Join us for an afternoon with Paula Whyman, who will speak about her new book, Bad Naturalist: One Woman’s Ecological Education on a Wild Virginia Mountaintop. A conversation with Adam Nemett will follow. This in-person event will be free and open to the public. We recommend arriving early for the best seating.
About the Book: When Paula Whyman climbs to a peak in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in search of a home in the country, her plans for a tidy backyard ecology project quickly morph into a massive endeavor. Just as quickly, she discovers how little she knows about hands-on conservation work. In Bad Naturalist, Whyman struggles with conflicting advice from experts, an influx of invasive species, delayed plans, and the occasional rattlesnake—but none of it dampens her irrepressible passion for protecting this place.
Bad Naturalist is woven with Whyman’s lyrically deft, delightful storytelling as she attempts to coax a beautiful piece of land back into shape. Readers meander with her through orchards and meadows, forests and frog ponds as Whyman’s hair fills with broomsedge and she gets lost in her own woods. Preconceived notions about nature fall by the wayside when she discovers that fire can be good, and certain plants can be bad. The mountaintop is, after all, teeming with life and hope amid the seeming chaos of nature, and some of Whyman’s plans for the place eventually go right. In the end, she forms a deep connection with her own corner of the natural world and is reminded that the quest for control is a fool’s errand.
About the Author: Paula Whyman’s first book of nonfiction is Bad Naturalist. Her earlier book, You May See a Stranger, is an award-winning linked short story collection. Her writing has also appeared in The Washington Post and The American Scholar, and in journals including McSweeney’s Quarterly, VQR, Ploughshares, and The Hudson Review. She was awarded residencies by MacDowell, Yaddo, VCCA, The Studios of Key West, and Oak Spring Garden Foundation. Her work on this book was supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council. She spends her time on a mountain in Virginia with her husband and a mercurial standard poodle. Visit Paula online at paulawhyman.com.
About the Moderator: Adam Nemett is the author of We Can Save Us All, named one of Booklist’s “Top Ten Debut Novels of 2018.” His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, The New York Times Book Review, Salon, Fatherly, and The Apocalypse Reader anthology. A Princeton graduate with an MFA from California College of the Arts, Nemett was creative director at History Factory for thirteen years, crafting award-winning nonfiction for major corporations. He is also the director of the feature film The Instrument (2005) and cofounded MIMA Music, an educational nonprofit. Nemett is now director of brand and content strategy at WillowTree and runs the popular permaculture blog Thunderbird Disco Homestead. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, with his family.
Bad Naturalist will be released on January 7. To order the book, please see below for the New Dominion Bookshop book order form or call the shop at 434-295-2552.
"With dry humor and an always engaging voice, Paula Whyman takes us on an entertaining and unexpected journey restoring a wild Virginia mountaintop. Bad Naturalist is a master class in ecology, humility, and perseverance that will have you thinking about mid-life larks, plants, and gardens, in a whole new light."
—Susan Coll
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