What do you think?
Rate this book
Early Spring: An Ecologist and Her Children Wake to a Warming World
The human heart is the most sensitive instrument, and that is why Amy Seidl's marvelous book is so important, a new kind of contribution to the rapidly growing library on global warming.—Bill McKibben, from the foreword
Robert Frost wrote about nature and rural life in New England, and Norman Rockwell painted classic scenes of farmhouses and American traditional life, images reproduced as symbolizing an idealized history born of New England sights. But New England, a region whose culture is rooted in its four distinct seasons, is changing along with its climate.
In Early Spring , ecologist and mother Amy Seidl examines climate change at a personal level through her own family's walks in the woods, work in their garden, and observations of local wildlife in the quintessential America of small-town New England, deep in the Green Mountains of Vermont.
Seidl's testimony, grounded in the science of ecology and evolutionary biology but written with beauty and emotion, helps us realize that a natural upheaval from climate change has already spring flowers blossom before pollinators arrive, ponds no longer freeze, and animals begin migrations at unexpected times. Increasingly, the media report on melting ice caps and drowning polar bears, but Seidl brings the message of global warming much closer to home by considering how climate change has altered her local experience, and the traditions and lifestyles of her neighbors, from syrup producers to apple farmers. In Vermont, she finds residents using nineteenth-century practices to deal with perhaps the most destructive twenty-first-century phenomenon.
Seidl's poignant writing and scientific observations will cause readers to look at their local climate anew, and consider how they and their neighbors have adjusted to the reality of global warming.
Robert Frost wrote about nature and rural life in New England, and Norman Rockwell painted classic scenes of farmhouses and American traditional life, images reproduced as symbolizing an idealized history born of New England sights. But New England, a region whose culture is rooted in its four distinct seasons, is changing along with its climate.
In Early Spring , ecologist and mother Amy Seidl examines climate change at a personal level through her own family's walks in the woods, work in their garden, and observations of local wildlife in the quintessential America of small-town New England, deep in the Green Mountains of Vermont.
Seidl's testimony, grounded in the science of ecology and evolutionary biology but written with beauty and emotion, helps us realize that a natural upheaval from climate change has already spring flowers blossom before pollinators arrive, ponds no longer freeze, and animals begin migrations at unexpected times. Increasingly, the media report on melting ice caps and drowning polar bears, but Seidl brings the message of global warming much closer to home by considering how climate change has altered her local experience, and the traditions and lifestyles of her neighbors, from syrup producers to apple farmers. In Vermont, she finds residents using nineteenth-century practices to deal with perhaps the most destructive twenty-first-century phenomenon.
Seidl's poignant writing and scientific observations will cause readers to look at their local climate anew, and consider how they and their neighbors have adjusted to the reality of global warming.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2009
2 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
About the author
Amy Seidl
4 books4 followersAs a practiced ecologist, activist and mother of two girls, Amy Seidl writes with a lucid and passionate eye about the state of life itself in the age of global warming. By drawing on her 20 year career studying ecology, evolution, and butterflies across the North American continent, she illuminates the historical significance and the everyday local impacts of global warming upon the 21st century landscape.
A passionate speaker on contemporary environmental issues, Seidl frequently keynotes and lectures on climate change, renewable energy, local food systems, and the emerging field of sustainability science. Her research in ecological systems and alternative energy makes her a sought-after lecturer on global warming and green design and she emphasizes the need to innovate and build new physical infrastructures that do not rely on fossil fuels.
Seidl received a Doctorate in Biology from the University of Vermont, a Masters in Entomology from Colorado State University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Hampshire College. She has taught in the Environmental Programs at UVM and Middlebury College and is currently a Research Scholar at Middlebury. Amy is married to Daniel Goodyear and they live in Huntington, Vermont with their children in a solar and wind-powered home.
A passionate speaker on contemporary environmental issues, Seidl frequently keynotes and lectures on climate change, renewable energy, local food systems, and the emerging field of sustainability science. Her research in ecological systems and alternative energy makes her a sought-after lecturer on global warming and green design and she emphasizes the need to innovate and build new physical infrastructures that do not rely on fossil fuels.
