Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin Of The Earth"A gleeful, poetic book…Like the best natural histories, Dirt is a kind of prayer." —Los Angeles Times Book Review "You are about to read a lot about dirt, which no one knows very much about." So begins the cult classic that brings mystery and magic to "that stuff that won't come off your collar." John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Saint Phocas, Darwin, and Virgil parade through this thought-provoking work, taking their place next to the dung beetle, the compost heap, dowsing, historical farming, and the microscopic biota that till the soil. Whether William Bryant Logan is traversing the far reaches of the cosmos or plowing through our planet’s crust, his delightful, elegant, and surprisingly soulful meditations greatly enrich our concept of "dirt," that substance from which we all arise and to which we all must return. |
Contents
Clydes Pickup I | 1 |
Saint Phocas as Fertilizer | 17 |
Virgin Soil | 27 |
Copyright | |
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acid acre Adams agricultural beauty beetle beneath body buried calcium called carbon dioxide cathedral century clay compost corpse creatures crop crust dead deep dig to China digging dirt drop dung dung beetle dust Earth earthworms edge fact farm farmer feet fertile soil fields garden Georgics gopher grass Gregory ground grow hand Hans Jenny heap Heins & LaFarge hole horizon human humus hundred hydrogen inches iron Jefferson Jenny land landfill landscape layer leaves living look magnetic manure means microbes miles million mineral mollisols moon mounds nitrogen nutrients organic matter oxygen particles perhaps Phocas pile pine plants plow polyculture prairie prairie dogs pygmy forest quarry rain river rock roots SAINT PHOCAS salts sand says scarab scientists seed silt smell soil's stone streptomycin surface tectonic plates thing thousand tion trees turned underground Virgil whole worms