Turning Stones: Discovering the Life of Water

For focus, exercise, and pleasant distraction, scientist Declan McCabe takes frequent walks along Vermont’s Winooski River. The brief trips provide solitude, grounding, and an opportunity to explore. Slowing down, and observing carefully, reveals diverse life in unexpected places. Each patch of soil, each fallen tree, and every puddle of standing water is a microcosm of life to be appreciated.Turning Stones is a careful look at the mysteries and life that can be found in a river if you just the take the time to look.

The more than 50 short essays gathered in this volume provide an astounding look at the rich diversity of life that depends on water. McCabe looks at the unique chemistry of water that makes it essential for all life. He examines a range of life form and looks to the future at ways to preserve clean water for the next generation and beyond.

Declan McCabe is an aquatic ecologist and professor of biology at Saint Michael’s College in Vermont. His job is to clearly communicate fascinating and complex biology to entry-level students and he has translated that skill into a successful career as an outreach specialist to high-school audiences.He is a columnist for Northern Woodlands Magazine and a regular contributor to a syndicated natural history series called The Outside Story, and an occasional contributor to Connecticut Woodlands Magazine. He lives in South Burlington, Vermont.