Seidl received a Doctorate in Biology from the University of Vermont, a Masters in Entomology from Colorado State University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Hampshire College. She has taught in the Environmental Programs at UVM and Middlebury College and is currently a Research Scholar at Middlebury. Amy is married to Daniel Goodyear and they live in Huntington, Vermont with their children in a solar and wind-powered home.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
January 9, 2010
I have to admit I didn't really finish this. I made it about 3/4's of the way. It was sweet, set up in a way to inform you and then reflect upon this woman's environment, and life within such as global warming. But I just can't think of another word than sweet - I just got sick of it -- like a not great hard candy; you like it, and if the bowl is in front of you; you'll keep eating it. But if someone takes the bowl away, you won't miss it either. IT was a library borrow, and when I'd renewed it twice and still had not finished it, I returned it: perhaps someone else will finish the bowl.
October 8, 2021
"Robert Frost wrote about nature and rural life in New England, and Norman Rockwell painted classic scenes of farmhouses and American traditional life, images reproduced as symbolizing an idealized history born of New England sights. But New England, a region whose culture is rooted in its four distinct seasons, is changing along with its climate.
"In Early Spring, ecologist and mother Amy Seidl examines climate change at a personal level through her own family's walks in the woods, work in their garden, and observations of local wildlife in the quintessential America of small-town New England, deep in the Green Mountains of Vermont.
"Seidl's testimonyh, grounded in the sience of ecology and evolutionary biology but written with beauty and emotion, helps us realize that a natural upheaval from climate change has already begun: spring flowers blossom before pollinators arrive, ponds no longer freeze, and animals begin migrations at unexpected times. Increasingly, the media report on melting ice caps and drowning polar bears, but Seidl brings the message of global warming much closer to home by considering how climate change has altered her local experience, and the traditions and lifestyles of her neighbors, from syrup producers to apple farmers. In Vermont, she finds residents using nineteenth-century practices to deal with perhaps the most destructive twenty-first-century phenomenon.
Seidl's poignant writing and scientific observations will cause readers to look at their local climate anew, and consider how they and their neighbors have adjusted to the reality of global warming."
~~front & back flaps
A wonderful book, interspersed as it is with vignettes from the author's family life and scientific explanations (written at layman's level) of exactly how the changes are happening, and their dire consequences. The reader aches with the finality of it all, reading about the change in our world that's probably irreversible and the losses that come out of the change.
"In Early Spring, ecologist and mother Amy Seidl examines climate change at a personal level through her own family's walks in the woods, work in their garden, and observations of local wildlife in the quintessential America of small-town New England, deep in the Green Mountains of Vermont.
"Seidl's testimonyh, grounded in the sience of ecology and evolutionary biology but written with beauty and emotion, helps us realize that a natural upheaval from climate change has already begun: spring flowers blossom before pollinators arrive, ponds no longer freeze, and animals begin migrations at unexpected times. Increasingly, the media report on melting ice caps and drowning polar bears, but Seidl brings the message of global warming much closer to home by considering how climate change has altered her local experience, and the traditions and lifestyles of her neighbors, from syrup producers to apple farmers. In Vermont, she finds residents using nineteenth-century practices to deal with perhaps the most destructive twenty-first-century phenomenon.
Seidl's poignant writing and scientific observations will cause readers to look at their local climate anew, and consider how they and their neighbors have adjusted to the reality of global warming."
~~front & back flaps
A wonderful book, interspersed as it is with vignettes from the author's family life and scientific explanations (written at layman's level) of exactly how the changes are happening, and their dire consequences. The reader aches with the finality of it all, reading about the change in our world that's probably irreversible and the losses that come out of the change.
August 15, 2017
This book is part memoir, part science and part plea for the world to pay more attention to climate change.
Seidl is an ecologist and writes of her experience of a mother bringing up children in rural Vermont and as an ecologist studying how the seasons are changing year on year. She refers both to her own observations on how some species are flowering earlier than they used to and other scientists work on for example the science of how river flow is affected by a changing climate and how changes for one species have a knock on effect on other species that rely on the first (eg for food).
She breaks down her observations into chapters that focus on: Weather; Gardens; Forests; Water; Birds, Butterflies; Meadows and Fields.
She looks at how Vermont has changed - losing some of its historical forest to farmland but then more recently losing some of the farmland back to forest. This has impacted on species such as the bobolink, a bird of open spaces that moved into Vermont from the west but now is decreasing in Vermont (due to loss of farmland) just as urbanisation and agricultural intensification are reducing its favoured habitats in the west. This is just one of many species being affected by a complicated network of human induced changes.
