Why I Wrote Naming Nature

This book springs from two great lifelong passions — love of nature and love of words. For as long as I can remember, those two passions have filled my days. So it’s only natural that they now fill the pages of my new book, Naming Nature.

Nature has immense power to renew, heal, and inspire. I would even say that its power is an enduring form of magic. For nature is a living circle whose embrace is everywhere, all around us, all the time.

Whenever I go into nature, even just to sit beneath the gnarled boughs of the willow tree outside my home, I feel that power. Seated among the tree’s roots, I feel more alive, more aware — and more grateful.

Nature is also the place I go when life’s troubles weigh me down. That’s when I feel the power most. The sounds and smells and sights of nature revive my ebbing spirit, calm my jumpy mind, and heal my aching heart.

I’ve also learned, over the years, that there’s no limit to how often I can seek that help. For no matter how weighty and complex our troubles, nature can hold them all.

Love of nature takes many forms. It’s been passionately expressed by people all around the world since the earliest days of humanity. That’s why it’s found in ancient cave paintings and modern music; in stories and songs and poetry and dance from every culture; and in forms as varied as gardens, sand mandalas, symphonies, movies, recipes, parks, and blessings.

But there’s one more form of expressing love of nature that’s often overlooked: the names we give to natural creatures. Those names are right here with us, all the time. Whether or not we notice them, they are whispering seductively in our ears, eager to share their secrets.

And those secrets are astonishing. They reveal profound truths about the creatures being described, the languages being used, and — most of all — the people who chose them. For names can speak volumes about the motivations and assumptions held by us, the namers.

That’s why I’m fascinated by the names we choose for our fellow living creatures. They are frequently surprising, sometimes tragic, often inspiring, and always illuminating. Writing a book about nature’s names took plenty of work, to be sure, but it was also a constant source of delight and inspiration.

This book is also a passionate plea to all of us. To do more to protect nature. To save the habitats of those magnificent creatures who share this planet with us. To honor them as members of our greater family, the family of life.

Let’s make choices that are more wise, more loving, and more gracious. And let’s do that not only for those fellow creatures, but for ourselves. Because humans depend on nature in countless ways. So saving nature is also saving ourselves.

And then let’s go out and enjoy nature’s beauties… as well as its wonderful names.