Book review by Mariah Rogers

Published in the 2022 October November December issue of The Mycophile

North American Mycological Association

Natural Connections: Exploring Northwoods Nature Through Science and Your Senses Natural Connections 2: Dreaming of an Elfin Skimmer

by Emily Stone Cable Natural History Museum (2016, 2019) 293, 321 pages, respectively

Book Review by Mariah Rogers 

When Emily Stone writes of natural connections, she includes herself – and all of us – too. Senses and observations, facts and figures are caught in the prism of one woman’s awe, curiosity and delight, then cast out for us all to see. She is aware of her readers, and anticipates what of nature we most love to draw us in – and precisely what we have forgotten to notice – calling us back outdoors to experience it all over again. 

This is a true artist’s nature writing, kaleidoscopic visions rather than simple report. Any visual artist knows this process well. A shadow we first think of as black will not be black, but indigo, even if cast by a chanterelle that is a bright yellow onto a verdant forest floor. This same appreciation for our senses, both external and imaginative, sets Natural Connections apart. 

Emily Stone is a naturalist and educator deeply engaged in her community. This engagement is present in those who support and those who most benefit from her writing. When her first book was published, locals and friends chipped in so printing costs were covered and all proceeds would directly benefit the Cable Natural History Museum (CNHM). 

Our mycological community has become a part of this network. Many of you met Stone at the 2017 NAMA Annual Foray or helped benefit CNHM this past year at our WMS/ NAMA 2022 Northwoods Regional Foray in those same exceptional Northwoods. 

The books are compilations of the author’s freely available works, published in newspapers and on her blog. They are gifts you can use to share her work far and wide, without any cost limiting that generosity. Still, many qualities recommend the printed books – the arrangement of the pieces, the tangibility of the paper copies, and the inclusion of many illustrations by children inspired by nature and the stories Stone tells. 

These illustrations are of particular interest to the parent, guardian or teacher for their capacity to engage children who may be too young for a chapter-book otherwise. Finding their colleagues with drawings in print inspires kids to draw along to the stories, too. The effect is not limited by age. When reading Stone’s work, I was moved to begin writing regularly again and to pull out old notebooks to sketch without a plan or purpose beyond my experience of that moment within nature. 

Being relatively recently published, with a following principally situated in the not-so-populated north, these books are not nearly as well-known as they rightly should be. I was unable to find them in my local library system in Milwaukee County. That can change; I have now recommended them to my local librarians, and to all of you. 

This is not to say Natural Connections are not widely appreciated! Natural Connections 2: Dreaming of an Elfin Skimmer won best book in the Outdoor Writers Association of America’s 2020 Excellence in Craft Contest. 

When you navigate to the Cable Natural History Museum website, where the Natural Connections books can be ordered (https://www.cablemuseum.org/books/), you are also provided with Wisconsin and Minnesota bookstores carrying her works. Exploring the site further, there is a podcast of freely available audiobook chapters (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/natural-connections/id1474276116) and the author’s blog (http://cablemuseumnaturalconnections.blogspot.com/) with photos and videos accompanying the writing. With each book purchase, an author’s signature and personal inscription is available on request. 

As mycologists, we are fond of referencing the mycelium to speak of the wisdom of branching, distributed networks, and so many connections you can barely keep count. Emily Stone’s writing and our own personal practices with nature writing, art and phenology take us on the cycles and leaps we need to think like an ecosystem, create like an ecosystem, and move like one too.

Such kind words! Thank you, Mariah! -- Emily