The Earth Moved: Amy Stewart
Earthworms: from Darwin’s Pet Subjects to Sanitizing Human Waste
Earthworms live beneath our feet, we seldom think about them. However, as Amy Stewart enlightens us in her book 'The Earth Moved' earthworms are very important.
What would our lives be like if we took earthworms seriously, took the ground under our feet rather than the skies high above our heads, as the place to look, as well, eventually, as the place to be? It is as though we have been pointed in the wrong direction. Adam Phillips
The Subject
Worms disgust many people. The humble, blind, thread that we call an earthworm can cause people to pull back in revulsion. But worms have a powerful, rejuvenating role in the history of culture and Amy Stewart’s book The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms reveals how incredibly powerful and important these creatures are to our comfortable life on planet earth.
The Book
Stewart covers the history of humanity’s understanding of the earthworm from Charles Darwin, the first person to truly appreciate and study them, to the Calera Creek Water Recycling Plant near San Francisco where they are investigating the earthworm’s ability to renew our waste. She also discusses the biology and science of earthworms. From how worms move through the soil to how they procreate, Stewart gives us the inside story.
Stewart shares all the information an average person could possible want to know about earthworms in this easy to read and fun book. In the end, the reader is left with the undeniable conclusion that earthworms are really, really cool even if they are still a bit creepy.
If Stewart’s book has you curious to learn more about worms or if it has you excited and ready to start vermicomposting, the back of the book has a list of worm resources to get you started. She lists helpful magazines, newsletters, and websites for you to use in getting started. She lists a variety of worm-composting bins and the pros and cons of those bins. She also includes a link for a site where you can purchase the bins if you are interested in starting your own worm bin.
The Writing
Stewart’s writing is both intellectual and humorous (in a self-effacing way). She clearly did her research. From reading Darwin book, The Formation of Vegetable Mould, to reading the work of today’s foremost oligochaetologists (people who study earthworms) she studied the intellectual property of the worm.
However, Stewart didn’t just study the book end of the worm, she also studied the real world end of the worm. She has her own worm-composter that she studies and checks with compulsive regularity and fascination. She also took numerous field trips to worm farms, the labs of oligochaetologists, and even waste treatment facilities so that she could see worms in action.
Stewart’s knowledge is rounded out buy her own willingness to admit that even though she finds the activities of worms fascinating and inspiring they still creep her out just a little bit. Her willingness to laugh at herself and others in a gentle and understanding way is what carries the narrative foreword. She loves nature, worms, and life. The result is a thoroughly enjoyable book that is remarkably hard to put down.
Stewart, Amy. The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms. Algonquin Books. ISBN 1-56512-468-5
