Tracks and Shadows - by Harry W Greene (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Intellectually rich, intensely personal, and beautifully written, Tracks and Shadows is both an absorbing autobiography of a celebrated field biologist and a celebration of beauty in nature. Harry W. Greene, award-winning author of Snakes: The Evolution of Mystery in Nature delves into the poetry of field biology, showing how nature eases our existential quandaries. More than a memoir, the book is about the wonder of snakes, the beauty of studying and understanding natural history, and the importance of sharing the love of nature with humanity. Greene begins with his youthful curiosity about the natural world and moves to his stints as a mortician's assistant, ambulance driver, and army medic. In detailing his academic career, he describes how his work led him to believe that nature's most profound lessons lurk in hard-won details. He discusses the nuts and bolts of field research and teaching, contrasts the emotional impact of hot dry habitats with hot wet ones, imparts the basics of snake biology, and introduces the great explorers Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. He reflects on friendship and happiness, tackles notions like anthropomorphism and wilderness, and argues that organisms remain the core of biology, science plays key roles in conservation, and natural history offers an enlightened form of contentment. "--

Book Synopsis

Intellectually rich, intensely personal, and beautifully written, Tracks and Shadows is both an absorbing autobiography of a celebrated field biologist and a celebration of beauty in nature. Harry W. Greene, award-winning author of Snakes: The Evolution of Mystery in Nature, delves into the poetry of field biology, showing how nature eases our existential quandaries. More than a memoir, the book is about the wonder of snakes, the beauty of studying and understanding natural history, and the importance of sharing the love of nature with humanity.

Greene begins with his youthful curiosity about the natural world and moves to his stints as a mortician's assistant, ambulance driver, and army medic. In detailing his academic career, he describes how his work led him to believe that nature's most profound lessons lurk in hard-won details. He discusses the nuts and bolts of field research and teaching, contrasts the emotional impact of hot dry habitats with hot wet ones, imparts the basics of snake biology, and introduces the great explorers Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. He reflects on friendship and happiness, tackles notions like anthropomorphism and wilderness, and argues that organisms remain the core of biology, science plays key roles in conservation, and natural history offers an enlightened form of contentment.

From the Back Cover

"This book is an immediate classic. I had heard of it rumored for years. It is grand indeed and more than fulfilled my expectations."

--Jim Harrison, author of Legends of the Fall and The River Swimmer

"Tracks and Shadows is a valuable, fascinating, very human book about the making of a field biologist. Harry Greene has lived the life of which I once dreamed: studying snakes. But there's more here, much more, and what makes it all work is something not taught in herpetology class. This man can write."

--David Quammen, author of Spillover and The Song of the Dodo

"With Tracks and Shadows, renowned field scientist Harry Greene masterfully--and poetically--examines the contradictions inherent in wild places that teem with both beauty and danger. In these stories, drawn from a life spent in the study of his beloved snakes, he reveals how an eminently humane scientist learned to find joy and peace by exploring the living world."

--Mark W. Moffett, author of Adventures among Ants: A Global Safari with a Cast of Trillions

"Harry Greene shares the sting of death and the joy of life in Tracks and Shadows, but this brilliant book is also about the wonder of snakes, the beauty of studying natural history, and the importance of sharing a love of nature with humanity. It has something to teach every one of us."

--Marty Crump, author of In Search of the Golden Frog and Headless Males Make Great Lovers

Review Quotes

"[Reminds] us that appreciation of the natural world is important to us as individuals and collectively."--Hollis Walker "Santa Fe New Mexican" (2/14/2014 12:00:00 AM)

"Achingly beautiful. . . . Greene succeeds in illuminating the world as a place of beauty, harmony, and danger, deeply interconnected and worthy of cherishing and preserving." Starred Review.-- "Publishers Weekly" (8/19/2013 12:00:00 AM)

"As beautiful and nuanced as the landscapes it evokes."-- "The Scientist" (11/15/2013 12:00:00 AM)

"As packed with people and drama as a novel."--Stuart Pimm "Nature" (10/24/2013 12:00:00 AM)

"Fiercely honest and fascinating."--Jules Pretty "Times Higher Education" (10/24/2013 12:00:00 AM)

"Greene engages readers from beginning to end. . . . The book leaves us with questions to ponder but also with inspiration to indulge our curiosity for nature."--Frances Bonier "Science" (12/13/2013 12:00:00 AM)

"Greene has created a rare bridge between [artists and scientists] and told us what it feels like to be a deeply sensitive research scientist, working in a world where the ecosystems are falling to bits around us."--Rick Shine "Current Biology" (11/8/2013 12:00:00 AM)

"Harry Greene's exuberance for life infuses this scien- tific autobiography, which overflows with his passion for herpetology, the wild places that his beloved reptiles inhabit, and very human friendships."-- "Conservation Biology" (4/1/2014 12:00:00 AM)

"No one reading this paean for a respect of the outdoors and its inhabitants could fail to be enthused."-- "International Journal of Environmental Studies" (3/21/2014 12:00:00 AM)

"This scientist has a poet's heart. . . . Tracks and Shadows is a sweet surprise; rarely has science been so tender."-- "Booklist" (11/1/2013 12:00:00 AM)

"What a pleasure it is to read these meditations on a 'personal quest for wildness.' . . . What makes this book so rich is [the author's] gift with language along with his thoughtful appreciation of what it means to study nature and to travel, if ever so briefly, on a living planet."--Laurence A. Marschall "Natural History" (3/1/2014 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

Harry W. Greene is the Stephen Weiss Presidential Fellow and Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University and a recipient of the E.O. Wilson Award from the American Society of Naturalists. His book Snakes: The Evolution of Mystery in Nature (UC Press), won a PEN Literary Award and was a New York Times Notable Book.