On Tuesday, May 17, at 6:30 p.m., the Camden Public Library will host award-winning science writer and memoirist Margie Patlak for an online presentation about her book More than Meets the Eye: Exploring Nature and Loss on the Coast of Maine. The book explores the unique nature of the Maine coast and how it can open a door to deeper ties and insights. Visit the “What’s Happening” adult events calendar at librarycamden.org to register for a Zoom link to attend.

“As a science writer eager to learn more about the environment of my new abode on the Schoodic Peninsula, I started writing the book more than 10 years ago and thought it would just be about the nature of Maine,” said Patlak, in a news release “But it soon became a quest to answer the question of what remains once the ashes are spread that no amount of scientific research could answer.”

“Watching a striped monarch caterpillar transform into a chartreuse pendant dabbed with gold, one realizes the limits of life and what is passed between generations,” Patlak continues. “Tides show how fleeting time is, and clouds and weather reveal greater forces that take away all illusions of control.” 

Patlak also explores the continental collisions that thrust up and fractured Maine’s mountains; digs into the latest scientific thinking on how animals navigate; and exults in the dizzy dance of plankton under the microscope. These facets of the natural world speak a hidden language Patlak translates with her scientific knowledge and reflection. Nature begins to speak about the nature of life. 

Margie Patlak has written hundreds of articles about the environment, neuroscience, biomedical research, and technology for popular publications such as Discover magazine, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and many others. More Than Meets the Eye was recently awarded “Outstanding Book in the Memoir Category,” by the American Society for Journalists and Authors. She has degrees in Botany and Environmental Studies and divides her time between Philadelphia and Corea, Maine.