Ecologist David Haskell picked a spot in a Tennessee forest that he'd visit almost daily for an entire year. His observations at this spot, which he called a mandala, would serve as the basis for each of the journal entries he decided to publish in The Forest Unseen. He comments on many different things that are bound by a common thread: the seemingly spiritual ability of nature to diversify itself as much as possible. With a poet's sense of perception, Haskell writes about things like the crystallography of snowflakes, hermaphroditic snails, the migratory patterns of birds (along with their unique anatomy), the communicative power of plants, the mutualism between many species of insects, and the strange reproduction of fungi. Those are just the things I remembered most from reading it. There are many other wonders of the natural world that he touches on, all brought on by events in the mandala throughout the year. Incidentally, he calls this spot a mandala because to him it represents a microcosm of the universe.
The Forest Unseen's unique merging of poetic science reminded me of The Seven Mysteries of Life by Guy Murchie. Anyone who enjoyed this book should consider giving Murchie a try.
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