Sy Montgomery was the nature columnist for the Boston Globe. She is extremely knowledgable, and her writing is concise yet filled with wonder at her magical subjects. I learned about the lovelorn messages sent by singing insects on autumn evenings, the messages contained in spiderwebs, the effects of winter snow on the way sound travels, the way all life depends on the unusual structure of water. Most fun is the author's description of ways to interact with other creatures. I learned that it is easy to teach wild birds to eat out of your hand, and that one can flirt with fireflies in their own language using a flashlight in the grass. The author offers some of these suggestions as experiments for children, but at the tender age of 54 I am looking forward to trying them all out by myself.
Another thing I like about this book is that each essay can be read in a single sitting (or a single night before going to sleep, in my case). They are concise. I get a lot of delight per unit time spent reading.
The only thing wrong with this book is that it needs a better title. If Sy Montgomery had the lovely titles that Diane Ackerman comes up with, she would quickly overtake Ackerman's sales numbers.