A rabbit yawned suddenly somewhere; a woodcock was anxious about the rights it had given up; a male pheasant was anxious about its feathers that were wet on the grass. Angry...

Such words will certainly bring us pleasure in reading. Such expressions abound. This is the words in "Shaxiang Almanac". The author of this book, Aldo Leopold, was an American scientist and a famous environmentalist who has been dead for half a century.

"Shaxiang Yearbook" consists of three parts. The first part is a series of narrations about the different scenes of Shaxiang in different seasons, arranged into "an almanac of Shaxiang". The second part covers places where the author has worked and lived, including Wisconsin, Iowa, New Mexico... almost traveling across the North American continent, with observations, adventures, pains and lessons. The third part expounds the relationship between man and nature, man and land from the perspectives of aesthetics, cultural tradition and ethics respectively. It is the crystallization of the author's ecological concept.

Sand Country was actually an abandoned farm purchased by Leopold on the banks of the Wisconsin River. For more than 10 years, this land and a dilapidated cabin on it became his home. Here he and his family engage in wildlife farming and management as a primary family affair. In winter, they fed the birds and carefully banded them. In spring, amid the cooing of wild geese flying south, they plant pine trees. In the summer, they planted seeds and tended wildflowers. In the fall, they observe the strange commotion of various animals before hibernation. In all seasons, Leopold made bioclimatic observations and records. They practice what they do, respect their duties, and face nature with a pious attitude.

In the Sand Country Almanac, Leopold’s poetic descriptions of the birds, beasts, and exotic flowers and plants can be easily picked up. The entire book is filled with the author’s affection for those creatures. Sincere love.

Because of the author's subtle observations and delicate writing, the article cannot but be breathtaking. Of course, while enjoying the sweet rain of beautiful words, we are shocked to the soul from time to time. Although this is a book that requires a calm mind to read, and it was published as early as 1949, when I read it today, I still don’t feel at all stale and out of touch with the world.

The author Leopold is an expert who has been engaged in forestry and game management for a long time. At that time, he faced the rapid decline of forests, soil erosion, air pollution, dirty environment, etc. in the process of economic development in various countries around the world. Aren’t the same problems we face in society and the worries caused by them the worries we have today? Leopold severely criticized the tendency of a materialistic society to blindly pursue economic value at the expense of the environment.

It can be said that in order to protect the ecological environment, the author Leopold devoted his life's energy and wisdom. The sandy countryside is barren, but the author Leopold doubts whether the sandy countryside is really poor. He hypothesized: If I were an economist, I would focus all my economic thinking on the sand and the saplings under my nose.

We have seen text forms such as diaries and letters, but the yearbook style is completely new to us. In the 12-month seasonal cycle of the year, Leopold carefully observed the growth of flowers, insects, plants and trees and their living habits, from the "melting of the ice" in January, the "return of the wild geese" in March, to the "return of the wild geese" in April. "Spring Tide is Coming", "The Birthday of the Prairie" in July, "If I Were the Wind" in November, and "Pine Trees on the Snow" in December are all beautiful pictures of eternal life. Reading this The book seems to have taken a long and interesting fugue with the author.

"Sand Country Almanac", as one of the "Green Classics Library", once again presents Leopold's thoughts and his lyrical words to us.

I think this 200,000-word environmental book is worth reading once by every reader who loves economic books