Nathanael JohnsonReseñas

Eh. This is a sweet and easy conversation about noticing your surroundings, and it's fine. Possibly good if that's a new idea and you don't have any basic info about nature in the city, or any of the chapter titles; but if you already have a level of interest and knowledge, it won't give you much more. I will say the chapter on plants/weeds is not even a chapter, it seems to be an introduction, an immediate realization that this topic would need more than a chapter, and then a conclusion. The editors and author would've been smart just to cut it completely. I guess three stars because it was fine to read and there are people I would recommend it to, but I could've skipped it for myself.

Cher Ami :(((((((

When I received this in the post, I was initially excited, but when I flipped it over to get the ISBN number, I saw the classification: "Nature/Parenting". I don't parent, unless you count herding cats, so I was afraid I'd stuck myself with a book that wasn't going to work for me.

I need't have worried - this is a great book! The author uses his desire to interest his toddler daughter in science as the framework for this book, and at least once waxes a bit to philosophically, but overall, he sticks to (sorry parents) the good stuff.

Johnson breaks the book up into chapters involving animals that almost everyone in the world can find in their back yard (sadly, Aussies don't have squirrels, a state of affairs which I maintain makes their lives just a little less joyous): pigeons, weeds, snails, crows, the ginkgo tree, etc. Each topic is touched on enough to introduce and often fascinate the reader with just how diverse and unique the life under your urban feet can be. I found myself reading much of this out loud to my husband, and Johnson has me mulling over the idea of starting a long term journal of my garden's wildlife.

The writing is easy and entertaining and I found myself reluctant to put it down, making it one of the faster-paced non-fiction/science books on my shelf. The bibliography at the back has at least 2 titles I'll be hunting down soon (on edible weeds and which ones taste good). It's a thoroughly enjoyable read and honestly, worth it alone for the stories about the crows.½

The introduction to this book is a real peach of an essay. In it the author lays out exactly what he plans to do in the book. He is NOT doing a guidebook. He maintains that most humans do not learn by memorizing a guidebook. They learn by trying to solve a mystery or problem. Instead of providing a guidebook he is going to "start with the unknown in these essays ... the puzzles that bewildered me ... I was more interested in going deep than going wide." The focus of the book are those plants and animals that live with humans. They are not the exotic ones but the plain everyday plants and animals that we see all the time in cities everywhere. In doing so the author elevates the mundane and implores all of us, city dwellers, greenies, gardeners, and walkers to take notice of the wildlife that surrounds us. He asks us to wonder, question, and investigate. That is a tall order, but he maintains we will all be the richer for it.½

Very interesting.

I enjoyed this book a great deal. No matter where we live, there are wonders that we walk past every day. Unseen City widens our perspective by allowing us to view the world from the high-altitude eyes of a turkey vulture and the distinctly low-altitude eyes of a snail. The blurb describes the book fairly accurately so there isn't much to write in that department. However, all the additional little tidbits about city animals (crows, squirrels, snails, ants etc) was interesting and provides a new perspective on nature and our immediate environment. The writing is beautiful and the personal anecdotes don't detract (they add) to the experience of the book.

This isn't a popular science book as such, this is a get in touch with the world around you and see what is really there type of book. While this book isn't meant for children, I think parents with young children could benefit from reading it and exploring the world (garden/suburb/city) with their children the way the author has with his daughter.

When the author’s daughter first learned to talk, she would ask him about the world around them when they went on walks. “What’s this? What’s that?” Johnson realized he didn’t know much more than “This is a tree” or “That is a bird”, and so he set out on a quest to learn about the nature surrounding their urban home in San Francisco. He focused on things that residents tend to overlook as they bustle from place to place such as pigeons, snails, weeds, ginkgoes, and vultures.

A good book to whet your appetite for learning more about the world around us, but nothing close to an actual guide to urban wildlife. There was a good selection of plants and animals, and I learned interesting facts about all of them. But a lot of these things I already knew, as someone who was already interested in examining the world around me. While I understand that his daughter’s curiosity was Johnson’s gateway to his own curiosity, I think the parenting aspect of the book was played up too much. This book is interesting enough if you’d like to get started learning about urban wildlife (and it has an extensive bibliography!), but please don’t wait until you have a child to pay attention to nature!

The publisher's blurb serves as a nice intro, but this book is so much more. Included here are some fascinating tidbits: pigeons were once a symbol of affluence; in places abandoned by humans(like the Scottish isle of St. Kilda) the pigeons have gone extinct; racing pigeons (which can travel up to 110 mph) have sold for more than $300,000 PER BIRD. The author eases us into becoming more aware of individual aspects of our local flora (think Euell Gibbons) whether "weeds" or trees, and fauna ( from squirrels to bird language to crows to ants). The author clearly shows us how to become more attuned to any species of which we have raised our awareness, as well as indicating the in situ methods of developing a deeper understanding well beyond computer searches (which do require refined questions).
This book was provided by the publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Goodreads Giveaways.

When I first got this book from the library, I thought, "Finally, I have been wanting someone to write this book for years!" This book discusses whether the "natural" approach to many lifestyle choices is any better than choices that have been made possible by technology and scientific advances. I am drawn to things that are natural, but am also extremely skeptical, especially when "natural" means that scientific progress is categorically dismissed. I don't know what kind of answers I was hoping for from the book, but the only answer I found is that there may be no answers. Natural is good, and it is from our natural human intelligence that we have made such amazing technological progress. It is just a matter of using that technology responsibly while recognizing its limits.

From the cover, I somehow didn't expect this book to be as substantial as it turned out to be. It's full of fascinating, clearly presented information - I especially enjoyed the chapter on plant toxins - presented in a gently humorous tone. Striking the correct balance between shrilly smug skepticism (peruse any atheism forum online for an example of the tone) and wide-eyed hippified tree-hugging compassion is tricky, and I believe Johnson has pulled it off flawlessly.

If you can hear a 'but' coming, it's true. I am tired of finding so many typos in finished books. I know the publishers are broke, and it seems like they're trying to replace live editors with spell check - but, as any college student would tell you, spell check is no substitute for actual human attention. It's especially jarring and intrusive in a book which emphasizes the human touch.