“Lively writing about science and nature depends less on the\noffering of good answers, I think, than on the offering of good\nquestions,” said David Quammen in the original introduction to\nNatural Acts. For more than two decades, he has stuck to that\ncredo. In this updated version of his first essay collection,\nQuammen’s lively curiosity leads him from New Mexico to Romania,\nfrom the Congo to the Amazon, asking questions about mosquitoes\n(what are their redeeming merits?), dinosaurs (how did they change\nthe life of a dyslexic Vietnam vet?), and cloning (can it save\nendangered species?).

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This expanded edition returns to print Quammen’s best-loved\n“Natural Acts” columns, which first appeared in Outside magazine in\nthe early 1980s, and includes recent pieces such as “Planet of\nWeeds,” an influential Harper’s cover story. The new Natural Acts\nis an eye-opening journey that will please both Quammen fans and\nnewcomers to his work.

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