Photo © Jill Krementz

• About this Author

author spotlight

Diane Ackerman is the bestselling author of over 20 books of poetry and nonfiction, including A Natural History of the Senses, Cultivating Delight, and Deep Play, which was also illustrated by Peter Sís.
Peter Sís has written and illustrated numerous books for children, including Tibet: Through the Red Box and Starry Messenger, both of which received a Caldecott Honor.

author bookshelf

Deep Play

Written by Diane Ackerman

Format: Trade Paperback, 256 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: August 8, 2000
Price: $13.95

With A Natural History of the Senses, Diane Ackerman let her free-ranging intellect loose on the natural world.  Now in Deep Play she tackles the realm of creativity, by exploring one of the most essential aspects of our characters: the abitlity to play.

"Deep play" is that more intensified form of play that... Read more >

I Praise My Destroyer
Poems
Written by Diane Ackerman

Format: Trade Paperback, 128 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: August 22, 2000
Price: $12.00

In her first new book of poetry since Jaguar of Sweet Laughter, Diane Ackerman combines her deep understanding of the world with her immense passion for language to craft richly sensual poems that "honor all lifewherever and in whatever formit may deal."

Imbued with ravishing imagery, these exuberant and lyrical explorations... Read more >

Jaguar of Sweet Laughter
New and Selected Poems
Written by Diane Ackerman

Format: Trade Paperback, 272 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: July 27, 1993
Price: $13.00

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Moon By Whale Light
And Other Adventures Among Bats,Penguins, Crocodilians, and Whales
Written by Diane Ackerman

Format: Trade Paperback, 272 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: September 29, 1992
Price: $14.95

In a rare blend of scientific fact and poetic truth, the acclaimed author of A Natural History of the Senses explores the activities of whales, penguins, bats, and crocodilians, plunging headlong into nature and coming up with highly entertaining treasures. Read more >

A Natural History of Love
Author of the National Bestseller A Natural History of the Senses
Written by Diane Ackerman

Format: Trade Paperback, 384 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: February 21, 1995
Price: $14.95

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A Natural History of the Senses

Written by Diane Ackerman

Format: Trade Paperback, 352 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: September 10, 1991
Price: $15.95

Diane Ackerman's lusciously written grand tour of the realm of the senses includes conversations with an iceberg in Antarctica and a professional nose in New York, along with dissertations on kisses and tattoos, sadistic cuisine and the music played by the planet Earth.

PRAISE FOR A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SENSES

"Delightful... Read more >

The Rarest of the Rare
Vanishing Animals, Timeless Worlds
Written by Diane Ackerman

Format: Trade Paperback, 208 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: January 14, 1997
Price: $12.95

Ackerman journeys in search of monarch butterflies and short-tailed albatrosses, monk seals, and golden lion tamarin monkeys: the world's rarest creatures and their vanishing habitats. She delivers a rapturous celebration of other species that is also a warning to our own. Traveling from the Amazon rain forest to a forbidding island... Read more >

A Slender Thread
Rediscovering Hope at the Heart of Crisis
Written by Diane Ackerman

Format: Trade Paperback, 320 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: March 31, 1998
Price: $14.95

In this intimate and compassionate record of her service as a counselor on a suicide and crisis hotline, the bestselling author of A Natural History of the Senses turns her attention to the troubled lives of those suffering from what she calls the “small demonology of our age”—anxiety, depression, and all... Read more >