Gene Stratton-Porter shared the outdoors with others through writing and photography and working to conserve nature for the generations to come. Though never a favorite with literary critics, she was beloved by ordinary Americas, as much for her storytelling skills and advocacy for wildlife as for her independent spirit.

Do newborns think? Do they know that "three" is greater than "two"? Do they prefer "right" to "wrong"? Laypeople hold strong beliefs on such topics. These beliefs are stories we tell ourselves about what we know and who we are. They reflect our understanding of ourselves and others, and shape our thinking about topics such as mental disorders, free will, and the afterlife. But many of these stories are misguided. We, the storytellers, are blind. How could we get it so wrong? In a novel provocative theory, Berent proposes that our errors emanate from the very principles that make our minds tick. Our blindness to human nature is rooted in human nature itself.

Georgiana Keable introduces a staggering wealth of world stories about nature and our role in it. These are traditional stories that have stood the test of time and often speak of what is universal and enduring in our experiences of and relationship with nature. Culturally diverse and told with great energy and panache, the stories will engage young readers and encourage them to become natural storytellers. The book includes several "story maps" to help readers think visually about stories, as well as other ways to remember the various stages the tales. The author also reflects on the heart of each tale--what it is about and ways that readers can turn their own experience into stories. Each section includes a practical activity for individuals or groups. The author's message is clear: The resources needed for natural storytelling are all around us in abundance--in nature and in our imagination.

Linking the ongoing ecological crisis with contemporary conditions of alienation and disenchantment in modern society, this book investigates the capacity of oral storytelling to reconnect people to the natural world and enchant and renew their experience of nature, place and their own existence in the world. Anthony Nanson offers an in-depth examination of how a diverse ecosystem of oral stories and the dynamics of storytelling as an activity can catalyse different kinds of conversation and motivation, helping us resist the discourse of powerful vested interests. Detailed analysis of traditional, true-life and fictional stories shows how spoken narrative language can imbue landscapes, creatures and experiences with enchantment and mediate between the inner world of consciousness and outer world of ecology and community. A pioneering ecolinguistic and ecocritical study of oral storytelling in the modern world, Storytelling and Ecology offers insight into the ways that sharing stories in each other's embodied presence can open up spaces for transformation in our relationships with the ecological world around us.

A provocative scholar delivers the first book on the new science of storytelling: the latest thinking on why we tell stories and what stories reveal about human nature.

This unique resource offers new ideas, stories, creative activities, and methods for people working in conservation, outdoor learning, environmental education, youthwork, business training, sustainability, health, social and economic change. It shows how to encourage pro-environmental behavior in diverse participants: from organization consultants and employees, to families, youth and schoolchildren. The stories and their exploration engage people with nature in profound ways. The book describes how this engagement enhances participants' emotional literacy and resilience, builds community, raises awareness of inter-species communication and helps people to create a sustainable future together. Its innovative techniques establish connections between place and sustainability. Facilitators can adapt all of this to their own situation.

Storyteller blends original short stories and poetry influenced by the traditional oral tales that Leslie Marmon Silko heard growing up on the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico with autobiographical passages, folktales, family memories, and photographs. As she mixes traditional and Western literary genres, Silko examines themes of memory, alienation, power, and identity; communicates Native American notions regarding time, nature, and spirituality; and explores how stories and storytelling shape people and communities. Storyteller illustrates how one can frame collective cultural identity in contemporary literary forms, as well as illuminates the importance of myth, oral tradition, and ritual in Silko's own work.