Product Description

Living at the limits of our ordinary perception, mosses are a common but largely unnoticed element of the natural world. Gathering Moss is a beautifully written mix of science and personal reflection that invites readers to explore and learn from the elegantly simple lives of mosses.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #166250 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03-01
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .44" h x 6.06" w x 9.00" l, .63 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Review
Something I took for granted suddenly has come alive, because I have been given its story. After reading this book, I took a magnifying glass outside and pored over tree trunks. I have seen Robin Kimmerer's miniature landscape for myself. Yet, this is so much more than a book about mosses. This is a Native American woman speaking. This is a mother's story. This is science revealed through the human psyche. Robin Kimmerer is a scientist who combines empiricism with all other forms of knowing. Hers is a spectacularly different view of the world, and her true voice needs to be heard. – Janisse Ray, author of Ecology of a Cracker Childhood and Wild Card Quilt: Taking a Chance on Home Robin Kimmerer . . . has written as good a book as you will find on a natural history subject. You will want to go outside and get on your knees with a hand lens and begin to probe this Lilliputian world she describes so beautifully. – Seattle Times It takes a certain kind of courage and passion to write an entire book on mosses . . . Kimmerer admirably rises to the challenge in her first book, Gathering Moss, opening up a world of rich surprises in the process. What we learn about mosses is breathtaking. – Orion An interesting account, both personal and exact, of an area of the vegetable kingdom that I often do not even notice . . . [a passionate emphasis on something often most successfully appreciated by viewing through a microscope. – Jamaica Kincaid, The New York Times Book Review Bryologist Robin Wall Kimmerer may well be the next Annie Dillard. She is a wonderful wordsmith as well as a scientist, teacher, mother, and daughter of the Potawatomi tribe. Kimmerer brings all these levels of perception to the miniature landscapes she describes in this collection of essays. – The Olympian

About the Author
Robin Wall Kimmerer is an Associate Professor on the faculty of Environmental and Forest Biology at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. She has published numerous articles on the biology and ecology of mosses, as well as articles on traditional Native American knowledge of the natural world. Gathering Moss is her first book.