Nature

Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. It ranges in scale from the subatomic to the cosmic.

The word nature is derived from the Latin word natura, or "essential qualities, innate disposition", and in ancient times, literally meant "birth". Natura was a Latin translation of the Greek word physis (φύσις), which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics that plants, animals, and other features of the world develop of their own accord. The con Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. It ranges in scale from the subatomic to the cosmic.

The word nature is derived from the Latin word natura, or "essential qualities, innate disposition", and in ancient times, literally meant "birth". Natura was a Latin translation of the Greek word physis (φύσις), which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics that plants, animals, and other features of the world develop of their own accord. The concept of nature as a whole, the physical universe, is one of several expansions of the original notion; it began with certain core applications of the word φύσις by pre-Socratic philosophers, and has steadily gained currency ever since. This usage was confirmed during the advent of modern scientific method in the last several centuries.

Within the various uses of the word today, "nature" often refers to geology and wildlife. Nature may refer to the general realm of various types of living plants and animals, and in some cases to the processes associated with inanimate objects – the way that particular types of things exist and change of their own accord, such as the weather and geology of the Earth, and the matter and energy of which all these things are composed. It is often taken to mean the "natural environment" or wilderness–wild animals, rocks, forest, beaches, and in general those things that have not been substantially altered by human intervention, or which persist despite human intervention. For example, manufactured objects and human interaction generally are not considered part of nature, unless qualified as, for example, "human nature" or "the whole of nature". This more traditional concept of natural things which can still be found today implies a distinction between the natural and the artificial, with the artificial being understood as that which has been brought into being by a human consciousness or a human mind. Depending on the particular context, the term "natural" might also be distinguished from the unnatural, the supernatural, or synthetic.

Nature writing is generally defined as nonfiction prose writing about the natural environment. Nature writing often draws heavily on scientific information and facts about the natural world; at the same time, it is frequently written in the first person and incorporates personal observations of and philosophical reflections upon nature. ...more

New Releases Tagged "Nature"

The Oak and the Larch: A Forest History of Russia and Its Empires

Undammed: Freeing Rivers and Bringing Communities to Life

Evergreen: The Trees That Shaped America

Most Read This Week

A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck

The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World

Always Remember: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, the Horse and the Storm

Lists

Technological Slavery by Theodore John Kaczynski

Anti-Tech Revolution by Theodore John Kaczynski

Industrial Society and Its Future by Theodore John Kaczynski

The Human Animal

139 books — 97 voters

Nature Lovers—Romances With Camping, Fishing, Hiking, Backpacking, Mountain Climbing And More

223 books — 137 voters

All Fictional Wolf Books (NOT WEREWOLVES)

210 books — 251 voters

A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.

Best Bear Books

182 books — 80 voters

All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot

Adult Nonfiction Animal Books

594 books — 152 voters

Three Books of Occult Philosophy by Cornelius Agrippa

Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson

Occult Library

852 books — 336 voters

Nature Books

The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There

Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us

More nature books...

Related Genres

Nonfiction
Environment
Outdoors
Plants
Ornithology

Related News

8 New Books Recommended by Readers This Week

Need another excuse to treat yourself to a new book this week? We've got you covered with the buzziest new releases of the day, according to early...

Quotes Tagged “Nature”

“ You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home ag ...more ”
― Mary Oliver

5501 likes