Diane Ackerman

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Published by: Random House
Release Date: October 23, 1991
Pages: 249
ISBN13: 978-0394585741

 
OVERVIEW

A unique blend of poetic essays and scientific descriptions of endangered animals and the natural world. Ackerman writes with the precision of a scientist and the soul of a romantic, luring readers with provocative word pictures while educating them on the importance of such animals in the global scheme of nature. She maintains that near-perfect balance of animal lore, objective study, and conservation, and includes some downright hair-raising adventures. Her goal, to underscore our responsibility to respond to the protection of these creatures, is met admirably. This is nonfiction storytelling at its best.

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PRAISE

“One of our most thoughtful and imaginative writers on natural history... a stunning fit between science and art.”
— Houston Chronicle

“Once in a while you forget, when reading Diane Ackerman’s prose, that you’re reading ‘nature writing.’ One becomes immersed in an essay, cruising along with this woman’s unfolding adventure. By mingling a narrative of her experience with the study of the lives of animals, she reminds us that not only she is connected, intimately, to the world of animals, we all are.”
— Detroit Free Press

“The Moon by Whale Light is passionate, well-written, effervescent prose that conveys the rapture she feels when engaging another creature’s being.”
— Cleveland Plain Dealer

"A unique blend of poetic essays and scientific descriptions of usually unlovely animals. Ackerman writes with the precision of a scientist and the soul of a romantic, luring readers with provocative word pictures while educating them on the importance and necessity of these animals in the global scheme of nature. She maintains that near-perfect balance of animal lore, objective study, and conservation, and includes some downright hair-raising adventures such as riding an alligator bareback and swimming face-to-face with a right whale. Her goal, to underscore man's responsibility to respond to the protection of these creatures, is met admirably. This is nonfiction storytelling at its best."
—Library School Journal  

“This is enthusiastic, free-ranging and accessible-- popular natural-history writing at its most persuasive.”
— Publishers Weekly