I’ll be on the NPR show To The Best of Our Knowledge this weekend (April 28/29). The program is “Into the Woods,” and I’ll be talking about The Forest Unseen. Also scheduled for the show are Terry Tempest Williams, Stephen Sondheim, Marina Warner, and Stephen Long. I’m very grateful to be included in this line-up, to say the least.
Stations that carry the program and broadcast times are here. WPLN (Nashville) runs the show at 3pm on Sunday on its 1430 AM channel. WUTC (Chattanooga) runs at 12:00 (eastern time, 11am central) on Sunday on 88.1 FM. The show will also be available through podcasts, XM satellite, etc as detailed here.
Unlike previous interviews which have been live and over the phone, this interview was recorded last week in the WPLN studios in Nashville. The experience of sitting in a quiet studio, talking to people several states away, using a great mic and headphones was an unexpected treat for my senses. The studio was so quiet and the equipment so good that the world was stripped down to a nearly pure experience of sound. Just voices, hanging in a silvery space. It was almost enough to calm my nerves.
David George Haskell 
Thanks, looking forward to hearing it Sunday.
I caught most of the interview while I was driving to church this morning. It took my breath away, and as soon as I could, I got on the computer and ordered the book. Not many books I would do that for!
Thank you!
I was captivated by the interview and was also driving – pulled to the side of the road to write down the book title and author’s name. I would love to have an audiobook of “The Forest Unseen” read in David’s voice. No other reader could capture your enthusiasm and passion. Any chance an audiobook is in the works?
Thank you so much for this. I’d had quite a few requests about an audio book and I’d love to do one. Whether that is in the offing depends on the publisher. Having an author read is a little unusual, but boy would I enjoy giving voice to the stories in this book.
I also caught the show on NPR here in rainy Chicago. Wow, brought back memories of when I was a kid and used to hang out at a creek at the bottom of my parent’s property and experience some of the same observations of life of varmints and collect fossils and plants. That curiousity led to taking classes at the Cincinnati Museum of natural history. Used to dig up clay and make sculptures and pots. I made a lot of unique iconic carvings on a tree that became a totem of my young life of that time. Later, when I was in my 30’s I hiked to the bottom of Grand Canyon with a buddy who I walked or biked each Saturday. It took me forever to get to the bottom because I was down on my hands and knees looking at rock, plant and animal life. I knew a bit about what I was observing because I had taken a series of classes at the Field Museum here in Chicago and read many books. My friend? He lost patience and took off. Oh! What he missed! Why would you not observe everything along the way?
Great story! My mantra at book readings has been “wonder increases as speed decreases.” Your tale from the canyon is an excellent example. Why rush along when there are so many great things to see along the way? Well, sometimes we do need to hurry along, but if that is all we ever do, we’re missing out I think. Hard to keep sight of that sometimes.
I visited the Cincinnati Museum years ago. I remember some excellent natural history collections.
Thank you for your interest and for connecting through the blog.