Have you ever wondered about society’s desire to cultivate the perfect lawn, why we view some animals as “good” and some as “bad,” or even thought about the bits of nature inside everyday items—toothbrushes, cell phones, and coffee mugs? In this fresh and introspective collection of essays, Julia Corbett examines nature in our lives with all of its ironies and contradictions by seamlessly integrating personal narratives with morsels of highly digestible science and research. Each story delves into an overlooked aspect of our relationship with nature—insects, garbage, backyards, noise, open doors, animals, and language—and how we cover our tracks.
With a keen sense of irony and humor and an awareness of the miraculous in the mundane, Corbett recognizes the contradictions of contemporary life. She confronts the owner of a high-end market who insists on keeping his doors open in all temperatures, and takes us on a trip to a new mall with a replica of a trout stream that once flowed nearby. The phrase “out of the woods” guides us through layers of meaning to a contemplation of grief, remembrance, and resilience.
Out of the Woods leads to surprising insights into the products, practices, and phrases we take for granted in our everyday encounters with nature and encourages us all to consider how we might revalue or reimagine our relationships with nature in our everyday lives.
Julia Corbett is the author of two books and a professor in the Department of Communication and the Environmental Humanities Graduate Program at the University of Utah, in Salt Lake City. Her environmental nonfiction essays have been published in venues such as Orion, High Country News, and Camas. Corbett has also served as a newspaper reporter, park ranger, naturalist, natural resources information officer, and deputy press secretary. She summers in the mountains of western Wyoming in her cabin.
“An engaging, accessible, beautifully written celebration of our frayed relationship with the more-than-human world and the animals who are our kin . . . Julia Corbett explores the richness of nearby nature, reminding us that nurturing our bond with local landscapes is essential to the survival of the natural world and key to our own health and happiness.”—Michael P. Branch, author of Rants from the Hill and Raising Wild
“This exceptional, eclectic book is the brave future of nature writing.”—Richard Louv, author of The Nature Principle and Last Child in the Woods.
"Corbett’s complex relationship with the environment comes across as genuine and authentic. Her provocative, timely message suggests we are not “out of the woods” quite yet." — Foreword Reviews
