Praise for Weaned Seals and Seals and Snowy Summits

Here's what people are saying about our 2019 book, Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature:

“I can’t think of a better time for Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature to appear. Given our current environmental crisis, connection (or reconnection) to the natural world is not just a crucial emotional or spiritual experience, it could well be the key to our survival. Jennifer J. Wilhoit, Ph.D. and Stephen B. Jones, Ph.D. pool their talents to present compelling essays explaining why we need nature every bit as much as nature needs us. These are rich tales of travel and wonder, and each contributes to our understanding of the interdependence of life. This is a first-rate road map to the heart of life.” 

– Burt J. Kempner Award-Winning Writer-Producer, Author of The Five Fierce Tigers of Rosa Martinez, and Co-Creator of the Rewilding the Human Machine Forum

“Jennifer Wilhoit and Steve Jones have collaborated to create an enchanting, inspiring, and important book. Their voices are strong, clear, informed, and poetic. The result is a conversation, even though they have each written a series of individual essays. Together, they help to bring lessons from nature to life in our everyday lives at a time of urgent need.”
– Cheryl Charles, Ph.D. Co-Founder, President, and CEO Emerita, Children and Nature Network, and Adjunct Faculty and Executive Director, Nature Based Leadership Institute, Antioch University New England

“Through Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature, Wilhoit and Jones surpass commonplace concepts of earth stewardship and connectivity by providing a compelling, passionate, and memorable journey through transcendent prose. From rare personal experiences with baby elephant seals to everyday familiarities with wildflowers and butterflies, readers will delight in this expedition across planet Earth. This is more than a book about biodiversity and observations; it is an intimate invitation to rediscover the enchantment of our natural world. A powerful reminder that whether we are in a forest primeval, in a public park, on a wild beach, or in our own back yard, every moment in nature is a once upon a time moment.”
– Renee Simmons Raney Environmental Educator and Author

“Richly descriptive passages and philosophical musings come together in this powerful narrative on nature. Jennifer Wilhoit and Steve Jones share their personal and professional encounters with the great outdoors in language that is scientifically grounded but highly accessible and engaging. Life, death, diversity, transitions, ambiguity, and passion all get their due in this retrospective of first-hand encounters with nature in all its glory.”
– Kristin Tichenor, Ed.D. Senior Vice President Worcester Polytechnic Institute

“The authors' emphasis on the practice of Earth stewardship is an exultation of life on an ancient planet lately overshadowed by the gritty naivete of humankind. Dr. Wilhoit’s pithy examination of the ecotone between planet and people is a message of sheer poetry as we hunger for wholeness in that helter-skelter relationship. Wilhoit’s and Jones’ carefully worded manifesto inspires me with a song of gratitude for nature’s wonder-filled complexity.”
– H. Bruce Rinker, Ph.D. Ecologist, Educator, Explorer, and Author of A Pearl in the Brain: The Cancer Journey of a Scientist in His Search for the Seat of the Soul

“Drawing from the authors’ vast experiences, we are reminded that life isn’t about the big adventures. It is about the awareness of the relationships we can have with the natural world if we simply take the time—like with any healthy relationship—to respectfully and responsibly engage. Rich with texture and imagery, Wilhoit and Jones find a way to re-connect us with our own selves and with one other, using the natural world as our template. Through the richness of the authors’ ability to draw us into the back yard of our lives, we see how the textures of nature work in relationship with each other and with humans. In Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits, we are taken to the place of understanding where we can create an ecotone of our own—that place where humans and nature not only co-exist within one another, but thrive—thereby defining right relationship in a way that is palpable, and most hopefully, probable.”
– Kate Trnka, M.S.Ed. Owner of Sacred Earth Wellness and Sacred Earth Publishing, and
Charter for Compassion Environment Sector Lead Ambassador/Global Read Coordinator

“Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits is an engaging read flowing from the minds of two lifelong nature-appreciating people. Each author shares about their relationship with the Earth and its multitude of wonders. For example, in one essay Dr. Jones highlights its flora (forest ecology) and in another Dr. Wilhoit focuses on its fauna (elephant seals). Together, they address throughout their book how to think about sustainability of all life on our Earth.”
– James T. McGill, Ph.D. Sr. VP, Finance and Administration, Johns Hopkins University,
Retired

“I was happy to hear that Jennifer Wilhoit and Steve Jones have collaborated to produce a book that is aimed at capturing their respective experiences in nature and then motivating readers to find their own ways to capture nature-based experiences wherever they might be located. They succinctly state that anyone can develop a relationship with nature wherever they are, and they reiterate that point in each essay of the book. An ultimate goal of the text is to motivate readers to develop an understanding and appreciation of our relationship to Earth and the imperative to act accordingly. It is the hope of the authors that the book offers guidance and inspiration to motivate readers to make their own connection to Earth and all beings more tangible, more a part of daily life, richer and more dynamic. Readers will be mentally taken on field trips into nature with Wilhoit and Jones, and their observational writing skills will offer lessons that can be used in everyday life.”
– Ronald G. Dodson Author, Speaker, Entrepreneur