She also outlines how some people in Vermont are trying to live more in balance with nature, whether by growing their own crops on a small scale or by using more environmentally friendly methods in large scale farming (though that is counterbalanced by the farmers who are moving into more intensive farming).
It's a fascinating book that makes climate change real in a very specific place and time, in a way that is understandable and observable. It isn't just happening in Vermont of course, all round the world nature is changing with the climate and we don't know what the ultimate consequences will be.
Seidl is an ecologist and writes of her experience of a mother bringing up children in rural Vermont and as an ecologist studying how the seasons are changing year on year. She refers both to her own observations on how some species are flowering earlier than they used to and other scientists work on for example the science of how river flow is affected by a changing climate and how changes for one species have a knock on effect on other species that rely on the first (eg for food).
She breaks down her observations into chapters that focus on: Weather; Gardens; Forests; Water; Birds, Butterflies; Meadows and Fields.
She looks at how Vermont has changed - losing some of its historical forest to farmland but then more recently losing some of the farmland back to forest. This has impacted on species such as the bobolink, a bird of open spaces that moved into Vermont from the west but now is decreasing in Vermont (due to loss of farmland) just as urbanisation and agricultural intensification are reducing its favoured habitats in the west. This is just one of many species being affected by a complicated network of human induced changes.
She also outlines how some people in Vermont are trying to live more in balance with nature, whether by growing their own crops on a small scale or by using more environmentally friendly methods in large scale farming (though that is counterbalanced by the farmers who are moving into more intensive farming).
It's a fascinating book that makes climate change real in a very specific place and time, in a way that is understandable and observable. It isn't just happening in Vermont of course, all round the world nature is changing with the climate and we don't know what the ultimate consequences will be.
June 25, 2009
I won this book on first-reads!
I put my name in for this book on good reads because it looked really interesting. It is about a woman, with a doctorate in ecology, who is now a writer and stay-at home mother in a hollow in Vermont. She describes the changes that she sees in the environment around her that are attributed to global warming.
I had pretty high hopes for this book that fell short of my expectations. I was hoping for a book that explained in clearly and scientifically how changes that we are seeing around us are caused by global warming. There was some of this. But it was far over shadowed by an overly emotional tone lamenting the loss of species. I really wanted clearly argued scientific evidence that connects what we are seeing in the world around us, so I could use it in arguments with people who claim that global warming is not real. I don’t need an emotional appeal. I need cold hard facts and data. I was hoping that this book is something that I could point Global Warming deniers at and say “It’s all in here.” This book just isn’t that.
Mainly because of this emotional appeal from Siedl this book seemed quite pretentious. This is my biggest complaint about this book. I felt like the author spent too much time using flowery and poetic language and descriptions of her bucolic life in the hollow, and too much emotion writing about the changes to the environment that will happen because of global warming. Furthermore, she’s not great at it, so it really stuck in my craw while reading it. I am sympathetic to her approach of trying to appeal to people’s love of the land to motivate them to care about global warming. However, she really needs to work on her prose if she is going to take that approach. The cheesiness of her writing got to me. I actually had to put the book down in a few points. To finish it I had to bring it on a plane as my only reading material.
For all I may complain about the pretentious tone, using flowery or poetic language is not necessarily bad. While Siedl never explicitly references him, her writing style is in many ways very reminiscent of Loren Eiseley. I can only imagine that with her background and interests, she could not have but helped to have been influenced by him (whether directly or not.) The almost poetic way that Siedl writes about nature is very much like Eiseley, especially his book The Immense Journey. She falls short of the bar of Eiseley, which is really through no fault of her own, she is a relatively new young author and he is a master and oft compared to Thoreau. The reason why I bring this up (other than to name drop) is to say that Siedl shows promise, despite the short comings of this book I think she has real potential, and I hope she writes more, she has real growth potential.
All in all, this book is not going to change anyone's opinion about global warming. If you are already concerned, it will provide good fodder and motivation for action. If you are not convinced, the weak arguments and lack of deep scientific explanation will not convince. Furthermore, the pretentious tone and hippie-style of the author (organic gardening, living off the land in a rural community, etc...) will turn off people with any conservative predilections
I put my name in for this book on good reads because it looked really interesting. It is about a woman, with a doctorate in ecology, who is now a writer and stay-at home mother in a hollow in Vermont. She describes the changes that she sees in the environment around her that are attributed to global warming.
