A collection of twenty science and nature essays originally published in magazines and periodicals in 1999, selected for inclusion by guest editor David Quammen, with contributors' notes, and a list of one hundred additional distinguished articles of 1999.

Natalie Angier: Men, women, sex, and Darwin -- Wendell Berry: Back to the land -- Richard Conniff: Africa's wild dogs -- Paul De Palma: http://www.when_is_enough_enough?.com -- Helen Epstein: Something happened -- Anne Fadiman: Under water -- Atul Gawande: The cancer-cluster myth -- Brian Hayes: Clock of ages -- Edward Hoagland: That sense of falling -- Judith Hooper: A new germ theory -- Wendy Johnson: Heavy grace -- Ken Lamberton: The wisdom of toads -- Peter Matthiessen: The island at the end of the earth -- Cullen Murphy: Lulu, queen of the camels -- Richard Preston: The demon in the freezer -- Oliver Sacks: Brilliant light -- Hampton Sides: This is not the place -- Craig B. Stanford: Gorilla warfare -- Gary Taubes: String theorists find a rosetta stone.