Overview

In a book that has been called ""a love song to nature,"" the author documents the latest decade of his explorations of the Baja peninsula and the Sea of Cortez. While much of the book narrates his experience as a writing professor taking undergraduates on sea kayak expeditions to the Isla Espiritu Santo archipelago each year during spring break, the book also reflects on experiences with a condor restoration project in the Sierra San Pedro Martir, and an altogether different teaching experience based in a field station on Bahia de los Angeles. While the author’s intent is to evoke Baja ecologies in fresh ways, the reader comes to realize that he’s also describing how education can become a transformational experience. A retired scuba instructor who turned to academics and went on to receive his college’s highest teaching award, Dr. Farnsworth believes that education should be a lifelong adventure, and that explorations of the natural world should be animated by reverence and delight.

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9781501730184

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Reviews

John Farnsworth practices what he preaches-acting as a scrupulous observer and questioner, richly bringing Baja, California to life. We get a vivid sense of the personality of an eel or the sheer size of a condor. Farnsworth makes an engaging argument about natural history as art. -- Kim Todd, author of award-winning <I>Tinkering with Eden: A Natural History of Exotics in America</I> Farnsworth is a big-hearted field teacher-humorous and insightful-and an engaging, trustworthy storyteller. In this tale of encounter between desert coast and human psyche, the reader learns some natural history, ponders some big questions, and becomes fond of this wild learning group. Think of it as a field guide to delight. -- Tom Fleischner, Executive Director, Natural History Institute, and editor of <I>Nature, Love, Medicine: Essays On Wildness and Wellness</I> Coves of Departure is a meditation on teaching students to immerse, reflect, and articulate engagement. John Farnsworth's mentor Kathleen Jamie notes poetry is `Bringing the quality of attention to the world.' His book follows his mentor's words, blending accuracy and detail of marine life with history and narrative. -- David Taylor, Assistant Professor of Sustainability Studies, Stony Brook University, and author of <I>The Sea of Cortez: A Poem Series</I> Coves of Departure is a natural history of a place, a travel memoir, a dip into the author's consciousness-a literary book with multiple layers. The fresh contribution of this book lies in its humor; Farnsworth is the David Sedaris of the Sea of Cortez! I enjoyed and trusted in all that I learned about this world, while smiling out loud. -- Sharman Russell, author of <I>Diary of a Citizen Scientist: Chasing Tiger Beetles and Other New Ways of Engaging the World</I>, winner of the 2016 John Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Nature Writing, Western New Mexico University

John Farnsworth practices what he preaches-acting as a scrupulous observer and questioner, richly bringing Baja, California to life. We get a vivid sense of the personality of an eel or the sheer size of a condor. Farnsworth makes an engaging argument about natural history as art. -- Kim Todd, author of award-winning <I>Tinkering with Eden: A Natural History of Exotics in America</I> Farnsworth is a big-hearted field teacher-humorous and insightful-and an engaging, trustworthy storyteller. In this tale of encounter between desert coast and human psyche, the reader learns some natural history, ponders some big questions, and becomes fond of this wild learning group. Think of it as a field guide to delight. -- Tom Fleischner, Executive Director, Natural History Institute, and editor of <I>Nature, Love, Medicine: Essays On Wildness and Wellness</I> Coves of Departure is a meditation on teaching students to immerse, reflect, and articulate engagement. John Farnsworth's mentor Kathleen Jamie notes poetry is `Bringing the quality of attention to the world.' His book follows his mentor's words, blending accuracy and detail of marine life with history and narrative. -- David Taylor, Assistant Professor of Sustainability Studies, Stony Brook University, and author of <I>The Sea of Cortez: A Poem Series</I> Coves of Departure is a natural history of a place, a travel memoir, a dip into the author's consciousness-a literary book with multiple layers. The fresh contribution of this book lies in its humor; Farnsworth is the David Sedaris of the Sea of Cortez! I enjoyed and trusted in all that I learned about this world, while smiling out loud. -- Sharman Russell, author of <I>Diary of a Citizen Scientist: Chasing Tiger Beetles and Other New Ways of Engaging the World</I>, winner of the 2016 John Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Nature Writing, Western New Mexico University ... he has created a single narrative out of experiences from various years and turned the rotating cast of science professors who helped lead the class into a composite character, Dr. Awesome. The result is warm and witty, a resource full of information about birds, sea creatures, desert plants, and the changing environment; tips for camping, cooking, kayaking, and teaching writing; and insights into how humans respond to encounters with the natural world. * Choice *

Author Information

A lifelong student of literary natural history, John Seibert Farnsworth teaches environmental writing and literature at Santa Clara University. He holds a PhD from the University of Stirling, in Scotland, and masters degrees from Antioch and Stanford universities. For more than a decade, his signature course, ""Writing Natural History,"" culminated with a sea kayak expedition to the Isla Espiritu Santo archipelago of Baja California during spring break. In addition to being an avid sea kayaker, Farnsworth is a retired scuba instructor and a dedicated birder. His current research focuses on how long-term ecological studies foster community.

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