The life under the snow
"You don't have to travel to the Brazilian rain forest to luxuriate in the biodiversity at our feet," says Adrian Higgins in a Washington Post review of James B. Nardi's Life in the Soil: A Guide for Naturalists and Gardeners. Even now, under that blanket of snow outside the window, a veritable holiday feast is underway: "organisms that can be seen by us, such as wood lice, and those that cannot, such as bacteria, set into motion a hidden, primal banquet featuring hordes of revelers and many courses."
It's the first day of winter and life in the soil is teeming. "We as a species," says Higgins, "have been largely ignorant of this universe for so long." Nardi's book "is a must-read for anyone who wants a better understanding of this world and how to protect it." Even creatures grubby and small.