In Wild Thoughts from Wild Places, award-winning journalist David Quammen reminds us why he has become one of our most beloved science and nature writers.This collection of twenty-three of Quammen's most intriguing, most exciting, most memorable pieces introduces kayakers on the Futaleufu River of southern Chile, where Quammen describes how it feels to travel in fast company and flail for survival in the river's maw. Readers learn of the commerce in pearls (and black-market parrots) in the Aru Islands of eastern Indonesia. Quammen even finds wildness in smog-choked Los Angeles -- embodied in an elusive population of urban coyotes, too stubborn and too clever to surrender to the sprawl of civilization. With humor and intelligence, David Quammen's Wild Thoughts from Wild Places also reminds us that humans are just one of the many species on earth with motivations, goals, quirks, and eccentricities. Expect to be entertained and moved on this journey through the wilds of science and nature.

In Wild Thoughts from Wild Places, award-winning journalist David Quammen reminds us why he has become one of our most beloved science and nature writers.

ContentsIntroductionI. THE RIVERSynecdoche and the TroutTime and Tide on the Ocoee RiverVortexOnly ConnectGrabbing the LoopII. THE CITYThe White Tigers of CincinnatiTo Live and Die in L.A.Reaction WoodSuperdove on 46th StreetBefore the FallIII. THE MOUNTAINSPinhead SecretsThe Keys to Kingdom ComeKarl's Sense of SnowThe Trees Cry Out on Currawong MoorThe Big TurnEat of This FleshIV. THE HEARTThe Swallow That Hibernates UnderwaterTrinket from AruBagpipes for EdPoint of AttachmentVoice Part for a DuetLove in the Age of RelativityStrawberries Under IceNotes and ProvenanceBibliographyIndex