Synopses & Reviews
Jack Nisbet first told the story of British explorer David Thompson, who mapped the Columbia River, in his acclaimed book Sources of the River, which set the standard for research and narrative biography for the region. Now Nisbet turns his attention to David Douglas, the premier botanical explorer in the Pacific Northwest and throughout other areas of western North America. Douglas's discoveries include hundreds of western plants — most notably the Douglas Fir. The Collector tracks Douglas's fascinating history, from his humble birth in Scotland in 1799 to his botanical training under the famed William Jackson Hooker, and details his adventures in North America discovering "exotic" new plants for the English and European market. The book takes readers along on Douglas's journeys into a literal "brave new world" of then-obscure realms from Puget Sound to the Sandwich Islands. In telling Douglas's story, Nisbet evokes a lost world of early exploration, pristine nature, ambition, and cultural and class conflict with surprisingly modern resonances.
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"[A] compelling look into what the world here was like just before widespread white settlement." The Inlander
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"Nisbet gracefully and concisely traces Douglas's journey from a gardener's apprentice in Scotland to a young botanist-collector." The Spokesman Review
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"[A]n exhilarating biography that provides an entertaining portrait of the unfettered determination that drove one of the giants in the field of botanical exploration and infused the young nation he viewed with a keen and zealous spirit." Booklist
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"Nisbet's well-researched narrative has considerable bounce and drama....It's a portrait of a true adventurer...a solid piece of scholarship and synthesis." Kirkus Reviews
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"[A]n energetic and informative narrative that evokes a geography that is familiar to us in some ways, and yet in other ways has been dramatically altered. The Bookmonger, Barbara Lloyd McMichael
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"We've long needed a modern biographer of naturalist David Douglas and who better to write it than Jack Nisbet, one of the Northwest's great storytellers....Nisbet has authored a narrative tapestry." David Nicandri, Director of the Washington State Historical Society
Synopsis
Equal parts biography, natural history, and travelogue, Jack Nisbet tells the story of David Douglas, the 19th century Scottish naturalist and botanical explorer--perfect for amateur naturalists and armchair historians of the Pacific Northwest The Collector tracks Douglas's fascinating history, from his humble birth in Scotland in 1799 to his botanical training under the famed William Jackson Hooker, and details his adventures in North America discovering exotic new plants for the English and European market. Douglas's discoveries include hundreds of western plants--most notably the Douglas Fir.
The book takes readers along on Douglas's journeys into a literal brave new world of then-obscure realms from Puget Sound to the Sandwich Islands.
"In telling Douglas's story, Nisbet evokes a lost world of early exploration, pristine nature, ambition, and cultural and class conflict with surprisingly modern resonances." Bookmarks Magazine
An exhilarating biography that provides an entertaining portrait of the unfettered determination that drove one of the giants in the field of botanical exploration and infused the young nation he viewed with a keen and zealous spirit. Booklist
About the Author
Jack Nisbet is a historian, teacher, and author focusing on the intersection of human history and natural history in the Pacific Northwest. His Sources of the River won the Murray Morgan Prize from the Washington State Historical Society.