To Life

Reviews / Votes

"Lyrical, erudite, and quietly revelatory, To Life is the kind of book that rearranges one's sense of where wonder, scholarship, and spiritual inquiry meet. Through vivid, deeply researched portraits, it illuminates a largely forgotten chapter of scientists and seekers whose work forever changed how we understand the living world." - Diane Ackerman, author of The Zookeeper's Wife

"This is an entirely original book that challenges the deep-seated assumption that Jews until recently had no interest in nature. It offers eight compelling biographies of Jewish naturalists who made important scientific contributions to the systematic study of life forms and the environment." - Robert Juette, author of The Jewish Body: A History

"Being Jewish and loving nature are not mutually exclusive. This well-researched study documents leading Jewish naturalists' lasting contribution to knowledge about plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, spiders, mosquitoes, and ecosystems. With diverse approaches to Jewishness, they explored nature as scientists, museum curators, educators, and conservationists. They inspire us to love nature and to love life." - Hava Samuelson, author of Religion and Environment: The Case of Judaism

"This book brings nature, spirituality, and scientific practice together into an insightful, often compelling dialogue. The author's skill in weaving together academic theory and structures with methodical laboratory investigations and the unpredictability of field work results in a very dynamic, important read." - Fern Shaffer, artist and environmentalist

"A magnificent work of natural history in its truest sense. It reveals flora, fauna, landscapes, and the Jewish relationship to them with deep wisdom and wit. Here you'll find everything from the snark of Fran Lebowitz to the courage of, my favorite, mosquito expert Andrew Spielman. Greenberg manages to do it all with both style and rigor. Vivid, warm, and authoritative, To Life is a celebration you should join." - Michael D'Antonio, coauthor of Mosquito: The Story of Man's Deadliest Foe

"To Life is groundbreaking-a highly original, exhaustively researched and referenced scholarly work of major importance across several disciplines. But this is no dry treatise. Joel Greenberg's writing is so beautifully compelling that his subjects come alive on the page, and anyone can read the book for sheer fascination and enjoyment." - Kenn Kaufman, author of The Birds that Audubon Missed

"To Life fills a critical gap in the history of science and environmental history. Through evocative biographies of eight Jewish scientists and naturalists, this work takes the reader from the Amazon to the American Ivy League to Middle Eastern campaigns in World War I. In telling their compelling and globe-trotting stories, To Life restores the important legacy of Jews in understanding, protecting, and embracing the natural world." - Mark Madison, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Historian

"Greenberg writes with tenderness and empathy, as thorough in his efforts to understand the temperament and personal lives of his subjects as he is precise and illuminating in his chronicling of their scientific achievements and how Judaism and antisemitism shaped their experience. . . . Greenberg insightfully, expertly, and vividly elucidates each intriguing and complex scientist's extraordinary struggles and accomplishments." - Donna Seaman, Booklist, starred review