A Field Guide to the Familiar - by Gale Lawrence (Paperback)

About the Book

A book for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the natural world

Book Synopsis

Designed both to encourage beginning naturalists and to challenge more experienced observers to look at the familiar in new ways, A Field Guide to the Familiar offers an introduction to common plants, animals, and natural phenomena. Beautiful drawings add to the book's refreshing approach to nature study. Organized by the seasons of the year, each chapter focuses on one subject and one learning objective. From fall's first frost to the field crickets of high summer, this innovative guide explores in depth such familiar sights as bumblebees, rainbows, acorns, blueberries, and shooting stars. Each chapter includes descriptive information to help readers identify each subject, as well as life cycle information that shows how a subject functions within a grander scheme. Readers learn that every plant and animal - even the atmosphere - has its own story, and they begin to perceive the natural world as whole, interconnected, and continuous. Whether read sequentially or used as a field companion or handy desk reference, A Field Guide to the Familiar gives every reader a sense of the natural world as an accessible - and endlessly fascinating - place.

From the Back Cover

This field guide invites all aspiring naturalists to focus on one familiar plant, animal, or natural phenomenon at a time, and observe it in detail. It offers descriptive information on dozens of common subjects - from frost and fruit flies to blue jays and beech trees - and includes a drawing of each. Organized by seasons, it encourages readers to look more closely at the natural cycles of life in our world, and discover how much there is to learn. Whether read sequentially or used as a field companion or handy desk reference, A Field Guide to the Familiar (first published in 1984, and reprinted here with new reading suggestions) gives everyone a sense of the natural world as an accessible - and endlessly fascinating - place.

Review Quotes

"A Field Guide to the Familiar goes far beyond the scope of any nature guide I've read. It's not just a means of identifying and understanding the characteristics of dozens of roadside birds, flowers, trees, and animals, but an unabashed celebration of them. It's a celebration, if you will of the ordinary in nature, which often turns out to be a good deal less ordinary than I, for one, ever supposed . . . Who, exactly can benefit from A Field Guide to the Familiar? Anyone interested in our everyday natural surroundings: country dwellers, city dwellers, teachers and students (the book will be an excellent supplementary text for life science and biology classes), professional naturalists and backyard bird watchers."--Howard Frank Mosher "Rutland Herald / Montpelier Times Argus"

"For the budding young naturalist, this book is a worthwhile guide to the non-arid natural world. From plants to animals, the author points out and explains the living world as though teaching a high-school science class."--Howard Frank Mosher "Kliatt Young Adult Paperback Book Guide"

About the Author

GALE LAWRENCE is a naturalist, lecturer, and teacher who writes for several Vermont newspapers and is also author of The Indoor Naturalist and The Beginning Naturalist. This edition of A Field Guide to the Familiar, first published in 1984, contains a new Reading Suggestions section.