For award-winning science writer Margie Patlak, exploring the unique nature of the

Maine coast opens a door to deeper ties and insights. Watching a striped monarch

caterpillar transform into a chartreuse pendant dabbed with gold, she realizes the limits of

life and what passes between generations. She explores the violent geologic collisions

that thrust up and fractured Maine’s mountains; digs into the latest scientific thinking on

how animals navigate; reflects on the dizzy dance of plankton under the microscope and

the dogfish heart that continued to beat while held in the palm of her hand. She looks at

moose, fox, fishers, and the tides as well, and shares a chapter about cleaning up the

Maine coast by kayak. These facets of the natural world speak a hidden language that is

translated by scientific knowledge and reflection. Nature begins to speak about the nature

of life.