I had pretty high hopes for this book that fell short of my expectations. I was hoping for a book that explained in clearly and scientifically how changes that we are seeing around us are caused by global warming. There was some of this. But it was far over shadowed by an overly emotional tone lamenting the loss of species. I really wanted clearly argued scientific evidence that connects what we are seeing in the world around us, so I could use it in arguments with people who claim that global warming is not real. I don’t need an emotional appeal. I need cold hard facts and data. I was hoping that this book is something that I could point Global Warming deniers at and say “It’s all in here.” This book just isn’t that.
Mainly because of this emotional appeal from Siedl this book seemed quite pretentious. This is my biggest complaint about this book. I felt like the author spent too much time using flowery and poetic language and descriptions of her bucolic life in the hollow, and too much emotion writing about the changes to the environment that will happen because of global warming. Furthermore, she’s not great at it, so it really stuck in my craw while reading it. I am sympathetic to her approach of trying to appeal to people’s love of the land to motivate them to care about global warming. However, she really needs to work on her prose if she is going to take that approach. The cheesiness of her writing got to me. I actually had to put the book down in a few points. To finish it I had to bring it on a plane as my only reading material.
For all I may complain about the pretentious tone, using flowery or poetic language is not necessarily bad. While Siedl never explicitly references him, her writing style is in many ways very reminiscent of Loren Eiseley. I can only imagine that with her background and interests, she could not have but helped to have been influenced by him (whether directly or not.) The almost poetic way that Siedl writes about nature is very much like Eiseley, especially his book The Immense Journey. She falls short of the bar of Eiseley, which is really through no fault of her own, she is a relatively new young author and he is a master and oft compared to Thoreau. The reason why I bring this up (other than to name drop) is to say that Siedl shows promise, despite the short comings of this book I think she has real potential, and I hope she writes more, she has real growth potential.
All in all, this book is not going to change anyone's opinion about global warming. If you are already concerned, it will provide good fodder and motivation for action. If you are not convinced, the weak arguments and lack of deep scientific explanation will not convince. Furthermore, the pretentious tone and hippie-style of the author (organic gardening, living off the land in a rural community, etc...) will turn off people with any conservative predilections
October 23, 2012
Early Spring: An Ecologist and Her Children Wake to a Warming World by Amy Seidl skillfully balances expert scientific discussion with personal storytelling. Like Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Early Spring explores climate change at both a global and personal level. [return][return]"...the USDA has found that on average, lilacs in the U.S. are blooming two to four days earlier per decade than they did forty years ago." (p. 29). "Lilacs bloom eight to sixteen days earlier than they did when I was born. And by the time my daughters are my age, the lilacs in the hollow will be blooming fourteen to twenty-eight days earlier than they are now - in April rather than in May." (p. 32)[return][return]Each chapter explores a different theme including weather, gardens, water, birds, butterflies, and meadows and fields. Seidl's eloquent descriptions of everyday encounters with each theme are connected to the larger issues of climate change. Her smooth transitions between personal stories and global warming research add to the effectiveness of the narrative. In addition, her selection of timely statistics, disturbing trends, and concrete examples provide strong support for climate change. Lilacs blooming early, reductions in river volume, and changes in migration patterns were just a few of her many unsettling examples.[return][return]"Some ecosystems are more resilient than others; it depends on the ability of their constituent species to react (behaviorally, physiologically, and phenologically) to changing conditions. Still other ecosystems are crossing thresholds and collapsing under the degree of change; their constituents species are unable to adapt (no genetic or phenotypic capacity, no habitat available, or immobile by nature) to the environmental changes around them. It can be said that human populations are reading and crossing ecological thresholds, too." (p 156)[return][return]From Aldo Leopold to Terry Tempest Williams, my favorite nature writers speak passionately about their love of specific landscapes. Seidl brings the mountains of Vermont to life through her vivid descriptions of local people and their relationship to the natural world. [return][return]"The availability of a caterpillar to the young of a neotropical songbird hinges on the availability of a forest bud to the caterpillar, which in turn relies on an abiotic cue to trigger growth in a tree." (p. 97)[return][return]Reminiscent of Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, Seidl incorporates anecdotes involving her husband, children, and neighbors as she discusses changes in the seasons.[return][return]"Celia stands at the mirror, her image set in the backdrop of trees, brook, mountain range, and endless sky. Sunlight illuminates it all. She's as yet unaware of the role she'll play in the world's unfolding." (p. 160)[return][return]The book concludes with an informative bibliography and notes that provide additional resources for further reading. If you're a fan of nature writing and are looking for an engaging narrative rooted in the science of ecology and biology, I highly recommend Early Spring.
