by John Hirsch
text by David R. Foster, Clarisse M. Hart and Margot Anne Kelley
Harvard University Press, 2017
Cloth: 978-0-674-98027-3
Library of Congress Classification SD359.H3H57 2017
Dewey Decimal Classification 634.928097443

ABOUT THIS BOOK | REVIEWS
ABOUT THIS BOOK

John Hirsch chronicles the research, scientists, and ephemera of the Harvard Forest—a 3,750-acre research forest in Petersham, Massachusetts. Essays by David Foster, Clarisse Hart, and Margot Anne Kelley expand the scope of this photographic exploration at the nexus of science and art.

Hirsch is attentive to both the quixotic and the beautiful, and has created a body of work that is about a desire to understand, describe, and predict the evolution of our surroundings, while showing reverence for the possibility of sublime moments in a place. The forest is here a microcosm for the world in which we live, and this work helps us envision the future we may inhabit, making the book a useful and engaging vantage from which to consider pressing issues of climate change, ecosystem resilience, and land and water use.