Bibliography

• Eiseley collections found in Lincoln City Libraries [PDF]

- Eiseley Books -

• The Immense Journey
  (1957, Random House)
  The first and most widely read collection of essays with over a million copies in print. Many of these have a Nebraska background.
  
  
• The Firmament of Time
  (1960, Atheneum; Reissued by Nebraska Press, 1999)
  Essays growing out of a series of lectures exploring the changes in man's vision of himself and nature and how the developments in science affect that vision. Awarded in 1961 the John Burroughs Medal for the best publication in the field of Nature Writing.
  
  
• The Mind as Nature
  (1962, Harper and Row)
  Essays reflecting on the role of the teacher to present new ideas but still provide "the stabilization and protection of custom."
  
  
• Man, Time, and Prophecy
  (1966, Harcourt, Brace and World)
  Essay delivered as an address at the University of Kansas centennial celebration in April 1966.
  
  
• The Unexpected Universe
  (1969, Harcourt, Brace and World)
  Essays dealing with a naturalist's encounters with various aspects of the universe that emphasize the unifying themes of desolation and renewal in the planet's history. Two of Eiseley's most famous essays, "The Star Thrower," and "The Innocent Fox," are included here: the first essay displays Eiseley's almost supernatural intuitiveness and the second his love for animals and their guileless appeal for him. Read James Cook's edited version of "The Star Thrower" from The Unexpected Universe.
  
  Review of The Unexpected Universe by Eric Saxon of the Nebraska Library Commission
  
  
• The Invisible Pyramid
  (1970, Scribner; Reissued by Nebraska Press, 1998)
  Essays reminding us that "the dreams, skills, and understanding of people have catapulted us into space, while at the same time we have polluted and endangered our existence on earth."
  
  
• The Brown Wasps
  (Perishable Press)
  A collection of three essays published in limited edition.
  
  
• The Night Country
  (1971, Scribner; Reissued by Nebraska Press, 1997)
  These essays contain autobiographical material related to natural events. The essays are rich with metaphorical devices and likenesses. The book concludes with one of the "Brown Wasp" essays in which Eiseley states that he, the pigeons, and the one field mouse--"were all out of touch but somehow permanent. It was the world that had changed."
  
  
• Another Kind of Autumn
  (1977, Scribner)
  Published in the final year of Eiseley's life, reflecting "affection for the living world, respect for the past, and hope for humanity."
  
  
• The Star Thrower
  (1978, Times Books)
  A collection of essays and poems, made during the last year of Eiseley's life, of his favorite writings, along with some original material. The book's dust jacket proclaims The Star Thrower as Eiseley's biggest and best book.
  
  

- Eiseley's Memoirs -

• All The Strange Hours: The Excavation of a Life
  (1975, Scribner; Reissued by Nebraska Press, 2000)
  A self portrait "displaying Eiseley's descriptive powers and ability as an outstanding literary stylist."
  
  
• The Lost Notebooks of Loren Eiseley, Kenneth Heuer, editor
  (1987, Little Brown)
  Collection of notebooks containing drawings, poems, ideas for later work.
  
  

- Eiseley on the History of Science -

• Darwin's Century
  (1958, Doubleday; reissued by Barnes & Noble, 2009)
  Story of the theory of evolution and the men who developed it. Awarded the Phi Beta Kappa Science prize in 1959.
  
  
• The Man Who Saw Through Time
  (1973, Scribner)
  Originally published in 1961 as "Frances Bacon and the Modern Dilemma." Story of the importance of Bacon's ideas and their relevance to modern times.
  
  
• Darwin and the Mysterious Mr. X: New Light on the Evolutionists
  (1979, E.P. Dutton) Published posthumously.
  Collection of eight essays on questions about the theory of evolution.
  
  

- Eiseley Poetry -

• Notes of an Alchemist
  (1972, Scribner)
  Eiseley describes this book as a "kind of alchemy...by which a scientific man has transmuted for his personal pleasure these sharp images into something deeply subjective."
  
  
• The Innocent Assassins
  (1973, Scribner)
  Eiseley calls these the poems of a bone hunter and a naturalist. It is dedicated to the members of the party that searched for fossils in western Nebraska. The saber-toothed tiger's jaws from which the title poem is taken are presently in the University of Nebraska State Museum.
  
  
• All The Night Wings
  (1978, Times Books) Published posthumously.
  Collection of poems never before appearing in book form.
  
  

- Eiseley's MS Thesis -

• 
  Scottsbluff Quarry Bison Kill by Kelly Taylor * Paleontological Evidence for the Antiquity of the Scottsbluff Bison Quarry and Its Associated Artifacts by C. Bertrand Schultz and Loren Eiseley
  (1935, Blackwell Publishing)
  American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 37, No. 2, Part 1 (Apr. - Jun., 1935), pp. 306-319.
  
  * PALEONTOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE ANTIQUITY OF THE SCOTTSBLUFF BISON QUARRY AND ITS ASSOCIATED ARTIFACTS: Painting: "Scottsbluff Quarry Bison Kill", Paleontological Artwork and Nature Illustrator, Kelly Taylor. Scene depiction timeline: 12,000 to 14,000 years ago. Consultants to the project were Archaeologist, George Ziemens, and Paleontologist, Dr. George Engelmann. The artwork was commissioned by Ray Boice. George Zeimens, Fellowship, Smithsonian, "The use of the atlatl is possible even probable but we don't know for sure as no atlatl have been found that date to that time period". The atlatl would have been used to kill bison. The research by Schultz and Eiseley discovered Paleo Indian artifacts and fossil remains of Prehistoric Bison (Bison occidentalis). The Paleo Indians set traps for bison. There were no horses to pursue the bison during this time period in North America. Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Special Edition, "Cellars of Time", page 96, "Hunters used the increased leverage provided by the atlatl to give added velocity and range to their weapons. This spear-thrower was virtually abandoned after development of the bow and arrow".

- Eiseley Biographies -

• Loren Eiseley: Commentary, Biography, and Remembrance by Hilda Raz
  (2008, Nebraska Press)
  A collection of essays from Eiseley, including remembrances by friends and commentary from scholars.
  
  
• Fox at the Wood's Edge: A Biography of Loren Eiseley by Gale E. Christianson
  (1990, H.Holt Brown; Reissued by Nebraska Press, 2000)
  A detailed account of Eiseley's life using material made available to the author by the family.
  
  

- Eiseley Literary Studies -

• Artifacts and Illuminations: Critical Essays on Loren Eiseley Edited and with an introduction by Tom Lynch and Susan N. Maher
  (2012, University of Nebraska Press)
  First full-length collection of critical essays on the writing of Eiseley that demonstrates his continuing relevance as both a skilled literary craftsman and a profound thinker about the human place in the natural world.
  
  
• Toward a Dialogue of Understandings: Loren Eiseley and the Critique of Science by Mary Ellen Pitts
  (1995, Lehigh University Press)
  Argues that Eiseley's texts reflect a movement toward an epistemological dialogue that involves the analytical method of science, and the insights associated with intuitive knowing and the synthesizing insights of literature.
  
  
• Loren Eiseley's Religious Pilgrimage by Harvey Potthoff
  (1992, Loren Eiseley Society)
  This paper was originally presented to Eiseley Friends and the general public in the Heritage Room of Bennett Martin Public Library in Lincoln, Nebraska on November 28, 1990.
  
  
• Loren Eiseley: A Modern Ishmael by Peter Heidtmann
  (1991, Archon Books)
  
  
• Loren Eiseley by Andrew J. Angyal
  (1983, Twayne)
  Analysis of Eiseley's work with the emphasis on his achievements as a literary naturalist "who set the style of the current popular scientific writing and emphasis on the humane values intrinsic to science."
  
  
• Loren Eiseley by Leslie Gerber and Margaret McFadden
  (1983, Ungar)
  Introduction to Eiseley's writings beginning with a biography. Looks at work in perspectives dealing with time, humanity and the place of science in this century.
  
  
• Loren Eiseley: The Development of a Writer by E. Fred Carlisle
  (1983, University of Illinois Press)
  
  

- Journal Articles -

• Loren Eiseley's Ethical Approach Towards Animals in Cross-Species Encounters Written by Qianqian Cheng
  (2018, Caliban: French Journal of English Studies)
  
  Abstract: Loren Eiseley (1907-1977) is known both as an archaeologist, anthropologist, educator, philosopher, poet and even author of studies in the natural sciences. He challenged the theses on science, nature and man that were current in his time. His work based on prose and poems brings together the sciences and the humanities, anticipating the current concept of environmental humanities. He developed new angles of view allowing him to apprehend the universe and the place of homo-sapiens within it, notably by adopting the point of view of animals. Through his writings, he advocates love and respect for nature and living creatures. It encourages cross-species understanding by exhibiting its "becoming-animal" during its encounters with other animals.
  
  
• Loren Eiseley's anticipation of the Anthropocene era in his writings on humanity and animality Written by Qianqian Cheng
  (2016, Miranda: Revue Pluridisciplinaire du Monde Anglophone)
  
  Abstract: A scientist who writes critiques of his contemporaries' scientific practices, Loren Eiseley challenges the views of science, nature, and man that were current at the time he wrote. Rather than accepting the doxa of modern mechanical science, he uses his knowledge as an archeologist as well as his personal experience to find new angles from which to view the universe and homo sapiens’ place within it. He argues that modern man has fallen out of nature and become a planet destroyer who causes the death and extinction of non-human forms of life. In this he anticipates the eco-centric position that is becoming necessary in the era following the Industrial Revolution that is increasingly being recognized as the Anthropocene. Eiseley’s writings urge that humanity reconnect with our animal past in order to respect the natural world from which we came. His work forces readers to participate in his project of re-examining our own mental and cultural world.