Earth's natural wonders celebrated in new series of literary companions
In spring 2007 Greystone Books will launch a series of carefully selected nature, natural history, exploration, and adventure anthologies. Each book in the collection focuses on a particular natural or geographic feature and evokes, through the words of gifted writers, the spirit of the natural element. Comprising compact, easy-to-pack, quality editions, the series features selections from the finest literary nature and travel writing in the world, in English and in translation. From the classical to the modern, from the wilds of hitherto unexplored regions to the world outside our doorsteps, the writers selected for each title capture the magical power, beauty and awe-inspiring grandeur of the natural world. The first two anthologies to be released will explore the majesty of mountains and the lure of rivers and lakes.
In Where the Silence Rings (the title is taken from The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen: "In the frozen air, the whole mountain is taut; the silence rings"), Aldo Leopold's evocative "On Top" ("In winter the top of the mountain was denied even to horsemen, for the snow piled deep on the high meadows, and the little canyons up which the only trails ascended drifted full to the brim") stands beside Belmore Browne's heart-stopping "Conquest of Mt. McKinley" ("a deep rumbling came from the Alaskan Range. I can only compare the sound to thunder, but it had a deep hollow quality that was unlike thunder, a sinister suggestion of overwhelming power that was terrifying") and an excerpt from John Buchan's suspenseful work of nonfiction, "The Last Secrets" ("In April, 1906, the Duke of Abruzzi and his party left Italy to settle once and for all the riddle of the mountains"). A Dogrib Indian myth about the creation of the Rockies shares space with excerpts from a work of fiction by HG. Wells and with Earl Birney's tragic mountaineering poem, "David." Other contributors include John Muir, Jamaica Kincaid, John McPhee, Jon Krakauer and Michael Crichton. Sixteen memorable pieces add up to an exhilarating read, indelible impressions from great writers who have experienced the mystery and the grandeur of the mountains and have come back to tell their tales. Wayne Grady is one of Canada's foremost popular science writers and the winner of three Science in Society awards from the Canadian Science Writers Association. His ten previously published nonfiction books recounted such diverse adventures as hunting dinosaurs in the Gobi Desert, investigating global warming at the North Pole, and discovering the wild in an urban metropolis. In 2004 he collaborated with acclaimed geneticist and environmentalist David Suzuki on Tree: A Life Story, a bestseller in Canada now in its third printing. Most recently, he published Bringing Back the Dodo (2006), a work that expanded on his natural science columns for Explore magazine. In addition to his award-winning work in science and nature fields, he has received the Governor General's Award for English Translation, several National Magazine Awards, and the Brascan Award for Food Writing. He is married to the writer Merilyn Simonds and lives near Kingston, Ontario.
You can buy this book online at chapters.indigo.ca or amazon.ca, or find it at your local bookstore.
