“Forest Euphoria pulses with vitality, in the wondrous beings we encounter and Kaishian’s vivid storytelling. I’m in awe of her ability to interweave the little-known lives of slugs and fungi with memoir and social movements, so that every page broadens one’s vision. Her expansive view of life provides an antidote to the loneliness of our species.”—Robin Wall Kimmerer, New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass

“A gorgeous celebration of the fact that, when you give your heart to Science, it rewards you with a glimpse of something profound and beautiful.”—Hope Jahren, New York Times bestselling author of Lab Girl

“Just as nature resists easy categorization, so does this gem of a book. It is a heartfelt memoir. It is a lyrical feat of science writing. Perhaps above all else, it is a love letter to the messy, wondrous, complicated, binary-defying nature of the natural world—and, within it, us. I loved it.”—Ed Yong, New York Times bestselling author of An Immense World

“If the first lesson in how to love nature is learning to see yourself in it—and to see it in you—then Forest Euphoria is a master class in how to love the world. Whether our fellow inhabitants of this wild island planet are tiny or grand, plain or gorgeous, deceptively simple or mind-bogglingly complex, Kaishian is in love with them all. And her racing, bounding, arms-wide-open enthusiasm teaches us how to love them, too, in their full, astonishing diversity.”—Margaret Renkl, New York Times bestselling author of The Comfort of Crows

“Forest Euphoria issues a joyous invitation to live with curiosity and love, and what could be a greater gift? I felt this invitation in the book’s scientific rigor; in its attention to the sophisticated affinity of all life; in its exacting work to orient a reader to the symmetries, puzzlements, and delights of our world.”—Megha Majumdar, New York Times bestselling author of A Burning

“An enchanting paean to the queerness that abounds in nature, both human and nonhuman. Let it open you up to new sensations, desires, and expectations of life itself. All of us organisms want the same thing, Kaishian argues: ‘To be sensed for who they are, to be heard, to be known, to be seen.’ An instant, exuberant classic.”—Sabrina Imbler, author of How Far the Light Reaches

“An exaltation of the nonhuman creatures whose stories might yet teach us how to radically revise our understanding of being and coexistence on this planet. New stories of life, love, gender, grief, and joy are thriving all around us if we could simply turn away from human self-centeredness. This book thrilled me to the bone. I will never forget it.”—Lidia Yuknavitch, author of The Chronology of Water

Growing up, Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian felt most at home in the swamps and culverts near her house in the Hudson Valley. A child who frequently felt out of place, too much of one thing or not enough of another, she found acceptance in these settings, among other amphibious beings. In snakes, snails, and, above all, fungi, she saw her own developing identities as a queer, neurodivergent person reflected back at her—and in them, too, she found a personal path to a life of science.

In Forest Euphoria, Kaishian shows us this making of a scientist and introduces readers to the queerness of all the life around us. Fungal species, we learn, commonly encompass more than two biological sexes—and some as many as twenty-three thousand. Some intersex slugs mutually fire calcium carbonate “love darts” at each other during courtship. Glass eels are sexually undetermined until their last year of life, a mystery that scientists once dubbed “the eel question.” Nature, Kaishian shows us, is filled with the unusual, the overlooked, and the marginalized—and they have lessons for us all.

Wide-ranging, richly observant, and full of surprises, Forest Euphoria will open your eyes and change how you look at the world.  

PRODUCT DETAILS

ISBN: 9781954118904 
Price: $28.00
On-sale date: 5/27/2025