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Rating: 
Summary: nature in daily bits
Review: Cathie Katz starts out writing about no-see-ums, crab grass and cricket-frogs and somehow ends up with human nature, life, the universe and everything. Katz is a Melbourne Beach writer, naturalist and sea-bean expert who fields queries from beachcombers around the world as editor of "The Drifting Seed," a newsletter about sea beans (or more properly, rain-forest drift seeds.) Her new book, "Nature, a Day at a Time: An Uncommon Look at Common Wildlife," contains 365 mini-essays about 365 forms of life, ranging from viruses to possums. Each day's entry begins and ends with a literary quote and features one of her illustrations. Like her writing, her detailed pen-and-ink drawings are a good balance of factuality and whimsy. A simple format, but deceptively so. These entries are linked by some profound, half-submerged themes -- our kinship with the natural world, the way our personal nature can be found in daily nature around us, the fascinating natural processes going on immediately around us. And it is this kind of accessible natural world -- worms and viruses and backyard birds -- rather than Discovery Channel-style big and exotic wildlife -- that makes up the days in her book. "Nature a Day at a Time" is a good year.
Rating: 
Summary: Romance of the Familiar
Review: Have yet to see a purple cow? How about a slithy trove? Despair no more. In this lovely book, Cathie Katz transforms the FAMILIAR into passing strange phenomena. Her secret? Attention to detail. Waving her "charming rod" of magnification over the common creatures of everyday life, she presents each one as a wish fit for the gods without sacrificing its connection to Earth and to us. Thanks to Cathie, we can now put away the shadows of childish imagination and embrace the sometimes frightening, always magical, fellow travelers of our own existence.
Rating:
Summary: Romance of the Familiar
Review: Have yet to see a purple cow? How about a slithy trove? Despair no more. In this lovely book, Cathie Katz transforms the FAMILIAR into passing strange phenomena. Her secret? Attention to detail. Waving her "charming rod" of magnification over the common creatures of everyday life, she presents each one as a wish fit for the gods without sacrificing its connection to Earth and to us. Thanks to Cathie, we can now put away the shadows of childish imagination and embrace the sometimes frightening, always magical, fellow travelers of our own existence.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing Book
Review: I love the detailed drawings on every page and the descriptions of all the familiar wildlife. The idea of seeing bugs, birds, and even plants from a different perspective has really opened my eyes to the nature around me. Also, I never connected my behaviors and instincts with my "animal nature" until I read this book. I'm now beginning to understand human nature from the viewpoint of genes and inheritance. This book makes undertsanding scientific matters so much easier...and so much fun. A page for every day of the year is a great treat, especially to read about soemthing that's right under my nose... I always wondered why antibiotics made my stomach feel "funny" -- Now I know it's the bacteria squirming around before they die. I'll never look at roses, squirrels, pussywillows, moles, fleas, song birds, bees, or butterflies again in the same way. I love the drawings and quotes by themselves, but to read all the unusual facts about the "commonest of the common" makes it really worth reading. Instead of reading it a day at a time, I had to read it all the way through!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing Book
Review: I love the detailed drawings on every page and the descriptions of all the familiar wildlife. The idea of seeing bugs, birds, and even plants from a different perspective has really opened my eyes to the nature around me. Also, I never connected my behaviors and instincts with my "animal nature" until I read this book. I'm now beginning to understand human nature from the viewpoint of genes and inheritance. This book makes undertsanding scientific matters so much easier...and so much fun. A page for every day of the year is a great treat, especially to read about soemthing that's right under my nose... I always wondered why antibiotics made my stomach feel "funny" -- Now I know it's the bacteria squirming around before they die. I'll never look at roses, squirrels, pussywillows, moles, fleas, song birds, bees, or butterflies again in the same way. I love the drawings and quotes by themselves, but to read all the unusual facts about the "commonest of the common" makes it really worth reading. Instead of reading it a day at a time, I had to read it all the way through!
Rating:
Summary: Awakening awareness
Review: I will no longer walk by an insect, bird or plant without some new found knowledge and a willingness to share our surroundings. Kind of like living among people, there are some good traits and some irritaing traits but nevertheless we can exist in harmony. The illustrations are talent ladden enhanced by the whimisical little stick figure Larry. If you can read just a day at a time without longing to cancel all on the agenda you are ahead of me but for times when all we can squeeze in is one page our world will become brighter and more alive to us. So enjoy and let that spider make his web without that tidiness gene taking over.
Rating:
Summary: A Genius
Review: Once again Cathie Katz has outdid herself. The author is not only a talented writer, but her illustrations are exquisite. As reading the book, you realize that nature is all around us and we are directly tied into the universe together. The illustrations, quotes and individual way that Cathie brings nature to us lifts our spirits and brings joy into each day. I look forward to each daily reading. I have ordered this book for friends and family and highly recommend you read this book. Not only will this book enrichen your life , but you will learn from this book daily and broaden your knowledge of the nature that surrounds us.
Rating:
Summary: A Genius
Review: Once again Cathie Katz has outdid herself. The author is not only a talented writer, but her illustrations are exquisite. As reading the book, you realize that nature is all around us and we are directly tied into the universe together. The illustrations, quotes and individual way that Cathie brings nature to us lifts our spirits and brings joy into each day. I look forward to each daily reading. I have ordered this book for friends and family and highly recommend you read this book. Not only will this book enrichen your life , but you will learn from this book daily and broaden your knowledge of the nature that surrounds us.
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