A Year on the Wild Side: A Naturalist's Almanac

By Briony Penn

Book Overview

Shortlisted for a 2020 BC Yukon Book Prize

"Penn documents the sprawling biodiversity that can be found on the West Coast, from orcas to moss to yes, even Bigfoot." --The Tyee

A freshly designed, new edition of a funny weekly chronicle that offers a year-long, intimate view of the flora and fauna populating the West Coast.

A Year on the Wild Side is a witty commentary on the social and natural history of Vancouver Island. Composed of short, readable essays arranged into 12 monthly chapters, this engaging book reveals the magic and humour of the natural world and reminds us of our place within it.

As the weeks and seasons unfold with the turning of the pages, you'll be in sync with the living world that surrounds you. Discover what berries are ripe and the best time to pick them. Learn why the termites swarm, where the herring spawn, and when the maple leaves fall. Get up close and personal with fascinating creatures like the snowy owl, the giant Pacific octopus, the river otter, and more.

The West Coast is abundantly alive, and A Year on the Wild Side invites you to indulge in unforgettable experiences, week by week, all year long.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1771512679
• ISBN13: 9781771512671
• Release Date: March 2019
• Publisher: Touchwood Editions
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Super natural

This is a collection of natural history essays and drawings based on and around Saltspring, in the Gulf Islands; they have been selected from weekly columns originally published in BC's 'Monday Magazine', and arranged to provide a round of the year. In other hands this could be a direly predictable - and predictably dry - set of observations, but there's nothing predictable or dry about Briony Penn - her wit is sharp, wry, often quirky, and always humane, even when she laments the evidence of human folly in abusing the environment. The observations too are full of gusto, but yet penetrating, and entirely eclectic; nothing is too slimy, too squidgy, too prickly, too creepy-crawly. A strong sense of enthusiastic gum-booted intimacy with nature comes through, but also a strong sense of underpinning ecological understanding based on sustained close field study and intensive background reading. Because there is something of the clear-eyed close-peering child in Briony Penn's vision, her book will probably appeal hugely to kids, but adults too can read it with much enjoyment, and learn much of value, both factual and philosophical, at the same time. A little gem, and quite unique of its sort.