In a series of short, wonderfully imaginative chapters, A.K. Dewdney introduces us to the vast and intricate web that is Hungry Hollow, a seemingly ordinary stretch of river somewhere east of the Rocky Mountains. We encounter a hackberry tree that perfectly reproduces the taxonomic Tree of Life, learn how it would look and feel to shrink by stages to the size of an amoeba while swimming in a river, watch a toad win the lottery, and see the world of Hungry Hollow from the viewpoint of bears, earthworms and even stones. This is a natural history book like no other.

Starting with an elegant description of a small piece of land called Hungry Hollow, A.K. Dewdney introduces us to its denizens. The reader goes on a guided tour through the many dimensions of our natural habitat, back into prehistoric time and inward to a teeming microscopic world full of strange creatures performing bizarre feats.
"It surprised me how 220 pages explaining biological phenomena can add up to a literary image of the magic of lifePerhaps this book will go some way to redress the general deficiency in judgement that allows humans to endanger other life forms..." -NEW SCIENTIST

Procyon lotor.- The Tippecanoe Sea.- Dianne sapiens.- The Hackberry.- The Ant's Journey.- Congress of Birds.- Microperson.- Water.- Cymbella and the Hypotrich.- On the Back of a Turtle.- The Meadow.- The Labyrinths.- Prayer of the Mantis.- The Hydraulic Plant.- The Storm.- Abundance.- In the Forest.- The Art of Decay.- Bear.- Stories in Stone.- Hungry Creek.- Requiem for a Toad.- Survival of the Lucky.- The Book of Kaolinite.- Didelphis virginianus.- Animal Minds.- Permanent Clearcut.- Ursa Major.- Notes.