Recommended Reading For the Naturalist.

Often I am asked, "what are you?"

"Human", I respond.

"No, No, I know that, but what did you study, what is your discipline?"

"Well, I'm what some would call a naturalist."

Following responses will vary from complete understanding to utter distrust. A common response goes the following: "A naturalist, huh? What do they do?"

Being asked the question often enough I have learned to come up with quick one liners that sum up briefly the grandeur in my head surrounding being a naturalist. More often than not my explanations extend even further because people become more interested after the introductory summation. What I like to leave people with is that a naturalist is made with the passion of a amateur and know-how of a professional. A person who expresses their love for natural history into a story that can be understood by many. This interpretive work done by naturalists is so important to the connections between the academic and the recreational that without our naturalists many of our parks would be dull, dry, and dumb. A man who understood the importance of interpretive work down by naturalists was Freeman Tilden who wrote, Interpreting Our Heritage . In this celebrated book a excellent description of what interpretive work can for the naturalist is laid out in a very clear and descriptive way. I found the book to very useful in my daily life, but more importantly with my interpretive work. Being a biologist is fine, when you're surrounded by other biologists, but often my walks are enjoyed with others. Possibly friends, family, young and old, interested and indifferent, fearful or bold that offering a smattering of facts and figures that might interest a fellow biologist would certainly bore anyone else to death. Instead Tilden says "Interpretation should aim to present a whole rather than a part and must address itself to the whole man rather than any phase." A offering to the bigger picture, to why that boring bio fact may matter in the first place. Interpreting Our Heritage taught me a lot about being a naturalist and I recommend it to anyone else looking for a good read. Please check the website www.acornnaturalist.com for book availability and pricing.

Publicado el octubre 31, 2011 10:49 TARDE por greenrosettas greenrosettas

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