Thunder Tree: Lessons from an Urban Wildland - Softcover

When people connect with nature, they do so in a specific place, and The Thunder Tree shows how that connection can change a life forever, how roots in the earth can be as important as roots in a family. For Robert Michael Pyle, that place was the High Line Canal in Denver, Colorado, which he first discovered as a boy in the 1950s."From the time I was six," he writes, "this weedy watercourse had been my sanctuary, playground, and sulking walk. It was also my imaginary wilderness, escape hatch, and birthplace as a naturalist. Later the canal served as lover's lane, research site, and holy ground of solace."In this lyrical memoir and unforgettable portrait of place, Pyle argues eloquently that if we fail to preserve our opportunities to explore nature, we will diminish our lives and our culture immeasurably. (51/2 X 81/4, 240 pages)

Robert Michael Pyle, called "one of America's finest natural history writers" by Sue Hubbell, is the author of fifteen books, including Mariposa Road: The First Butterfly Big Year, Chasing Monarchs, Where Bigfoot Walks, and Wintergreen, which won the John Burroughs Medal. A Yale-trained ecologist and a Guggenheim fellow, he lives in southwestern Washington.