Ralph Waldo Emerson is one of the most important figures in American nature writing, yet until now readers have had no book devoted to this central theme in his work."e;The Best Read Naturalist"e; fills this lacuna, placing several of Emerson's lesser-known pieces of nature writing in conversation with his canonical essays. Organized chronologically, the thirteen selections-made up of sermons, lectures, addresses, and essays-reveal an engagement with natural history that spanned Emerson's career. As we watch him grapple with what he called the"e;book of nature,"e; a more environmentally connected thinker emerges-a"e;green"e; Emerson deeply concerned with the physical world and fascinated with the ability of science to reveal a correspondence between the order of nature and that of the mind."e;The Best Read Naturalist"e; illuminates the vital influence that the study of natural history had on the development of Emerson's mature philosophy.