Out on a Limb
Creating Your "Wonderbook of Nature"

by Mary Golden

"It is an incalculable added pleasure to any one's sum of happiness if he or she grows to know, even slightly, and imperfectly, how to read and enjoy the wonder-book of nature." – Theodore Roosevelt.

I have been profoundly influenced by Isak Dinesen's Out of Africa.  She described the "new moon lying on her back," and I was astonished at the description.  I had never thought of the moon that way.  To this day, when I see the crescent moon, I always look up and hear Dinesen's words which have been added to my own "Wonderbook of Nature."

In Out of Africa, Dinesen wants to build a school for native children who had never been taught to read.  She is challenged, "How do they know they want to read Dickens?" To which she replies, "Did you know you wanted to read when you were a child?"  I did.  I remember spreading the newspaper out on the floor before I was five years old, so frustrated because I couldn't understand the words.  Now, I have come to understand that I wasn't the typical child, and the joys of reading aren't apparent when you are struggling with "See Dick run." 

I just discovered Roosevelt's quote about the "wonderbook of nature" while reading the newly published A Vision for Excellence for California's State Parks, a joint project of the California State Parks Foundation and Save the Redwood League.  The research for The Vision asked Californians themselves what they see as the primary purpose for State Parks and what they think are the important park features, programs, and services amenities.  Finally, the Vision asks what barriers prevent park excellence from happening.  Not surprisingly, Californians think safeguarding the state's natural resources for the future is the primary purpose.  To that end, the parks should foster education about nature, historical significance, and environmental awareness.   The Vision identifies some of the perceived barriers as a lack of awareness about activities in State Parks, a lack of knowledge about how to utilize State Parks and facilities, lack of companions, and lack of equipment to use the parks.

I taught English courses at Colorado State University for 18 years, and many, many sections of "Beginning Composition" and "Introduction to Literature."   Needless to say, most of my students didn't want to be in those classes.  My job was to show them the joys of writing and reading literary fiction, (really, there are).  When I first starting teaching, I was a little puzzled about the process.  I had always loved reading and writing, but I had never thought about how I did it.  Composition textbooks are boring beyond belief  (you might remember this from your own college days). 

I used to start my first class by tediously and in a monotone reviewing the structure of the "Five Paragraph Essay."  When I had painstakingly copied it all out on the board, I'd put a big X through it and say, "Never do this again."  At this point, my students usually went from carefully bored slouches to hesitant smiles.  I quit using comp textbooks and starting using Norman Maclean's "Young Men & Fire," as a roadmap on how to write and how to live, because really, they are the same thing, because the process  for both is in how you connect yourself to the universe, to nature, to each other, and ultimately to your self.  We are all trying to answer the same question, "What does it mean to be human?  Putting yourself in the shoes of an 18 year old smokejumper who thinks he is invincible who will die within an hour of jumping on a forest fire naturally gets you thinking.

So what is the connection here?  People, it's time to teach the "Wonderbook of Nature" as Roosevelt suggests.   Writing, nature, life – it's messy.  There is no perfect.  What matters is your passion for life, your experience of life—not worrying about where the commas go!   What does it mean to you to be human? What is this experience we call life?  If you are reading this, I'm going out on a limb here and guess you think a connection to nature is vital to that definition.

What's in your "Wonderbook"  that might appeal to a nature neophyte? A picnic looking for gray whales at Montana de Oro?  Running the back of your fingers against the petals of a wildflower?  Putting your toes in the water, and just being  still?  How do you make it relevant to their own lives?  How do we download the Wonderbook to a generation of Kindle, cell phone and computer game users? 

I think of not reading books,   or remembering and adding to my own Wonderbook of Nature as starving.  When I was that child sitting with a paper I couldn't read, it literally felt like starving.  There was knowledge to gobble up, and I couldn't get to it.  Our children must be starving for tactile experiences in nature.  But they don't even know it.  They don't know part of their  selfs are missing. 

The Vision's five essential elements are:

• Celebrate Our Enduring Heritage
• Welcome Visitors
• Teach Californians
• Safeguard Resources
• Connect to Individuals and Organizations

Invite someone to the riot of nature and life.  To engage.  So, Because now I'm back in teacher mode, I'll leave you with a quote from Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It: 

"My father was very sure about certain matters pertaining to the universe. To him, all good things—trout as well as eternal salvation—come by grace and grace comes by art and art does not come easy." 

Learning to read and learning to be in nature are arts.  It's time to teach grace.  When I finished my classes, I always said with a smile on my face, "Go Away."  That's what I want for our kids.  I want them to go away—to nature, to go outside and play and learn and create their own Wonderbooks.