March 23, 2009
Beautiful lyrical work with a downhome perspective we all can relate to in some way. The climate is changing, whether you attribute the change to global warming or not, and it is affecting us all in ways many of us don't even see - from the biggest storms to the tiniest insects. Seidl digs in a little deeper and observes a little keener than most.
Early Spring will certainly give you food for thought - something to chew on for years to come. The book isn't conclusive, however. I'm left wondering: So what? If extinction has been going on for a lot longer than humans have been around, how do we know that we are the cause? How do we know that nature won't adapt? It always has in the past. How is this time different? Sadly, Seidl doesn't explore these questions. She simply calls the reader to a "greener" life in a subtle manner.
The organization of the book is excellent - each chapter devoted to a different part of the natural world (i.e. weather, forests, butterflies). Although the language is poetic the book does suffer from grammatical/editorial errors which can be frustratingly distracting at times. There is one particularly strange paragraph where Seidl describes a child capturing a butterfly. The subject of the paragraph - the butterfly - changes in mid-sentence to a different subject - the child. I had to read it at least three times to make sense of what was going on.
There are other times when the language turns from poetic to....well, read it for yourself. When I got to this sentence I nearly put the book down permanently: "Like most mammals, and all humans, they crave sweet, crave the taste of their first food, the milk I gave them while I cupped their rounded buttocks in one hand and stroked their downy skin with the other, settling their rosy mouths to my engorged breast." While proud mamas might find this endearing, please, spare the rest of us!
I should have expected as much, after reading Bill McKibben's excellent foreward, in which he makes their shared domain sound like a great location to shoot a porno: "A place [...:] of the annual autumn orgasm of color, of the deep winter quiet, of the fevered lushness of hot wet summer." Makes you wonder why there aren't more honeymoons in New England, doesn't it?
With all that being said, I probably would have enjoyed this book more had it been marketed as a memoir rather than a science-oriented work. Even better, such beautiful language (with the exception of the above sentence) should be showcased in a book of poetry.
Early Spring will certainly give you food for thought - something to chew on for years to come. The book isn't conclusive, however. I'm left wondering: So what? If extinction has been going on for a lot longer than humans have been around, how do we know that we are the cause? How do we know that nature won't adapt? It always has in the past. How is this time different? Sadly, Seidl doesn't explore these questions. She simply calls the reader to a "greener" life in a subtle manner.
The organization of the book is excellent - each chapter devoted to a different part of the natural world (i.e. weather, forests, butterflies). Although the language is poetic the book does suffer from grammatical/editorial errors which can be frustratingly distracting at times. There is one particularly strange paragraph where Seidl describes a child capturing a butterfly. The subject of the paragraph - the butterfly - changes in mid-sentence to a different subject - the child. I had to read it at least three times to make sense of what was going on.
There are other times when the language turns from poetic to....well, read it for yourself. When I got to this sentence I nearly put the book down permanently: "Like most mammals, and all humans, they crave sweet, crave the taste of their first food, the milk I gave them while I cupped their rounded buttocks in one hand and stroked their downy skin with the other, settling their rosy mouths to my engorged breast." While proud mamas might find this endearing, please, spare the rest of us!
I should have expected as much, after reading Bill McKibben's excellent foreward, in which he makes their shared domain sound like a great location to shoot a porno: "A place [...:] of the annual autumn orgasm of color, of the deep winter quiet, of the fevered lushness of hot wet summer." Makes you wonder why there aren't more honeymoons in New England, doesn't it?
With all that being said, I probably would have enjoyed this book more had it been marketed as a memoir rather than a science-oriented work. Even better, such beautiful language (with the exception of the above sentence) should be showcased in a book of poetry.
