Description: A distinctive, funny, inspiring, and intimate dive into urban nature
Brief description: A naturalist, writer, and artist based in Seattle, Kelly Brenner is the author of Nature Obscura: A City's Hidden Natural World, a finalist for the PNBA and Washington State book awards. Her writing has appeared in Popular Science, Crosscut, National Wildlife Magazine, and The Open Notebook among others. Brenner earned a bachelor's degree in landscape architecture from the University of Oregon and a certificate in nonfiction writing from the University of Washington. She shares her observations of the natural world, as well as folklore, books, and poetry, on metrofieldguide.com.
Review Quotes: A warm-hearted meditation on the natural wonders that we city dwellers overlook every day, such as the western pondhawk (a dragonfly), licorice ferns, and the charming Anna's hummingbird, her heart beating 1,250 times a minute--and the perhaps less charming ant-decapitating fly and, yes, Fuligo septima, a.k.a., dog-vomit slime mold . . ." Once you read this book you'll step more carefully, to avoid damaging the myriad tiny worlds that add color and texture to our world.--Erik Larson