The True Message of NATURE is, unless they are asking for help in some way,
to simply LEAVE THE ANIMALS ALONE!

Three of the best reasons to keep reading the 908 many exciting and informative pages
are Barry Lopez (excluding the hunting) and The Narwal,
Gilbert White and his Timothy Turtle,
and the inspiration of Robert Michael Pyle.

Oddly, the chronology opens on a sad note with felling an ancient Oak and the death of its raven.

It would be welcome to see this gone...
And just start with Timothy the Tortoise and earthworms so critical to soil and Life!

Vivid description of Ivory Billed Woodpecker follows, along with The Marten and the Hedgehog.

Horrors of collection for dissection are covered, as well murdering, "Struggling in mortal agony" for sport.
Thanks again, Audubon and Washington Irving and John Clare and Catlin's dying herds and hateful men.
and William Bartram's strange journey, plus fly fishing ( Fish have feelings, non?) and woodchuck murdering.

It would be great to add Charles Lyell's influential Principles of Geology. ( )

Maxine Hong Kingston's "A City Person Encountering Nature" in the Norton Book of Nature Writing is one of the loveliest essays I've ever read.