Gilbert White's book has shaped our everyday view of the relations between human beings and nature. In it he suggests that the lives of birds and animals have their own richness and rhythm, and in demonstrating this belief he struck a new note in nature writing.

Gilbert White's Natural History of Selborne (1789) reveals a world of wonders in nature. Over a period of twenty years White describes in minute detail the behaviour of animals through the changing seasons in the rural Hampshire parish of Selborne. He notes everything from the habits of an eccentric tortoise to the mysteries of bird migration and animal reproduction, with the purpose of inspiring others to observe their own surroundings with the same pleasure and attention.
Written as a series of letters, White's book has all the immediacy and freshness of an exchange with...

First published in 1789, this is a study of the flora and fauna of the parish of Selborne in Hampshire. This volume also includes the author's correspondence with the two distinguished naturalists, Thomas Penant and the Honourable Daines Barrington.

A century before Charles Darwin, decades before the French Revolution, Gilbert White began his lifelong habit of measuring and observing the world around his Hampshire home. Daily rainfall levels and temperature shifts were recorded with home-made instruments.

'I was much entertained last summer with a tame bat, which would take flies out of a person's hand.'
Gilbert White's Natural History of Selborne (1789) reveals a world of wonders in nature. Over a period of twenty years White describes in minute detail the behaviour of animals through the changing seasons in the rural Hampshire parish of Selborne. He notes everything from the habits of an eccentric tortoise to the mysteries of bird migration and animal reproduction, with the purpose of inspiring others to observe their own surroundings with the same pleasure and attention.
Written as...