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Natural Grace: The Charm, Wonder, and Lessons of Pacific Northwest Animals and Plants
From the interactive clockwork world of geology, tides, Northwest weather, and snow, to the hidden roles of dirt, stream life, and mosses and lichens, Pulitzer Prize winning writer William Dietrich explores the natural splendors of the Pacific Northwest. His topics include alder and cedar; jellyfish, geoducks, crabs, and killer whales; mosquitoes and spiders; gulls, crows, and bald eagles; and sea otters, coyotes, raccoons, possums, deer, and cougars.
This informative and engaging selection of natural history essays is adapted from articles published in the Seattle Times magazine, Pacific Northwest. A native Washingtonian, Dietrich has watched the Northwest double in population during his lifetime. Our rapidly changing view of nature is an underlying theme throughout his wide-ranging essays, as is the timely and essential question of how best to share and conserve the natural world that drew us to the region in the first place.
Not a field guide nor an environmental policy book, Natural Grace is intended as a primer for people who are curious about the environment they live in and the pressures upon it. "We only care about what we know," says the author. "I've concluded that enthusiasm and commitment begin from learning just how marvelous this region Passion has to precede purpose." And there is much to marvel over. Dietrich has unearthed fascinating and unexpected facts about his subjects, and he has a gift for expressing complex information in clear and vivid language. He asks intriguing questions and makes good use of interviews with Northwest scientists and experts to convey current and historic attitudes and economic realities, and to consider where we go from here.
For more information about the author go
This informative and engaging selection of natural history essays is adapted from articles published in the Seattle Times magazine, Pacific Northwest. A native Washingtonian, Dietrich has watched the Northwest double in population during his lifetime. Our rapidly changing view of nature is an underlying theme throughout his wide-ranging essays, as is the timely and essential question of how best to share and conserve the natural world that drew us to the region in the first place.
Not a field guide nor an environmental policy book, Natural Grace is intended as a primer for people who are curious about the environment they live in and the pressures upon it. "We only care about what we know," says the author. "I've concluded that enthusiasm and commitment begin from learning just how marvelous this region Passion has to precede purpose." And there is much to marvel over. Dietrich has unearthed fascinating and unexpected facts about his subjects, and he has a gift for expressing complex information in clear and vivid language. He asks intriguing questions and makes good use of interviews with Northwest scientists and experts to convey current and historic attitudes and economic realities, and to consider where we go from here.
For more information about the author go
245 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
5 people are currently reading
125 people want to read
About the author
William Dietrich
25 books396 followersWilliam Dietrich is a NY Times bestelling author of the Ethan Gage series of eight books which have sold into 28 languages. He is also the author of six other adventure novels, several nonfiction works on the environmental history of the Pacific Northwest, and a contributor to several books.
Bill was a career journalist, sharing a Pulitzer for national reporting at the Seattle Times for coverage of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. He taught environmental journalism at Huxley College, a division of Western Washington University, and was adviser to Planet Magazine there. He was Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, and received several National Science Foundation fellowships for reporting on science. His travels have taken him from the South Pole to the Arctic, and from the Dead Sea to the base camp of Mount Everest. The traveling informs his books.
He lives in Anacortes, WA, in the San Juan islands, and is a fan of books, movies, history, science, and the outdoors.
Bill was a career journalist, sharing a Pulitzer for national reporting at the Seattle Times for coverage of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. He taught environmental journalism at Huxley College, a division of Western Washington University, and was adviser to Planet Magazine there. He was Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, and received several National Science Foundation fellowships for reporting on science. His travels have taken him from the South Pole to the Arctic, and from the Dead Sea to the base camp of Mount Everest. The traveling informs his books.
He lives in Anacortes, WA, in the San Juan islands, and is a fan of books, movies, history, science, and the outdoors.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 3, 2017
Aw. I liked this book an awful lot. It's not humongously rigorous, but I still learned a lot, and aw, it's just sweet. It's not a super good in-depth look at anything, but it's a great overview, a fast read, or something you can just pick up and read a few pages of at a time.
December 10, 2017
These essays are a delight to read. Informative and entertaining, they offer a fabulous introduction to the many marvels of the Pacific Northwest. Mosses, jellyfish, tides, sea otters, alders, spiders, dirt, geoducks, weather, and lots more.
August 30, 2018
Very interesting but brief chapters on creatures and the natural world of the Pacific Northwest. Maybe enough to whet your appetite for more information about some of these things.
February 16, 2017
A book that inspires and encourages personal growth by “… arguing that we risk losing something profoundly worthwhile.” What I liked the most is the way Dietrich gathers in his writing style so many things all at once: emotions, descriptions, humor, and warmth giving us an engaging collection of essays in which detailed observations, facts, imagination, and feelings blend meaningfully and beautifully. I had such a great time reading this book!
“Some animals are beautiful, some comic, and some pitiless from our point of view, but all have that elusive star quality we call presence: the integrity of having evolved to fill their niches in nature, to be comfortable in their roles. Can many of us say the same?”
“Of all the animals, then, which is the most elegant? Which combines great beauty with utter simplicity, languid efficiency with minimal effort, delicacy with venom?”
“What I am saying is that understanding nature is useful for understanding ourselves; that our office politics, hapless romances, adolescent angst, ambitions, vanities, fears, and longings have some parallels in the life cycles of the natural world.”
Jellyfish
“Yucky !” one schoolchild yells at their tank at the Seattle Aquarium
“Pretty!” another exclaims
“They look like clouds!”
“They look like snow!”
“They look like monsters!”
“Some animals are beautiful, some comic, and some pitiless from our point of view, but all have that elusive star quality we call presence: the integrity of having evolved to fill their niches in nature, to be comfortable in their roles. Can many of us say the same?”
