New books urge mankind to reconnect with the natural world

Natural history specialist Liu Huajie, who is also a professor at the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Peking University, has unveiled his new series that popularizes science, including three books titled Cocoon of the Oriental Moth, Plants at Scarborough Fair and Simplifications in Modeling and Zoom of Autumn-Water, published by Beijing Times Chinese Press.

This series of works responds to the humanistic needs of the technological era from a philosophical perspective, aiming to poetically reconnect humans and nature through natural history.

In today's rapidly advancing era of artificial intelligence, Liu, with his profound philosophical background and interdisciplinary perspective on natural history, emphasizes the need to awaken humans' "natural history intelligence" in a technology-dominated age.

Liu believes natural history is not only an academic discipline but also a way of life and a source of fundamental knowledge for interacting with nature.

He says that by engaging more with nature and understanding it, people can liberate themselves and lead a healthy and natural life. Learning about plants or interacting with insects can make natural history a true lifestyle, conveying life's aesthetics and the wisdom that "all things are endearing".

Yin Chuanhong, head of the Science Popularization Times, says that through this book, Liu is not asking us to abandon technology; rather, he is reminding us that amid the flood of technology we should take the time to rediscover the joy of observing the world around us and reignite our curiosity about the microscopic world, our embrace of diverse perspectives, and our appreciation of the roots of local cultures.