Eyes in the Soles of My Feet: From Horseshoe Crabs to Sycamores, Exploring Hidden Connections to the Natural World

In these insightful essays, nature writer Caroline Sutton (Don’t Mind Me, I Just Died) highlights aspects of the natural world that are often overlooked. Organized by the ancient Greeks’ four elements—water, earth, air, and fire—the narratives segue from horseshoe crabs to pesky weeds to snowy egrets to the thumb-size, glow-in-the-dark bobtail squid. In a piece on battling invasive voles, Sutton muses on cognitive empathy and what it might be like to live underground, “the world turned inside out, the invisible made visible.” Lulling her granddaughter to sleep, she reflects on rest in the animal kingdom, noting that bluefish and tuna never sleep, while common swifts, which spend 10 months of the year in flight, take half-hour naps as they glide on thermal updrafts. Sutton points out that often what humans see is a matter of perspective. To some, seagulls are sandwich-stealing thugs, while others view them as symbols of open horizons and freedom. With lyrical prose, Sutton explores such thought-provoking questions as how best to teach children to see the world, free of adult preconceptions, and what humans would see if they viewed their surroundings through ten eyes distributed over their bodies like horseshoe crabs. The result is a revelatory perspective on life on Earth. (Oct.)