“Of all the animals, then, which is the most elegant? Which combines great beauty with utter simplicity, languid efficiency with minimal effort, delicacy with venom?”
“What I am saying is that understanding nature is useful for understanding ourselves; that our office politics, hapless romances, adolescent angst, ambitions, vanities, fears, and longings have some parallels in the life cycles of the natural world.”
Jellyfish
“Yucky !” one schoolchild yells at their tank at the Seattle Aquarium
“Pretty!” another exclaims
“They look like clouds!”
“They look like snow!”
“They look like monsters!”
February 7, 2017
This started out as a 4 star, but dropped to 3 for some occasional bits of what I call "cutsy writing." See the opening passage on mosquitos for example. He is a magazine writer so perhaps some lapses into cutesy is to be expected.
What is delightful about this book is that it explores common plants and animals of the Pacific Northwest in short, easy to read essays. I read the whole thing in one sitting sick in bed. These were all plants and animals and geological formations I was familiar with (yes, my dad told me all about Bretz's flood when I was 10 and while I haven't been to Mt. St. Helens in a shamelessly long time, I do remember the eruption.) this book takes a bunch of things I have a passing familiarity with and every other sentence was a "wow! Huh! Who knew! That's incredible."
Did you know deer can swim 10 miles and hour! 10 miles an hour! One was seen making a 14 mile swim off the coast of Alaska.
Opposums didn't show up in the North West until the 1960s! They were such a common site in my childhood that it felt like they were always there. I guess they were the Nutria of my parents generation.
This is not a book for your buddy with the forestry major or wildfire ecologists (Hi Joel) (He already knows all that fascinating stuff about the Red Alder...and it is pretty fascinating.) or your friend the biologist...though maybe there are one or two things about lichens they slept through in class back in the day, but for the layman like myself this is an excellent book to make you stop, pause and wonder at some of the flora and fauna that surrounds us here in the northwest.
What is delightful about this book is that it explores common plants and animals of the Pacific Northwest in short, easy to read essays. I read the whole thing in one sitting sick in bed. These were all plants and animals and geological formations I was familiar with (yes, my dad told me all about Bretz's flood when I was 10 and while I haven't been to Mt. St. Helens in a shamelessly long time, I do remember the eruption.) this book takes a bunch of things I have a passing familiarity with and every other sentence was a "wow! Huh! Who knew! That's incredible."
Did you know deer can swim 10 miles and hour! 10 miles an hour! One was seen making a 14 mile swim off the coast of Alaska.
Opposums didn't show up in the North West until the 1960s! They were such a common site in my childhood that it felt like they were always there. I guess they were the Nutria of my parents generation.
This is not a book for your buddy with the forestry major or wildfire ecologists (Hi Joel) (He already knows all that fascinating stuff about the Red Alder...and it is pretty fascinating.) or your friend the biologist...though maybe there are one or two things about lichens they slept through in class back in the day, but for the layman like myself this is an excellent book to make you stop, pause and wonder at some of the flora and fauna that surrounds us here in the northwest.
December 9, 2015
I like this book. In this collection of essays first published in the Pacific Northwest magazine of the Seattle Times, Dietrich has taken a close look at many aspects of natural Northwest life that we don’t usually pay much attention to. He gives us the science and the romance in a way that non-scientists can understand and enjoy. Chapters cover critters like jellyfish, deer, cougars, gulls and racoons, as well as dirt, snow, moss, mosquitoes, snow, tides, crabs, killer whales and more. He clears up a lot of mysteries, such as “what good are mosquitoes?” and “what is dirt made out of?” all in lively prose that will make you want to know more. Dietrich, a former Seattle Times reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner for his writing about the Exxon Valdez spill, has published many other nonfiction and fiction titles. Look him up at williamdietrich.com.
January 6, 2026
I loved this collection of essays about animals and plants of the Pacific Northwest. Living here on the Olympic Peninsula, and exploring the beauty of the forests and Puget Sound, I've noticed and wondered about certain trees and creatures. Science writer William Dietrich gathered stories and facts about the crabs, the deer, the cedars, and other plentiful species and wrote short and lovely essays that were gathered into this book.
February 4, 2009
I loved Dietrich's style. This was a fun book, even though I read it for a class. It can be read in short little segments, and if anyone is interested in learning about the natural world of the Pacific Northwest, I think this would be a good intro, and it might help you figure out what subjects you would like to delve into more deeply.
March 16, 2011
I very much enjoyed this book and it's emphasis on Pacific Northwest icons. It was easy to read chapter by chapter but I found myself wanting to keep on reading and reading and also wanting to savor it and make the book last. This is exactly the accessible and charming little book that I needed to read right now.
May 3, 2008
This is a collection of essays from former Seattle Times science and environmental reporter Bill Dietrich. He is currently teaching environmental journalism at Western Washington University. The man is a native Washingtonian and he is smart and insightful. Read him.
February 18, 2014
Loved this book. It's full of little essays about all the things the Northwest is full of. I was hooked after the first one on Jellyfish! Our ecosystem is amazing! Highly recommend it for a little reminder that we don't exist in a vacuum.
October 5, 2016
A light read focusing on some of the iconic flora and fauna of the northwest, probably less interesting if you're a student of natural history already. Because of the essay format it is easy to pick up, read a few pages and put down, or skip around.
January 30, 2025
What a perfect collection to start the new year! Patchett is a master at creating characters you fall in love with, while crafting conflicts that you somehow relate to, although they are miles away from your own world.
September 22, 2011
I read this several years ago and I loved it.
October 18, 2011
Lightweight
May 19, 2016
A delightful collection of essays in an eminently readable style. I used this with my students (middle school) in a Washington State History course and they all enjoyed it as well.
July 3, 2012
Enjoyed this local author, of nature.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews