In a series of lyrical chapters, Sargent takes readers into the vernal ponds and moose yards of the North Woods of New Hampshire. Describing how humans have become the newest geophysical force shaping our planet, he ruminates on how well the Earth's immune system can withstand the onslaught. 198 illustrations.

In the same format and style of his prize-winning Shallow Waters, William Sargent's latest book chronicles a year spent exploring the North Woods of New Hampshire. Through words and photographs, the man about whom Publishers Weekly wrote, "With his fine descriptions and lucid explanations, Sargent joins the company of Lewis Thomas and Stephen Jay Gould as a first rate interpreter of modern science" investigates a new area's geology, ecology, and natural history. Centered primarily in the Franconia Notch, the book ranges to include Mount Washington Observatory, Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, Palermo Mine, and New Hampshire Audubon's Peregrine Tagging Program. In a series of lyrical chapters, Sargent takes readers into vernal ponds and moose yards, up mountain summits and into the dens of hibernating bears. He shows that the present pattern of evergreen and deciduous trees we think of as natural is actually the result of centuries of human alteration. Describing how humans have become the newest geophysical force shaping our planet, he ruminates on how well the earth's immune system can withstand the onslaught. Offering up-to-date science on the geology and biology of New England, A Year in the Notch explains the interaction between life, rocks, and water -- the intricate dance that keeps our planet alive and makes our own existence possible.