About

Michael R. Canfield curates the Dogwatch. He is a scientist, naturalist, teacher, and writer, and his most recent academic work is contained in books focused on the notebooks kept by Theodore Roosevelt, and the field notes of living scientists and naturalists (see below).

Canfield was administrative faculty and Lecturer on Organismic Biology at Harvard University for twelve years, also serving as the Resident Dean at Eliot House. Previous to those posts, he did his Ph.D. research at Harvard with Naomi E. Pierce on the flexible developmental pathways of caterpillars in the moth genus Nemoria.

Now living in greater Minneapolis, Canfield teaches biology and in his free time enjoys snowshoeing, orchid growing, moss gardening, and working with watches.

To be a Naturalist is better than to be a King.

— Wiliam Beebe —

Field Notes on Science and Nature

(Harvard Press, 2011)

      “If there is a heaven, and I am allowed entrance, I will ask for no more than an endless living world to walk through and explore. I will carry with me an inexhaustible supply of notebooks, from which I can send reports back to the more sedentary spirits (mostly molecular and cell biologists). Along the way I would expect to meet kindred spirits, among whom would be the authors of the essays in this book.”

– Edward O. Wilson, on Field Notes on Science and Nature. 

This edited volume from Harvard University Press is lavishly illustrated and contains reflections from currently working scientists and naturalists on their own practice of keeping field notes. Contributors include Edward O. Wilson, George Schaller, Jonathan Kingdon, Kenn Kaufman, Bernd Heinrich, and Kay Behrensmeyer.

“In Field Notes on Science and Nature, edited by Michael R. Canfield, more than a dozen biologists, anthropologists, geologists and illustrators explore these questions as they open up and dissect their journals, and a few of their forebears' as well...Both [Bernd] Heinrich and [Roger] Kitching started with little besides notebooks; both have enjoyed rich scientific careers. This should be heartening news to any young person heading outdoors with some pencils, a notebook, a collecting jar or two and no ideas whatsoever.”―Jennie Erin Smith, The Wall Street Journal

“This gorgeous book reproduces samples from the notebooks of 12 naturalists in all their glory, accompanied by short essays on methodology and why field notes are still so critical to the art of science...”―Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times

“Field Notes on Science & Nature is an eclectic collection that crosses many disciplines, from geology, botany and zoology to art and anthropology. The variety of styles and records described are fascinating...All scientists, whether based in the field or the lab, could benefit from the advice given here so eloquently.―Sandra Knapp, Nature

To know is not all; it is only half.
To love is the other half.

— John Burroughs —

Reviews

“In Theodore Roosevelt in the Field, Canfield draws on TR’s notebooks, diaries, and letters to explore his semi-domesticated subject’s exploits in the out-of-doors. . . . As Canfield and others have noted, Roosevelt’s genius lay in his integration of so many disparate traits into a unique, unified personality. And if he had been more thoroughly domesticated, he would not have been Roosevelt.” 

— The Wall Street Journal

“Canfield is the perfect writer for this subject, and what a subject it is…With his masterful writing and carefully researched details, Canfield reveals Roosevelt not just as we remember him, but as he truly was: vibrant, brilliant, and endlessly fascinating.”

— Candice Millard, author of The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey

“This amazingly interesting book documents an amazingly interesting man…Vividly written and historically accurate, this is an ideal book for anyone interested in natural history.” 

— Janet Browne, author of Charles Darwin: A Biography

 

 

Theodore Roosevelt in the Field

(Chicago Press, 2015)

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