Edwin Way Teale (1899–1980)

I haven't read much nature writing. This book doesn't convince me to read more. It's so... aimless. Hundreds of pages of Teale-- who I must admit, seems a very nice fellow-- just telling you things he's seen. He loves to count, especially: how many birds flew by, how many sequential times a frog croaked, how long it takes his wife to walk around a pond. But the numbers are just numbers. You don't learn anything from knowing them. Most of what he describes is just there, the book is a blaze of information not put into anything that would give it meaning. Though on the occasions he does moralize, it makes you roll your eyes. Aren't we all just intrepid little squirrels? Honest question: is all nature writing this purposeless, or is it just Teale? Or is it just this book, which was one of the last he wrote? He won a Pulitzer early in his career; that book must have had some kind of point, right?

There are occasional nuggets. As a local, I liked the bits of  Connecticut history he provided, from the founding of his town to some of the local characters. And the chapter where he flies over his property at dawn in a hot-air balloon is delightful. Also: I learned about Lake Char­gog­gag­ogg­man­chaug­gag­ogg­chau­bun­a­gung­a­maugg, the longest place name in the United States.… (more)

This is a broad scope natural history of the eastern United States in spring. There are few books which address the full spectrum of the natural world through a season, much less an entire portion of a continent. This author has the in-depth knowledge to do that, and it makes a very good read. From it, a reader gets the ecological dependencies among the plants and animals observed, and of their requirements for a healthy natural community. This book was written before Rachael Carson was well known and before the deep affects human activities on the natural world was widely known. But the author was aware of the vast affects that humans had had on the living natural communities through which he and his wife journeyed one spring. Many examples are given of healthy natural areas, and also of blighted natural areas due to human activity. Written back in the mid 1950s, the book provides a good index on the extent of the alteration of our world by ourselves at that time. Compared to today, many of the places described, teeming with life, are very pleasant to read about.

I recommend this book along with Aldo Leopold's Sand County Almanac for a good footing on the natural world of America and how it functions and how it is often degraded. Most importantly, these two books provide an insight to the time scale of both degradation, and the time scale of recovery, and the intricacies involved between the two conditions.

On a simpler perspective, the book is enjoyable simply for its pleasant natural world travelogue. It would be difficult to repeat this journey and come across so many pleasant times. There are other more recent books that do just that, but mostly their travels have to be planned around the places that are no longer in the top tier of places to visit.

There is a map of the route travelled in the front of the book. Chapter organization and a good index are provided. Illustrations are in the form of black and white photos, not very many and slightly clumped together for printing convenience.… (more)