2008
508—dc22
2007027545
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y.
10110
www.wwnorton.com
W. W. Norton & Company Ltd.Castle House, 75/76 Wells Street,
London W1T 3QT
CONTENTS

New, Retrospective Introduction: Learning Curve (2007)
Old, Ingenuous Introduction: An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles
(1985)
ALL GOD’S VERMIN
Sympathy for the Devil (1981)
Has Success Spoiled the Crow? (1983)
The Widow Knows (1982)
The Troubled Gaze of the Octopus (1984)
Avatars of the Soul in Malaya (1984)
Rumors of a Snake (1984)
Wool of Bat (1982)
PROPHETS AND PARIAHS
The Excavation of Jack Horner (1984)
The Lives of Eugène Marais (1981)
The Man with the Metal Nose (1983)
Animal Rights and Beyond (1984)
Alias Benowitz Shoe Repair (1983)
The Tree People (1984)
ELOQUENT PRACTICES, NATURAL ACTS
Love’s Martyrs (1983)