April 10, 2009
Seidl, trained in ecology and environmental science, writes of the rural Vermont home she has found with her husband and two young daughters. Her references to gardening and wildflowers and the tapping of sugar maples paints a bucolic picture, a paradise that is threatened by loss through the changes wrought by global warming – longer autumns, earlier springs, unreliable winter frosts. As a city-dweller living vicariously through Seidl’s stories of lilac harvesting and summer days spent gardening, I was sometimes so caught up in the Edenic aspect of the book that I momentarily forgot the looming crisis. But that paradise is in serious danger of being lost. Seidl has the science to back it up, too, explaining clearly just what is going on, in a manner that will be comprehensible to the general reader without being condescending. She interweaves the two sides of her writing in a way that’s quite effective. This slim, eloquent volume isn’t going to start a revolution, nor will it provide new information for the best-informed, but for everyone else, its fresh approach will be valuable. Its balance of the emotional and the intellectual is effective, and it will particularly appeal to an audience that appreciates its focus on family life and its low-key approach. Not a major work, but a welcome contribution to the conversation.
January 14, 2017
It took me a while to (forgive the pun) warm up to Seidl's writing, but once I got past the first two chapters, the promise of this book was fulfilled. Seidl reveals not only the impacts of climate change, but the larger parallels between humans and nature through a pleasant mix of vignettes of her family's daily activities at their Vermont farm. She deepens these stories with interesting anecdotes gleaned from various scientific studies that illuminate the dramatic changes happening in Earth's natural communities, sharing her deepening concern for the balance of nature. Seidl's beautifully written personal observations about her own children is the book's greatest strength and charm. As they watch a monarch caterpillar form its chrysalis, Seidl draws a connection to a mother's ability to form life, thinking about her "own body, how it created ears, eyes, and dimpled fists. The lobed livers for two children. I can imagine growing hooked legs myself." She refers frequently back to Carson's Sense of Wonder, and does a fine job of evoking it in her readers through this thoughtful and interesting volume. Highly recommended for mothers, but also for anyone interested in learning about climate change through a more personal perspective.
April 9, 2009
When I first saw the title "Early Spring," I instantly thought of "Silent Spring" the Rachel Carson book that was so influential. It has been said that Rachel Carson's book opened everyones eyes about the problems associated with DDT and began the environmental movement that saved several species from extinction. Indeed, Amy Seidl pays homage to Carson by having quotes from her many texts and books at the beginning of each chapter. However, she does really mention the similarity between the titles and although I really enjoyed Early Spring, it is no Early Spring.
That being said I throughly enjoyed the book. I felt Seidl does a good job combing the science, culture and emotions so many of us are facing while the climate around us changes. It was interesting to learn of the changes the Northeast is facing from a first hand perspective. Being in the South, we are faced with similar and altogether different changes. I was afraid this book we be more sociology like Jennifer Price's Flight Mmaps, but I was pleasantly surprised. I highly recommend this title to everyone including those who still aren't convinced Global Warming is real.
That being said I throughly enjoyed the book. I felt Seidl does a good job combing the science, culture and emotions so many of us are facing while the climate around us changes. It was interesting to learn of the changes the Northeast is facing from a first hand perspective. Being in the South, we are faced with similar and altogether different changes. I was afraid this book we be more sociology like Jennifer Price's Flight Mmaps, but I was pleasantly surprised. I highly recommend this title to everyone including those who still aren't convinced Global Warming is real.
March 17, 2009
This is a really excellent book if you're on the fence with respect to global warming. Well, on the fence and leaning toward the existence of it. I haven't been on the fence for a long time, but if I were, I'd find this book an excellent way to look at the small changes to discover truth.
I won this book from the goodreads giveaway. I would have probably bought the book anyway, but maybe not until it hit paperback. Seidl's writing is easy, glossy and entertaining. It almost feels like your having a conversation with her. Albeit, one sided.
All and all, I really enjoyed this book. I have a much dryer sense of humor than the author, and I probably would have liked a little more humor interjected into this book. However, I think many will find enjoyment in her prose. She has a definite gift for description and one can see many of the examples she gives reflected in their own lives and observations.
I think I'd very much like to have her as a professor. She is certainly able to fire up the thrill of learning.
I won this book from the goodreads giveaway. I would have probably bought the book anyway, but maybe not until it hit paperback. Seidl's writing is easy, glossy and entertaining. It almost feels like your having a conversation with her. Albeit, one sided.
