More Than Meets the Eye

For award-winning science writer Margie Pitlak, exploring the unique nature of theMaine coast opens a door to deeper ties and insights. Watching a striped monarchcaterpillar transform into a chartreuse pendant dabbed with gold, she realizes the limits oflife and what passes between generations. She explores the violent geologic collisionsthat thrust up and fractured Maine’s mountains; digs into the latest scientific thinking onhow animals navigate; reflects on the dizzy dance of plankton under the microscope andthe dogfish heart that continued to beat while held in the palm of her hand. She looks atmoose, fox, fishers, and the tides as well, and shares a chapter about cleaning up theMaine coast by kayak. These facets of the natural world speak a hidden language that istranslated by scientific knowledge and reflection. Nature begins to speak about the natureof life.