The New Earth Reader

Book excerpt: This is a collection of the best essays, stories, and interviews from Terra Nova, the cutting-edge literary journal. It explores the complex and multifarious ways humanity is loose in the natural world. Find out who really wrote the famous Chief Seattle speech. Read why Jaron Lanier wants to turn us all into giant squid so we can talk to one another without language. Rick Bass travels to the country with the most grizzly bears per square mile: Romania. Gary Nabhan dreams of raven stew. Val Plumwood is half-swallowed by a crocodile and lives to tell the tale and affirm her vegetarianism. Charles Bowden enters Tuna Country in Mexico and struggles to find his way back across the border. Ray Isle fights with a wild turkey; see who wins. And find out why filmmaker Errol Morris thinks that human dreamers are the most endangered species around.