Forgotten Teachers

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A01=Brian Isett
A12=Claudia Bicen
adaptation
Air chapter
ancient DNA
ancient story
animal behavior
animal biology
astronomy
Author_Brian Isett
Author_Claudia Bicen
biological evolution
books about life on Earth
botany
breath and air
Brian Isett
Category=YBC
Category=YNT
Category=YPMP1
celebrating life
cell biology
circadian rhythm
circadian rhythms
Claudia Bicen
coevolution
color vision
cooperation
deep history
DNA
dreams
earth science
ecology for teens
Enchanted Lion Books
environment
environmental science
eq_activity-picture-books
eq_bestseller
eq_childrens
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_teenage-young-adult
evolution
evolution of life on Earth
evolutionary biology
evolutionary biology for teens
evolutionary function
fast carbon cycle
gene
genetics
great oxygenation event
human biology
illustrated nonfiction
illustrated science
interconnectedness of life
interconnection
interdependence
last universal common ancestor
lessons from animals
lessons from plants
lessons from the Earth
lessons from the Sun
light
mitochondrial DNA
mutual dependence
mytho-poetic science
natural cycles of life
natural history
natural world
nature
ocean
Ocean chapter
origin of life
philosophy of nature
photosynthesis
planet theia
planetary collisi
planets
plants
Plants chapter
popsci
popular science
popular science books
primate ancestor
reverence for nature
RNA
science
science and art
science and humanities
science and the sacred
science explained
scientific storytelling
seasonal changes
sight
smell
spiritual ecology
stars
story of life
sun
Sun chapter
symbionts
Symbionts chapter
symbiosis
taste
The Forgotten Teachers
Theia chapter
tides
touch
Unruly imprint
wonder at natural world
YA nonfiction
young adult science

Product details

  • ISBN 9781592704118
  • Dimensions: 203 x 279mm
  • Publication Date: 06 Nov 2025
  • Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books
  • Publication City/Country: US
  • Product Form: Hardback
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Interweaving science and storytelling, spirituality and art, a neuroscientist and an artist guide us toward a deeper understanding of how radically interconnected all of life is.

A Kirkus Reviews Fall Preview selection!
Selected for The New Yorker Holiday Gift Guide!

Starting from science, while reaching for spiritual truth, The Forgotten Teachers charts the evolution of life on Earth under the mentorship of six teachers: Ocean, Air, Theia (through collision with this planet, Earth was set on its tilt), Sun, Plants, and Symbionts. Ideas from the field of evolutionary biology, accompanied by watercolor illustrations, guide this factual yet mytho-poetic exploration of life.

Motivated by their shared concern over the severance of science from the sacred, and humans from their place within nature, Isett and Biçen set out to write a scientific wonder story for our times—to enchant readers with the strangeness and beauty of evolutionary biology, while reintegrating us into the natural world.

As Rachel Carson did in her time and as Wendell Berry has done as a poet and essayist across the years, Isett writes with precision and urgency to remind us that we participate in a story that is far larger than ourselves, and that to see ourselves more truly would be to see the many ways in which we belong to the molecules and mysteries of the living world.

Brian Isett is a poet and scientist based in Pittsburgh. His first book of poetry, Grid Poems (Vol. I), reached an international audience over Ello and quickly sold out through the New Museum and Printed Matter in New York, and Motto Books in Berlin. In the field of neuroscience, Isett has authored high profile research articles in areas ranging from tactile perception to Parkinson’s disease. His awards include the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, the National Institute of Health NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship, the George Harmon Coxe Award for Fiction, and the Arthur Lynn Andrews Fiction Prize. Isett holds a BS in Biology from Cornell University and a PhD in Neuroscience from UC Berkeley. He is currently a data scientist at the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center. Claudia Biçen is a British American artist who uses illustration and storytelling to explore ideas about what it means to be mortal beings in a vast and mysterious universe. Her work has been exhibited at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery (Washington, D.C.), the Royal Society of Portrait Painters (London), and the National Arts Club (New York). Biçen holds a BA in philosophy and psychology from the University of Oxford and a MSc in social anthropology from University College London.

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