Following Nature’s Lead

Name: Following Nature’s Lead
Price: 44.99 AUD
Availability: OutOfStock
ISBN: 9780691249209

Ancient Ways of Living in a Dying World

M. D. Usher

$44.99

Hardback

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English

Princeton University Press
01 September 2025

Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500; Ethics & moral philosophy; Environmentalist thought & ideology; Sustainability

In the spirit of E. F. Schumacher's Small Is Beautiful, a dazzling and revelatory exploration of what ancient ideas and ways of living can teach us about creating a more sustainable world

How should we think and live in a world facing environmental catastrophe? In this urgent, original, and wide-ranging book, classicist and farmer M. D. Usher brings together ancient, indigenous, and modern ideas about how to live in this world and describes how we might begin to reconnect with Nature and heal our damaged planet and lives. The ancients hewed close to Nature, the source of their survival, in ways that most of us can scarcely conceive of today, and ancient philosophy often argues that humans should follow Nature's lead. Usher makes the case that Nature's resilience can serve as a model for our own responses to climate trauma and all the other harms caused by modern lifestyles.

Drawing on philosophy, science, economics, art, literature, history, and religion, Following Nature's Lead is both an indictment of human overreach and a celebration of human ingenuity and the adaptability of Nature. Here, Plato meets German biologist Jakob von Uexkll, Lucretius illuminates King Lear, and Diogenes the Cynic crosses swords with Henry Thoreau.

Filled with vital and inspiring insights, Following Nature's Lead shows how the ancients can help teach us to live in accordance with Nature

and why it's essential for human survival that we learn to do so without delay.

By: M. D. Usher
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 203mm, Width: 133mm,
ISBN: 9780691249209
ISBN 10: 0691249202
Pages: 232
Publication Date: 01 September 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , General/trade , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

M. D. Usher is the Lyman-Roberts Professor of Classical Languages and Literature and a member of the Department of Geography and Geosciences, the Environmental Program, and the Food Systems Graduate Program at the University of Vermont. His books include Plato's Pigs and Other Ruminations: Ancient Guides to Living with Nature and three books in Princeton's Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers series, including How to Care about Animals and How to Be a Farmer. Usher and his wife own and operate a farm in Shoreham, Vermont.

Reviews for Following Nature’s Lead: Ancient Ways of Living in a Dying World

""What does it mean to live sustainably in a finite world? The answers are not so simple, but Professor Usher guides us with wit and feeling. . . . [He] delivers his message in four sermons, but he does not preach. . . . These lessons from the past will be essential if we are to thrive, much less survive."" * Naked Capitalism * ""Usher offers deep insights into nature’s exemplary instruction. . . . Essential."" * Choice *