 | Keeping a Nature Journal: Discover a Whole New Way of Seeing the World Around You |
| List Price: | $18.95 |
| Price: | $12.80 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details |
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com
85 new or used available from $7.19
Average customer review:
(24 customer reviews)
Product Description
From the day it was released in 2000, Keeping a Nature Journal has struck a profound chord among professional, casual, and occasional naturalists of all ages. In response to this groundswell of enthusiasm, we have revised KEEPING A NATURE JOURNAL, updated the interior design, and created a new cover. Undoubtedly the most exciting new element in this second edition is a portfolio of 32 illustrated pages from Clare Walker Leslie's most recent journals, reproduced in full color.
What makes KEEPING A NATURE JOURNAL so popular? It is inspiring and easy to use. Clare and co-author Charles Chuck E. Roth offer simple techniques to give first-time journal-keepers the confidence to go outside, observe the natural world, and sketch and write about what they see. At the same time, they motivate long-time journal-keepers to hone their powers of observation as they immerse themselves in the mysteries of the natural world. Clare and Chuck stress that the journal is a personal record of daily experience and the world around us. Nature's beauty can be observed everywhere, whether in the city, suburbs, or country.
- Amazon Sales Rank: #33913 in Books
- Brand: Workman Publishing Group
- Published on: 2003-09-01
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: .64" h x 9.30" w x 10.03" l, 2.00 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 224 pages
Review
"Clare Walker Leslie's work is so invaluable in field of nature study, for all ages everywhere. We use it in our Roots and Shoots program to help young people sharpen their observation skills and deepen their connection with nature."
From the Inside Flap
Like a string of beads - or pearls these little - or grand - episodes help us link to the larger strand. This stringing of images, thoughts, connections, helps us to have more understanding, reason, compassion, gratefulness. - Clare Walker Leslie, journal entry, September 3, 1997
You can experience a spirited yet tranquil exploration of the living world by creating your own nature journal. In any season, any weather, and any place, nature journaling compels us to slow down, observe, reflect, and once again embrace our connection to the living mosaic that is our environment.
Using the methods Clare Walker Leslie and Chuck Roth have developed over years of journaling teaching, Keeping a Nature Journal guides you in creating ongoing journals for all seasons and purposes. You'll also learn techniques from other amateur and professional nature journalists.
Simple methods for capturing what you see in sketches and words will inspire you to make journaling a part of your daily life and will help you create journals to enjoy for years to come.
From the Back Cover
Experience the natural world with fresh eyes!
Using the simple techniques in this book, anyone can learn how to start and keep an ongoing nature journal. Along the way you'll develop skills in observing, sketching, appreciating, and writing about life's beauty and mysteries.
"This creative process is a the heart of natural history observation, and it helps to make the best of experiences also the most lasting in memory for anyone wishing to enjoy it." - From the Foreward by Edward O. Wilson
"Drawing, writing and nature study can all seem a bit daunting to the uninitiated, but Keeping a Nature Journal with its friendly, rambling format and unpretentious drawings, makes keeping this kind of living record seem as natural and anxiety - free as taking a snapshot or writing a postcard to a friend. A great guide to discovering nature for yourself and creating your own work of art along to way." - Christopher W. Leahy, Director Center for Biological Conservation, Massachusetts Audubon Society
"This book offers people of all ages and interests a simple, direct method for getting outdoors to observe and enjoy the natural world around them." - Mark Wexler, Editor National Wildlife magazine
Most helpful customer reviews
109 of 112 people found the following review helpful.Real ideas from real notebooks
By N. C. Derham
What makes this book so great? It is partially a nature journal itself, yet it is full of *real* ideas for your notebooks. I love the authors' drawings and comments, and how they help you draw well with small exercises. I was amazed at how well I could draw a bird after doing the bird sketches they recommend. They include sidebars with annectdotes of teaching approaches. They suggest ways to make a note book your own, to make it more interesting, and to make it more scientific, too!
Some of my favorite pages in the book are city or country landscapes, including houses and buildings. The authors remind us that humans are part of nature, and what they build is too, just as a wasps' nest is. A drawing of a street in Cambridge MA made me a bit homesick...but it also reminded me that this would be our last year with a cabana at the beach. I started documenting our days there, and rather than take photos, I tried to record our days in pictures I drew. These are not amazingly Rembrant-esque, but they accurately reflect the days we spent. With a bit of help from this book, I was able to capture perspective and shadowing as I drew my children and the local flora and fauna, and add comments as I draw--the time and temperature, what the animals are doing, when the last rain fall was, or how I felt. The entries in this notebook include the buildings and benches, the fences and the kites--everything it take s to capture a scene.
Leslie and Roth talk about different types of notebooks, with examples. Seasonal notebooks capture the changing wilderness; scientific notebooks record observations with commentary. A notebook may include only flora or fauna. It may record a journey or special occasion.
A nifty section includes a discussion of materials and tools for drawing. Leslie demonstrates pens vs. pencils and markers, drawing the same leaf with several different tools. She tells us her preferences, but leaves us to choose for ourselves.
One side-bar includes the author's reflexion on teaching nature journaling: When asked about drawing in an nature notebook, one second grader said, "Well, I can draw the sky." That's how I felt about drawing...and yet that phrase says so much about nature notebooks. The sky is so big, yet so simple. I think this sums up the whole book. Keeping a nature notebook is so simple, yet such a big part of our education.
72 of 73 people found the following review helpful.WOW Beautiful, practical, full of ideas and useful tidbits!
By Ark Lady (Diana L Guerrero)
Okay, this is a winner! If you do NOT have it on your bookshelf then get it! This has become one of the required textbooks for many of my courses. (Visit my Amazon page for more information.)
It is flat out beautiful -- the beauty is that it is filled with the illustrations and notes by the authors. The book delves into the questions you might have, doubts that might arise -- and those get answered but the book allows and encourages creativity and growth through the nature journal process.
You'll find hints for what tools to pick for your illustrations and notes, tips for observing, what information you might want to include, how to overcome your critical mind, beginning drawing exercises and tips on how to enchance your creativity. You'll find a seasonal section that gives some good suggestions for documenting natural changes and events. Later there are more drawing exercises on shading, drawing flowers, anatomy, landscapes, etc. There are also samples of different journal techniques, tips on how to set up a nature study, how to keep records, how to journal for a scientific study or biological research project and still more!
Toward the end of the book group journaling and exploring is discussed. What you will also find are valuable tips for quizzes, writing, science, art, history, music and math projects. The suggested reading list and assessment scale for the journal or porfolio are also vital resources within this book.
If you are not convince now you never will be! One of the best personal journaling _and_ teaching books I've encountered this last year.
34 of 34 people found the following review helpful.This book will inspire you!
By Julie Lovisa
What a beautiful guidebook...it's lavishly illustrated with the authors' own nature sketches and comments so that you can really get a feel for what a nature journal is all about. Not only will you be keeping a record of the world around you, but you will be learning to see that world with new eyes. It's so easy to glide over the tiny details that make life truly remarkable...by taking the authors' tips and lessons to heart, you will find yourself paying deeper attention to the little things.
You definitely don't have to be an artist (I'm not, by far) to be able to keep a journal of this type. In fact, there are several basic drawing exercises included that will help you develop some skill, even if you think it's hopeless. The important thing is to stop and smell the roses...and then draw them.
http://astore.amazon.com/amazon-book-books-20/detail/1580174930
No comments:
Post a Comment