Nature

Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. It ranges in scale from the subatomic to the cosmic.

The word nature is derived from the Latin word natura, or "essential qualities, innate disposition", and in ancient times, literally meant "birth". Natura was a Latin translation of the Greek word physis (φύσις), which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics that plants, animals, and other features of the world develop of their own accord. The con Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. It ranges in scale from the subatomic to the cosmic.

The word nature is derived from the Latin word natura, or "essential qualities, innate disposition", and in ancient times, literally meant "birth". Natura was a Latin translation of the Greek word physis (φύσις), which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics that plants, animals, and other features of the world develop of their own accord. The concept of nature as a whole, the physical universe, is one of several expansions of the original notion; it began with certain core applications of the word φύσις by pre-Socratic philosophers, and has steadily gained currency ever since. This usage was confirmed during the advent of modern scientific method in the last several centuries.

Within the various uses of the word today, "nature" often refers to geology and wildlife. Nature may refer to the general realm of various types of living plants and animals, and in some cases to the processes associated with inanimate objects – the way that particular types of things exist and change of their own accord, such as the weather and geology of the Earth, and the matter and energy of which all these things are composed. It is often taken to mean the "natural environment" or wilderness–wild animals, rocks, forest, beaches, and in general those things that have not been substantially altered by human intervention, or which persist despite human intervention. For example, manufactured objects and human interaction generally are not considered part of nature, unless qualified as, for example, "human nature" or "the whole of nature". This more traditional concept of natural things which can still be found today implies a distinction between the natural and the artificial, with the artificial being understood as that which has been brought into being by a human consciousness or a human mind. Depending on the particular context, the term "natural" might also be distinguished from the unnatural, the supernatural, or synthetic.

Nature writing is generally defined as nonfiction prose writing about the natural environment. Nature writing often draws heavily on scientific information and facts about the natural world; at the same time, it is frequently written in the first person and incorporates personal observations of and philosophical reflections upon nature. ...more

New Releases Tagged "Nature"

Sing Like Fish: How Sound Rules Life Under Water

The Explorers: A New History of America in Ten Expeditions

Pets and the City: True Tales of a Manhattan House Call Veterinarian

Cull of the Wild: Killing in the Name of Conservation

Life After Whale: The Amazing Ecosystem of a Whale Fall

We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People

Rozejrzyj się! Fascynujący świat polskiej przyrody

A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon

The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise

More new releases tagged "nature"...

Most Read This Week

Lists

In the Company of Crocodiles by Maggie Brown

A Lesbian Wilderness

87 books — 65 voters

Impregnation Stories are Domination at its Finest

210 books — 221 voters

The Sibley Guide to Birds by David Allen Sibley

The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman

The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen

Books About Birds

514 books — 100 voters

Astronomicon minorem - DMT, Cthulhu and You by Khurt Khave

Sinister Literature

46 books — 26 voters

Learning Their Language by Marta Williams

The Man Who Listens to Horses by Monty Roberts

Animal Communication

108 books — 75 voters

The Thing with Feathers by Noah Strycker

Books for Bird Lovers

517 books — 205 voters

Nature Books

The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures

A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There

Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses

The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World

More nature books...

Related Genres

Nonfiction
Environment
Outdoors
Plants
Ornithology

Related News

6 New Books Recommended by Readers This Week

Need another excuse to treat yourself to a new book this week? We've got you covered with the buzziest new releases of the day, according to early...

Quotes Tagged “Nature”

“ There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore, There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more ”
― Lord Byron

2807 likes