To be published in April 2025 by The Mountaineers Press
“A brilliant invitation to wonder and curiosity. Williams uncovers fascinating, troubling, and moving stories through his close, loving attention to Seattle. He provides an inspiring example for how to deepen our friendship and connection with home.”
David George Haskell
“This book makes me want to pull on my sneakers, grab my binoculars, and run out the door with a silly grin on my face. David Williams is the most wonderful of nature nerds. He’s knowledgeable, joyful, quirky, and often– with his grounding in geology’s deep past—profound. I can think of no one better to guide us through the enchantments of the close-to-home wilds. Birds, frogs, fossils. Fish, seas, squirrels. Quite literally, no stone is left unturned in this beautiful invitation to witness the natural world we love with deepened attention, curiosity, and delight.”
Lyanda Lynn Haupt
In January 2021, I began an experiment of writing a newsletter about human and natural history focused on Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. My plan was to write about my adventures, research for my books, and topics in the news. I had no real idea how it would progress. Not only have I found the writing and research to be fun, interesting, and motivating, but I thoroughly enjoy the interaction I have with readers and subscribers.
This book is an outgrowth of those newsletters, now totaling more than 200. Primarily about the natural history of Seattle, they cover geology, flora, and fauna, as well ones that might be called more wide-ranging, such as utility poles, bird shadows, the politics of a tree.
In addition, as you read the book you will find definitions of words and phrases particular to this place I call home, to the people who inhabit and have inhabited it, who have adapted to it, and who have been informed by living here. Some of the terms that comprise this lexis of place are home grown, others have been adapted and adopted in order to provide clarity or elucidation, and a few are used far beyond our fair city; all are part of the story of this place, and, I think, a way to further connect to what makes Seattle Seattle.
And, most exciting to me, accompanying the essays are wonderful and whimsical illustrations by the fabulous Elizabeth Person. The book is worth buy just for her work.
Here’s a sample of few newsletter in the book, sadly without Elizabeth’s illustrations: