Photographers Linda and Robert Scarth have an incredible eye for that magic moment when small becomes beautiful. Matched with patience and skill, their eye for magic produces dazzling images of Iowa nature up close. Revealing the miniature beauties hidden among the patches of prairie, woodland, and wetland that remain in Iowa’s sadly overdeveloped landscape, the seventy-five color photographs in Deep Nature give us a breathtaking cross section of the state’s smallest inhabitants. The Scarths’ close-up images of showy orchis and northern monkshood, great spangled fritillary and painted lady, red-breasted nuthatch and eastern wood-pewee, ornate box turtle and gray treefrog, big bluestem and cotton-grass, and many other natural wonders look more like paintings than photographs. Beginning with an iridescent fly hovering over a neon-purple fringed gentian and ending with their iconic image of coneflowers refracted in dewdrops, they have created a sparkling jewelbox of images that will make us look at the small world around us with renewed appreciation. Attending to the small things in the fabric of nature is the Scarths’ source of artistic inspiration. Taking Walt Whitman’s “every leaf is a miracle” as their beginning, they celebrate not only each leaf but each feather, insect, dewdrop, flower, lichen, and intricate organism in the evolving web of life. “Vibrant, full of life, and beautifully composed, Linda and Robert Scarth’s photography shows the side of Iowa I never knew existed. Accompanied by deeply personal, evocative text by the ecologist John Pearson, this book celebrates a rarely seen facet of the American Midwest.”— Piotr Naskrecki, author, The Smaller Majority “A sense of place, the beauty of remnant nature in the Midwest—far more abundant, varied, and enticing than one might think—these are the rewards offered by this lovely volume with its sensitive, graceful prose and sensitive but vivid images of the life that survives in abundance and enriches our lives when we stop to enjoy it. Highly recommended for all who care or who would like to learn more, and more deeply, about this marvelous planet that we call home.”—Peter H. Raven, president, Missouri Botanical Garden Linda and Robert Scarth have been photographing the natural world for many years, with special emphasis on the flora and fauna of the Midwest. In addition to numerous trips in the United States, they have photographed in Australia, Africa, South America, and the Falkland Islands. Most of their work has involved teaching and research. Most recently, before retirement, Robert was a research scientist and statistician for the University of Iowa’s Institute of Rural and Environmental Health, and Linda was the reference librarian at Mount Mercy College. John Pearson, coauthor of The Guide to Iowa’s State Preserves (Iowa, 2001), lives in Indianola and works as an ecologist for the Conservation and Recreation Division of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Used Book in Good Condition