The Island Within

Winner of the John Burroughs Medal for Outstanding Natural History Writing

Richard Nelson's uninhabited and unnamed island is the setting and subject of this luminous book; all we know is that the island is somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. What Nelson does tell, is what it's like to share a pristine ecosystem with deer and bear and humpback whale; how a trained scientist transcends his cultural biases in order not just to observe nature, but to participate in it; what it really means to claim the place one lives--and to allow oneself to be claimed by it. Wise and unfailingly eloquent, The Island Within offers and indelible glimpse of a wilderness most of us will never visit, one that fills us with reverence and a genuine sense of wonder.

"Richard Nelson's is a clear and beautiful voice against the trends that would separate humans from nature.... Few have written so perceptively and so lyrically."
--Christian Science Monitor

"Nelson experiences the world directly and clearly--objectively--while preserving its magic."
--Los Angeles Times