To his legions of readers, Gene Logsdon is best known as the Contrary Farmer. His writings, which blend commonsense advice, curmudgeonly wit, and respect for the earth, are manna to anyone who wants to live, as Logsdon puts it, "at nature's pace."

The Pond Lovers is Logsdon's ode to the watery microcosms all around us, from the half-acre farm pond to the suburban garden pool. Readers looking for hands-on experience will find plenty of pond-keeping dos and don'ts. Logsdon's higher purpose, however, is to proclaim the natural, spiritual, and recreational benefits of ponds.

Fed by spring or filled by rainfall, the ponds closest to Logsdon's heart need minimal human interference in the way of machinery or chemicals. Those we read about in The Pond Lovers mostly belong to Logsdon's friends and neighbors, an extraordinarily resourceful group of people. For them, a pond is many things-from a place to fish, swim, or skate to an oasis for local plants, insects, and animals. Each purpose, Logsdon shows us, has its place in a thoughtful, self-sufficient life. Throughout, Logsdon also reminds us of the intense personal connections to ponds of such creative giants as Claude Monet, Andrew Wyeth, and Henry David Thoreau.

Drawn from many and varied lifetimes spent around ponds, The Pond Lovers brims with lessons and opportunities for good work and good play-for backyard naturalists, do-it-yourselfers, and armchair gardeners.

GENE LOGSDON farms on thirty-two acres in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, a mile from his boyhood home. He is the author of more than twenty books, including a novel, The Lords of Folly; a cultural study, The Mother of All the Arts; and a discourse of pasture farming, All Flesh Is Grass. Logsdon has also written hundreds of essays for such publications as Utne magazine, Mother Jones, Orion, and Whole Earth Review.

In this charming collection, Logsdon explores the beauty and depths of the farm pond, how it can become the center of the universe for the social fabric of a family, providing recreation and a spot for reflection, and how it can become the center of the universe for sustainable agriculture, providing food, solar energy, and waste treatment.

Although a studious naturalist, Logsdon writes with a breezy simplicity that complements his book's humor, spicy characters, and unceasing wonder over the innumerable ways in which ponds and the lives bound up with them can inspire us to question ourselves, consider our ethics, and care more deeply for our world. His light but expert touch is frankly refreshing in overturning theories of pond management that don't work in practice. The Pond Lovers is a disarming book.

Logsdon is a great storyteller writing about real people and real issues that involve each of us. The Pond Lovers is a must read for those interested in the sustainability of life on Earth.

With a naturalist's eye for ecological balance and an old farmer's practical instinct for how to maintain it, he leads readers on a word-built tour of these 'biological magnets' . . . Some passages build images that match the best in nature writing . . . This is an enjoyable book both for those who actually live in pond country, and for anyone who has ever dreamed of going back to the land.

Logsdon has a knack for simple, direct storytelling. His prose is clear, more conversational than didactic, and his knowledge of and love for his subject are readily apparent. Consequently, The Pond Lovers will appeal to a wide range of people, from experienced pond managers to novice DIYers about to embark on their first water installations. More than that, this is a book that will appeal to people who want to spend some time with a Renaissance man and his friends, because they know they will come away enriched by the experience. The Pond Lovers,/i> will provide this opportunity and much, much more.