David Douglas, a Naturalist at Work - 9781570618291

Jack Nisbet begins this book sixty feet above ground, swaying gently from the thin leader of a Grand Fir tree, and finds a way to make the pose relaxing. Following directly in the footsteps of pioneering Pacific Northwest naturalist David Douglas, Nisbet goes from those elusive fir cones to digging camas roots with Spokane Indian women to crossing the Columbia Bar, with descriptions of the history of science, exploration, culture, and travel along the way. The book is nicely illustrated with small photographs of historic and contemporary objects from the journey. It's a big job, and in quiet, skillful prose, Nisbet makes it seem easy. The author writes like a good travelling companion: friendly, competent, knowledgeable, unflashy, endlessly interested, aware of negative and difficult realties but choosing to focus instead on what is interesting, what is beautiful, what survives, and the present moment, whether it was David Douglas' moment at the top of that tree two centuries ago, or the author's moment in the same tree now. He focuses on travel by foot and boat, often in the state of Oregon. This is a ramble through the region rather than an extreme-challenge account. A follow-up to Nisbet's book on Douglas The Collector, this able and quietly joyful book will be a pleasure for any general reader who enjoys armchair adventures on a winter night, and any general reader in the Pacific Northwest looking for familiar and new places to enjoy the real thing. Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)