The Nearsighted Naturalist

In a collection of essays that includes works from over two decades, Zwinger explores the abundant life in Rocky Mountain rivers, streams and ponds as well as the experience of whitewater rafting and exploring the world from Colorado to China. Whether she's crouching by the side of a stream observing stonefly nymphs, or doggedly seeking signs of a short-lived spring in Colorado, Zwinger combines eloquent writing with a devotion to nature. She describes and catalogues every creature, including those seemingly insignificant, tiny animals invisible to all eyes but those trained to look. As one might guess from the title, Zwinger's vision isn't perfect, but her myopia forces her, she says, to get even closer to her subjects. Having been raised in Indiana, she also comes to her new home in the Rocky Mountains with the unjaundiced eye of an outsider. But it was in Indiana that she first learned to love observing and writing about nature. Nature writing, she explains, ""was part of my upbringing. Quite early my mother gave me Gene Stratton Porter's A Girl of the Limberlost to read."" Since then she has expanded her list of literary models to include Annie Dillard and Edwin Way Teale, among many others, and here Zwinger once again displays the eloquence, beauty and acuity that put her in that great tradition. Includes pen- and-ink drawings. (Sept.) FYI: Zwinger's last book, Downcanyon, won the Western States Book Award for Creative Nonfiction.