Father Nature: Fathers as Guides to the Natural World (American Land & Life) - Softcover

Stan Tag; Paul S. Piper

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0877458375 ISBN 13: 9780877458371

Publisher: University Of Iowa Press, 2003

Synopsis

How Do you thank the person who gave you a vantage from which to see the world? This question is more than the opening statement of Father Nature: Fathers as Guides to the Natural World - it is the resounding theme that runs through each of the essays in this tribute to fathers and fathering and to nature, the connection that ties them both together. The nineteen personal essays in Father Nature explore the fierce love between fathers and their children and the ultimate need to express this love through nature. There are stories of fathers who take their children fishing, hiking, ice skating, and berry picking, as well as stories about the significance of birds and animals, tidepools, rivers, and tree houses. Beneath each story lies an even greater lesson: Like nature, fatherhood can be difficult, terrifying, and challenging in ways that may never be fully understood. Editors Paul Piper and Stan Tag divide Father Nature into three distinct sections. Fathers contains essays by sons and daughters recounting the ways their fathers shaped their lives and perceptions of nature. The essays in Fathers and Fathering describe the transition from being a son to becoming a father. Final

About this title

About the Author

Paul Piper has worked as a biologist, landscaper, writer, webmaster, and librarian. He is currently employed as a teaching librarian at Western Washington University, where he specializes in Internet research and teaches an occasional creative writing class. Stan Tag teaches American literature and culture, writing, and natural history at Fairhaven College, a small interdisciplinary college within Western Washington University.

Review

''In our mostly urban world, these writers provide a blue-print for our journeys as parents. The natural world is the prism through which we see our fathers, ourselves--'stardust coalesced in such exquisite and complicated lives'--and the relationship between the two. Father Nature reminds us that each one of these shared moments on the land is a declaration of love.''

Edition details

• Publisher: University Of Iowa Press
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0877458375
• ISBN 13: 9780877458371
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 202