The definitive collection of prose masterpieces on nature, fully revised and expanded. At once enthralling and enlightening, these essays present nature in all the incarnations—prickly, chaotic, generous, cruel, mysterious, and heartbreaking—that have inspired men and women to celebrate it in words. Containing over fifty new selections by more than forty new writers, this second edition reflects the extraordinary popularity the genre has achieved in the last decade. New essays by Wendell Berry, Annie Dillard, Vladimir Nabokov, Scott Sanders, Terry Tempest Williams, David Quammen, and Gary Snyder have been added, along with selections by such new writers as David Abram, Diane Ackerman, Rick Bass, Jane Brox, John Daniel, Trudy Dittmar, Linda Hasselstrom, Bill McKibben, and Sharman Apt Russell. The rediscovered works of earlier writers, especially those of nineteenth-century women, are now thoroughly represented. The scope, variety, and strength of these selections come together in one of the most significant, enduring literary achievements of our culture