Let the Nature Journaling Begin!

I got a new library book today!! I am so excited to dig into this book! I have already read the first chapter which inspired me to grab a sheet of paper right away and draw the little guys on my back porch. There are like 3 or 4 Leopard Geckos that live behind the light fixture. <3 I used to keep Leopard Geckos in a cage as a kid and so I love them a lot. Now, having them as neighbors is awesome.

I don't know if I will be drawing a lot in my nature journal... I may just take pictures. I'm not very good at drawing. When I was in 1st or 2nd grade as a kid I loved to color and draw! But I distinctly remember the crushing moment when all the love I had for art was bulldozed over by this teacher of mine. We don't need to get into the details... :) I'm over it and have decided to add art to my list of self education pursuits. :) I definitely have gaps in art appreciation and application that need filled. :)

Anyhow this book is amazing. HIGHLY recommend it!! The series is called the Amateur Science Series and so far I know of three books in the series. The Amateur Naturalist is the one I have now. I have read The Amateur Geologist (Which is also amazing!!) Next on my list to aquire is The Amateur Meteorologist.

The Amateur Geologist book does have an old world/evolution view point. (you know millions and millions of years...) The value in this book supersedes any bending I had to do around that aspect though. I'm not sure about the view point in either the one I am currently reading or the one I haven't read yet ... but so far, these books are amazing and worth it for anyone looking to journal these different genres of nature.

The authors in this series seems to absolutely love their area of expertise and it bleeds through the pages. Their words make you excited and they make you want to literally jump up right away and get started! I did with the geologist book and am finding myself doing it again with this one.

Some of the first exercises in this book include keeping a list of your non human neighbors -even if you don't know their names, so you can find out later, investigating bird feeding preferences (which is next on my to-do list), investigating ant lion diggings, investigating wooly bear caterpillar wanderings and so much more... just in the first chapter!!

See if your library has a copy of this book immediately... :) I promise you this book will pose questions in your heart that you just have to answer.  I would even go so far as to say this book might motivate a reluctant jr high or high school student to get up and love on some nature. :)

Let me know if you read it too! :)

Happy Reading!!

Spiders, Snakes, and Other Outcasts: A Review

"To call a man a worm is to indicate about the lowest possible opinion of him. This betrays ignorance. Worms are among the most successful forms of life. They are so remarkably successful, in fact, that it is necessary to go in for careful definitions to decide whether many wormlike creatures deserve the accolade of being called worms." -Robert Froman

-Spiders, Snakes, and Other Outcasts 1965 -Robert Froman

This quote amuses me... my husband says in the oil field (where he works) they call new guys "worms"

hehe!

I. Love. This. Book. 

I am constantly discovering these wonderful living books inside my small town library. I mentioned this book inside a facebook group I belong to but I wanted to go into it with a a little more detail to show you why this book is so cool and why it's so alive.

The author seems very upset by the fact that most people find some extraordinary animals "hateful". He is clearly one of the "few thousand human beings" that find these animals fascinating. He writes this book with chapter titles such as The Not So Humble Worms and They That Go Upon The Belly. This book has a copyright date of  1965!! I wonder how long it has been in my library...

This first chapter of this book called Why the Hate has some awesome information in it for the reader. It talks about Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and Species. He also explains why being terrified by certain creatures stops us from being able to learn about them and understand them. And he has a few theories on why people might be so revolted. :)

This book is filled with tons of information on worms, spiders, octopi, bats, snakes, vultures, roaches, and toads. Some of it could be scientifically outdated but that just creates more learning opportunities as far as I am concerned.

My ONLY qualm... which I find I have for a lot of random living books I end up finding in my old library is that this author loves evolution and sees through that lens exclusively. So all information in this book is filtered through his views. There is even a section in the back where he lays out a timeline of when things first appeared or evolved... Now I do not believe in evolution one bit so I had to filter this entire book through my own lenses and such... but not hard to do depending on the age and maturity of the reader.

My favorite part about this book... the vocabulary. This book is RICH with awesome descriptive imagery. And my brain absolutely loves reading books with words I don't usually use or see daily. It keeps me interested and turns gears for me while I read so that my short attention span can stay tuned.

Here is the Amazon link to this book should you wish to check it out further. :)


Happy Reading!