All and all, I really enjoyed this book. I have a much dryer sense of humor than the author, and I probably would have liked a little more humor interjected into this book. However, I think many will find enjoyment in her prose. She has a definite gift for description and one can see many of the examples she gives reflected in their own lives and observations.
I think I'd very much like to have her as a professor. She is certainly able to fire up the thrill of learning.
March 14, 2009
Amy Seidl's book "Early Spring" is probably best described as a large set of beautifully descriptive vignettes grouped into subjects forming full chapters. The vignettes come together well forming a good blend of literature and science education.
The vignettes are mostly set within the author's Vermont home, neighborhood, and family making them personal and accessible. Through her writing the reader is able to, in part, experience the world, understand her thoughts, and see how climate change is affecting life.
The vignettes are mostly set within the author's Vermont home, neighborhood, and family making them personal and accessible. Through her writing the reader is able to, in part, experience the world, understand her thoughts, and see how climate change is affecting life.
May 28, 2010
I liked this book for what it was, but I think it suffered somewhat from being neither memoir nor straight science writing. Some writers are able to effortlessly meld their lives and their science, with Annie Dillard and Gerald Durrell being my own personal gold standards. I found the transitions in Early Spring awkward and forced, and many of the memoir-ish bits had no resolution. Seidl is a keen observer of her environment, an interesting and interested participant in the life of her land, but I just couldn't climb inside this book and feel what she's aiming for me to feel. The fact that it took me more than a month to read is perhaps indicative of my struggle.
June 4, 2009
This is a very short and easy to read book about the effects of warming on the planet. The author uses her own observations and the research of others to draw conclusions. Now when I say others I don't mean scientists, professional researchers, or ecologists. I mean weather nerds and bird nerds! People who have for 40 years in some cases keep journals about the weather! Ordinary folks have been doing it since the colonial days! Let's face it, if you're not working the land in Winter, things get pretty dull.
August 5, 2009
This book looked at what global warming is doing through not only the eyes of an Ecologist, but also the eyes of a mother who is looking at the world we are leaving for her children.
She takes us through the various aspects of the world, and shows how her family interacts with her world, and how that world is changing, and how the earlier spring and shorter winter are affecting the landscape around her. She tries to paint a picture of what could happen, and also shows some of the possible solutions that have been dreamed up. Overall, I found it very readable, and rather interesting.
She takes us through the various aspects of the world, and shows how her family interacts with her world, and how that world is changing, and how the earlier spring and shorter winter are affecting the landscape around her. She tries to paint a picture of what could happen, and also shows some of the possible solutions that have been dreamed up. Overall, I found it very readable, and rather interesting.
April 14, 2009
This book is really about the butterfly effect and how an action miles away can wreck havoc on your environment. The author does give some great personal insights as the actions of man cause many unintended things to happen locally and on a small level that are adding up to a grim reality. I wish some people who say global warming does not exist would read this personal account of how the weather is not "normal" anymore.
October 14, 2013
I really liked what Seidl set out to do with this book. I don't think she entirely hit the mark, however. There were a couple times where she slipped away from the experiential story into scientific data and at least one of these times was so technical I was completely lost. Her personal stories were interesting for the most part but the real function of the book for me was just a personal reflection on my own observations of changes in the seasons and this alone made the book worth reading.
March 13, 2009
An interesting memoir about climate change in your own backyard. Not being from New England, I had a difficult time getting into the book, but I imagine for anyone who lives in New England or has, then it would be more fun.
September 18, 2009
Delightful, charming read. A must read for anyone who is interested in global warming but not quite up to all the scientific discussion that goes with it. More hopeful than much I have read on the subject.
October 13, 2009
If this book does not become a classic in the tradition of Rachel Carson, it should. A haunting and tender account of the day to day changes to our environment that the observant can note for themselves - as the gardeners of the world surely have.
January 7, 2014
Some interesting first person observations on the effects of climate change. It moves back and forth between a personal narrative and scientific discussion making it in turns interesting and dry. it had a lot to say but the two approaches could have been better blended.
June 5, 2009
A down to earth, easy read showing the everyday happenings that point to climate change all around us.
August 15, 2009
A very approachable read about the effects of global warming on the world around us.
Read
October 16, 2014Early Spring 06092014 by Amy Seidl
October 27, 2009
I was hoping for more of a memoir and less science.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews