What could be better than watching the natural world out your window or on your television Going out and experiencing it firsthand. In these fifty essays acclaimed nature and science writer Sy Montgomery takes her readers on a seasonbyseason tour of the wilderness that is often as close as the backyard. Sy invites almost dares readers to follow her and form handson relationships with the plants animals birds and even the insects that share space with people. These essays most of which originally appeared in Sys Boston Globe column Nature Journal are by turns enlightening entertaining sometimes amusing and always absorbing and informative. Filled with natural history and lore the essays urge readers to appreciate what they find around them.