Close to Home: The Wonders of Nature Just Outside Your Door

(Hardback)

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Description

An award-winning natural-history writer opens the door to the nature that thrives in our yards, gardens, and parks

We all live on nature's doorstep, but we often overlook it. From backyards to local parks, the natural places we see the most may well be the ones we know the least.

In Close to Home, biologist Thor Hanson shows how retraining our eyes reveals hidden wonders just waiting to be discovered. In Kansas City, migrating monarch butterflies flock to the local zoo. In the Pacific Northwest, fierce yellowjackets placidly sip honeydew, unseen in the treetops. In New England, a lawn gone slightly wild hosts a naturalist's life's work. And in the soil beneath our feet, remedies for everything from breast cancer to the stench of skunks lie waiting for someone's searching shovel.

Close to Home is a hands-on natural history for any local patch of Earth. It shows that we each can contribute to science and improve the health of our planet. And even more, it proves that the wonders of nature don't lie in some far-off land: they await us, close to home.

Reviews

"A fascinating look at interesting creatures going about their business in the most mundane habitats, demonstrating that observing nature is available to all. For readers who relish accessible scientific studies and lyrical nature writing." --Library Journal
"Readers who assume a backyard consists of weeds, shrubbery, rodents, local birds, and bugs are in for a surprise... Plenty of exotica live among us." --Kirkus Reviews
"Thor Hanson has done it again! In this surprising, upbeat, and exciting book, we learn that not only everyday wonders, but actual scientific discovery awaits us Close To Home. The perfect mix of science and story, told by a master of both. I loved it!" --Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an Octopus
"When we love a book we typically say, 'I couldn't put it down.' Close to Home is different. This book inspires such a rush of curiosity, I simply had to put it down over and over again so I could run out the door and investigate: peer beneath leaves for never-known insects, or turn my ear to the subtle language of neighborhood birds, or reach my hands into the soil to touch the under-earth beings beneath my everyday notice. What joy. Thor Hanson's love for his subject is infectious, and reminds us that access to the deep knowledge we need in this complex ecological time does not lie only within institutional walls, but in the everyday conversations between our wild minds, our wild hearts, and the wild earth." --Lyanda Lynn Haupt, author of Rooted
"Packed with inspiration and insight, the wonders of the living world are vividly revealed in this beautifully crafted invitation to curiosity and exploration."--David George Haskell, author of The Forest Unseen
"Thor Hanson's Close to Home invites us to step into the ordinary and discover the extraordinary. From natural science experiments to the search for new species, Hanson reminds us that awe and wonder are as close as our own backyard. With Hanson as our guide, a walk around the block becomes an opportunity to explore, to conserve, to ask questions, and to broaden our horizons."--Amy Stewart, author of The Drunken Botanist
"Thor Hanson's Close to Home, written with classic Hanson prose and enthusiasm, is as addictive as it is entertaining. Hanson teaches the value of looking high and low, near and far, at the fascinating natural systems we have never noticed right in our yards. And, very much to my liking, he tells us how to enhance those systems with minor tweaks to our landscapes. Thor Hanson has forced me to use the dreaded cliche: I couldn't put it down!"
--Doug Tallamy, author of Nature's Best Hope

Author Bio

Thor Hanson is a conservation biologist, Guggenheim fellow, and author of award-winning books including Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid, Buzz, Feathers, and The Triumph of Seeds. He lives with his wife and son on an island in Washington State.