Natural history has enriched the literary landscape ever since Greek philosophers mused about humanity's place in the cosmos. The Internet brings this world of the classics as close as your fingertips.
There never seems to be enough time to read great literature. But winter brings an opportunity to curl up in a sunny window with a favourite book, or make a cup of cocoa, perch in front of the monitor and visit an online library.
One weakness of these resources is that recent books of note are not readily accessible.
Panning for gold
Not that there's any shortage of new writing in cyberspace. One benefit of the Internet is it gives every literate person a media voice. You don't need a master's degree in English or a list of publishing credits, just a computer and a hookup, to present your ideas to the world. The downside is we all have to sift through a vast harvest of writing, and be discerning about what we read, to find the real gems.
However, most great modern books are still in print and protected by copyright laws, so we won't find many of them in electronic form soon unless we're willing to pay the price.
But online libraries like Project Gutenburg provide many of the older masterpices, and with much more convenience to readers. So if you've never read them before, now it's easier than ever.
An online education
Virginia Commonwealth University provides a course outline of "American nature writing" along with a thorough list of Web resources. What a boon to literary surfers! Not only can we find the stuff to read, we also have the benefit of remarks and assignments from English professor and writer Ann M. Woodlief. Soon we'll all be winning Pulitzer prizes.
You'll notice many Internet resources are considerably skewed towards American resources. For environmentalism this comes as no surprise, considering the movement received most of its initial impetus in the United States.
Outside the US
But this oversight of other English writers is a considerable bias. Consider A Romantic Natural History, compiled by professor Ashton Nichols at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. One visit to his site will illustrate the prominence of European scientists and literary figures in nature writing during the century prior to the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species (1859).
And the American view ignores the vast tracts of Canadian and Australian wilderness recorded by history, not to mention the rest of the world. The task of finding classic English writers who recounted these natural wonders is harder.
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