UMA OUTRA LEITURA - "READING THE LANDSCAPE", MAY THEILGAARD WATTS, 1957, The Macmillan Company, New York

"There is good reading on the land..."

There is good reading on the land, first-hand reading, involving no symbols. 

The records are written in forests, in fence-rows, in bogs, in play-grounds, in pastures, in gardens, in canyons, in tree rings.

The records were made by sun and shade; by wind, rain, and fire; by time; and by animals.

As we read what is written on the land, finding accounts of the past, predictions of the future, and comments on the present, we discover that there are many interwoven strands to each story, offering several possible interpretations.

Interpreting this reading matter, in place, on the land, seeing living things in their total environment, is an adventure into the field that is called ecology.

This ecology is a diverting traveling companion. It points out a bit of virgin prairie on a railroad right-of-way; it discovers the differing forests on north-facing and south-facing slopes; it finds evidence of long-dead Indian fires; it shows an island moving downstream; it interprets the changing shapes of evergreen, cattle, porches, and barns. It is an equally good companion for one staying at home. It finds a story in a schoolyard, in the corner of an old cemetery, in a foundation planting, and even in a window box.

breve nota:

O título completo é "Reading the Landscape. An adventure in Ecology"...assim fica mais bonito e explícito.
May Theilgaard Watts, "Naturalist" do "The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, Illinois", que se saiba foi a primeira pessoa a publicar sobre a ideia de ler a paisagem como um livro e de como tal ser uma interpretação da ecologia local.
13 brilhantes capítulos, desde as florestas de magnólias, às sebes de arame farpado, aos lagos, às encostas e cumes, numa deslumbrante e ilustrada descrição das principais paisagens da América do Norte. Um clássico imperdível, a merecer redescoberta.