This post reviews a book I read, and loved, back in 2023. As an avid reader, I want to share my honest opinions about books I have read, so you can see if any of these books are ones you would like, or need in your collection.
Please note that these posts are my HONEST review. I will tell you if I love, or hate a book, and why. If you have a different opinion, that is the beauty of reading.
General Information
Title + Author: Writing Wild- Women Poets, Ramblers, and Mavericks Who Shape How We See in the Natural World, written and edited by Kathryn Aalto
Illustrations by Gisela Goppel
Genre: Non-fiction Anthology
Publisher: Timber Press 2020
Page Count: 287 pages
Format: Paperback
Source: A gift from my parents
Plot Summary: An anthology of 25 women authors who highlight, deepen, and explore the connection we hold to nature. Aalto points to some of their most significant works concerning their particular field or focus, and how reading these authors today, no matter when their work was penned, can help us appreciate the beauty of nature, and understand ourselves better.
These authors write and also represent how gender, race, and physical ability have kept women and marginalized communities to the fringes of Nature, with much of the work, knowledge, and coverage being done by, and for, men.
Rating: 5 out of 5
The 25 Authors
Reading this book made me fall in love with nature again, this time from the viewpoint of how many have come before me and fought for me to experience the beauty, as is my right, and the right of everyone. This book highlights how nature is our most treasured collective gift. Nature not only provides what we need to survive physically, but it helps us survive the cruelty of this world.
This book evoked within me the fire to go out into the world and carve my trail. Doing this is nature is two-fold because it speaks to how women have had to trailblaze. They had no other choice but to just begin on a journey, and not look back. There is so much with nature to learn about, to cherish, and to fight for, and that fight is needed now more than ever.
With Trump in the White House, the situation for Mother Earth is dire, but it has been dire for some time. She has been seen and used as a commodity, a currency, and something expendable with no regard to the long-term effects on the people, animals, or her as the great mother.
These women show that there is another way to connect with nature, and it helps us find ourselves in a brutal world. Understanding the world around us is to understand ourselves. Everyone would be better served by having a healthy and communal connection to nature, where profit is not the end goal.
Reading these women’s voices also highlights how much progress could have been achieved had women and people of color been allowed to speak their full voice from their full chest in the beginning. Rachel Carson’s story is only one of these brave voices who were dismissed, harassed, ridiculed, and dismissed in her field as an ecologist, biologist, and environmentalist, even though she was the first to discover the harmful effects on nature from the pesticide DDT. Below is an excerpt from her story, including her writings on DDT and how she was treated in her field.
The stories of these women and the personal trials they went through are what captured my attention the most, and made me want to learn more about them and read more of their works. My overall takeaway is that this is going to be an amazing addition to the bookshelf for anyone who wants to read more about history, women’s history, and the connection to nature from a variety of viewpoints. While Carson gives us scientific facts and anger to fight back against harmful chemicals and pesticides so that agriculture bros can make more money, Robin Wall Kimmerer and Leslie Marmon Silko give us an indigenous and spiritual connection to nature.
Mary Oliver, Camille T. Dungy, and Dorothy Wordsworth give us the poetic beauty that nature inspires. We have voices from the queer and black communities and Aalto provides further readings from the same authors, from similar authors, or further texts to read around a specific subject.
I also love the numerous quotes and references to the authors texts and stories, making them come alive and connect with me even though some of these women I had sadly never heard of before this book. The artwork is lovely as well.
Now, I did give this 5 out of 5 stars, but I will share a con that may not seem like a con. This book gave me so much beautiful information and the minute that I was starting to go into the depths of the author’s individual story and their contributions to their field, the chapter was over. I understand that a deep dive into 25 authors that spanned their works in detail would make the book a monster of a piece, but it did feel like I was left wanting so much more that now had to be outsourced to other books. I mean, more books is NEVER a bad thing, but I think you get my point.
Other than that, I feel that this book is a must for those who value voices on nature that are not the standard “boys club” nature voices. This is a must for those who value voices who push back, who don’t back down, and who will represent those who still need representation today. These voices on the fringe, these mavericks and change-makers, reinvigorate my connection to nature.
Ashlie McDiarmid
Hello there! I hope you liked this blog post. As a tarot and oracle reader, my goal with my blogs is to offer you content, resources, and access to the tools that have transformed my life.
I believe that your own intuition is the deepest form of knowing, but here in my little corner of the internet, I share insights based in intuition and instinct. I share my love for nature, witchcraft, and the wild spirit.
- If your spirit is at home in wild places
- If you feel the need to claim your autonomy as ritual
- If you want to more deeply trust your own intuition
- If you want resources or connections to tarot, oracle, witchcraft, and wild sovereignty, then welcome!
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