Handbook of Nature Study: The Basic Ideas

(a radish from our winter garden)

• "Anna Botsford Comstock very appropriately took the view that we should know first and best the things closest to us. Only then, when we have an intimate knowledge of our neighbors, should we journey farther afield to learn about more distant things."
• From the 1986 foreward to the book Handbook of Nature Study

• "But it should not be thought that nature-study is not science. The promising science of ecology is merely formalized nature-study; indeed it might be said that nature-study is natural science from an ecological rather than an anatomical point of view. The truth is that nature-study is a science, and is more than a science; it is not merely a study of life, but an experience of life. One realizes as he reads these pages, that with Mrs. Comstock it even contributed to a philosophy of life."
• From the 1939 Publisher's forward to the book Handbook of Nature Study

Nature study is real science. It encompasses so many important skills that are needed in upper level science. The skills of observation, documentation, research, and experimentation. It feeds the mind and the heart with a love of all that is around us. It enhances your life with simple pleasures and does become a way of life.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom
Check out my page on taking a winter hike