Songbirds, Truffles, and Wolves: An American Naturalist in Italy

by Gary Paul Nabhan

Paperback, 1994

Status

Available

Call number

914.5

Publication

Penguin Books (1994), Edition: Reprint, 256 pages

Description

"After two decades in the Southwest studying plant use and cultivation by the native hunter-gatherers and first farmers of the New World, Gary Nabhan, one of America's finest naturalists and nature writers, turns his attention to the Old World, walking the Franciscan Way, nearly two hundred miles from Florence to Assisi." "Accompanied by a friend, Nabhan enters the heart of the Tuscan and Umbrian countryside in order to read the landscape as one reads a sacred book, slowly and with growing delight. He talks with peasant farmers, truffle sellers, cooks, and bakers, all eager to share their plants, seeds, cooking methods, and cultural insights with the American pilgrims. Saint Francis has come to be a model for what it means to be human in the natural world, and Nabhan takes him as a guide. This journey becomes a spiritual quest as well as an ethnobotanical field trip. Together with Nabhan we discover what is useful in the old ways, what remains wild in the civilized world, and what in ancient science has survived to make its way into contemporary culture."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member MarkLacy
A different sort of book - the author discusses seeds and plants and their origins while walking a long trek through Italy.

Language

Original language

English

Physical description

256 p.; 5.11 inches

ISBN

0140239723 / 9780140239720
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