Don Gayton's collection of beautifully written and passionate essays has earned him many enthusiastic fans since its first publication in 1990. In The Wheatgrass Mechanism, he writes about the industrialization of our western landscapes and the exploitation of our resources, and tells how the North American prairie has become the most extensively altered biome on the planet.

He brings a scientist's understanding to our common landscapes and explores them in a language that is supple and evocative for the lay reader. There is a strong environmental message in The Wheatgrass Mechanism, but this is not just another "how-to-save-the-planet" book. Gayton goes beyond simple analysis and concern into the realms of culture and myth, attempting to strike a balance between science and imagination that will help us restore our bonds with the Earth.

An ecologist and writer, Don Gayton was raised in California and Washington. He is the author of two award–winning books of non–fiction. His first book was The Wheatgrass Mechanism: Science and Imagination in the Western Canadian Landscape (Fifth House, 1990). Landscapes of the Interior: A Re–exploration of Nature and the Human Spirit (New Society Publishers, 1996), won the National Outdoor Book Award, Outdoor Literature Category, in the United States, and was shortlisted for a BC Book Award. He has also written for Equinox, Canadian Geographic, Harrowsmith, NeWest Review, Books in Canada, Rangelands, Mercator–s World, and Bugle. He lives in Nelson, BC with his family.

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