Author and biologist Carl Safina has won the 2012 Orion Book Award for The View from Lazy Point: A Natural Year in an Unnatural World (Holt), in recognition of the book’s success in addressing the human relationship with the natural world in a fresh, thought-provoking, and engaging manner. The other finalists were Oil on Water by Helon Habila (W.W. Norton & Co.), Fire Season by Philip Connors (Ecco), Swamplandia! by Karen Russell (Vintage), and Raising Elijah by Sandra Steingraber (De Capo).