Through Nature’s Lens: Do We Really Love Our Land and Water | Neil D. Hamilton | 246p | 9781948509695 | $21.95 | Release November, 2025
What if Nature could talk to us—would we like what it has to say? What if it is already speaking to us, but we aren’t listening? These are some of the many questions addressed in Through Nature’s Lens. This latest book explores the history of nature and its impact on our lives. Important questions on the minds of all Iowans—water quality concerns, surprising cancer rates, increasing reliance on agricultural chemicals, and the fraught topic of climate change — are addressed. Nature is the narrator, sharing its perspectives on our actions, which are particularly timely in this age of increased political extremism and federal and state actions that harm nature. The book is inspired by hope and finds it in opportunities like nature-based education, increasing citizen activism, innovative local efforts to enhance nature, and the ever-present role of land as the face of nature. Ideas on how citizens can become nature champions are shared in this latest installment of Professor Hamilton’s nature series, which includes two previous books on the land and rivers.
Praise for Through Nature’s Lens
“How fortunate we are to have Neil Hamilton’s illuminating perspective on what we must focus on as crucial issues today for our children and grandchildren. We are all intrinsically connected to each other and this planet. Our actions, or lack of action, have significant repercussions. With his expertise, knowledge, and wisdom, Professor Hamilton weaves a compelling and creative montage of the urgent steps we must take today for a healthy and balanced future.”—Jan Lovell, Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, Board member
“Many great thinkers such as Henry David Thoreau and Aldo Leopold have shaped our collective philosophy on the natural world and human interaction. Hamilton – a great thinker of our time – moves these grand ideas into reality. He forces the conversations surrounding how the ‘rubber hits the road.’ If we believe in conservation and the right of nature to exist for its own sake, THEN WE MUST do something about it! He asserts that all aspects of our current world paradigm, including commodity agriculture, politics, education, and public health must be examined. No one aspect gets a free pass. Hamilton’s prose convey the haunting reality of the current state of our natural world, balanced with an optimistic plea for action. This is a must read for people who are concerned, but are perhaps uninformed, and want a roadmap to action.” —Rich Leopold, Director, Polk County Conservation
“As a cancer doctor, I take great interest in the health of each and every one of my patients. By extension, I’m also very interested in the health of our planet. These interests are inextricably connected. What happens to our planet, happens to us. We are facing a cancer epidemic in Iowa. This is caused, in part, by the way in which we are assaulting our land and rivers with a toxic mix of chemicals and run-off. Through Nature’s Lens is a wise and compelling guide to the role that nature plays in our lives. It’s also an alarm bell to wake us from our slumber of complacency.”—Richard L. Deming, MD, FACR, FACRO, Medical Director, MercyOne Richard Deming Cancer Center
“Neil Hamiton issues a bracing call for us all to recognize and assume our civic and environmental responsibilities. Deploying his great breadth of knowledge and decades of personal and professional experience, he points us toward a future in which our ethical relationships to the land and to one another are honored and, most important, acted upon.”—Curt Meine, author, The Essential Aldo Leopold: Quotations and Commentaries and We Can Do Better the collected writings of Paul Johnson
“Neil Hamilton is the nation’s preeminent author on agriculture, land, and water law. His new book on nature is a ‘must read.’”—Sarah Vogel, Attorney and author of The Farmer’s Lawyer
“Through personal reflection, insightful stories, and hard-hitting facts, Neil Hamilton explores our relationship with Nature. While his focus is on Iowa and on agriculture, his message is for all to hear. And he pulls no punches—degraded waterways, climate change, and the 2024 Presidential election. What does Nature have to say about it all? Where can we find hope for the future? Once again, Hamilton has produced a book that everyone should read.”—Professor Susan A. Schneider (she/her/hers), William H. Enfield Professor of Law, Director, LL.M. Program in Agricultural & Food Law, University of Arkansas School of Law
“I echo Neil’s speaking for Nature: ‘one spot of good news in all this is the comfort, relief, and joy I provided so many of you. The soothing evening hike, the weekend at the beach, the fishing trip to the lake, nature (me!) has been able to and will continue to provide the comfort to ease your minds and soothe your souls.’”—Mike Delaney, Racoon River Watershed Association board member
“A personable and persuasive exploration of the natural world’s many voices. Through Nature’s Lens first challenges us to accept that nature’s future is indeed our own, and then gifts us with straight-forward responses for redirecting our lives and Earth’s future. Hamilton’s best book yet!”—Cornelia F Mutel, author/editor of 7 books on Iowa’s natural environment
“In The Land Remains and The River Knows, Neil Hamilton gave voice to the Back 40, a field on his childhood farm, and the beleaguered Raccoon River. Now in Through Nature’s Lens he gives Nature itself a voice that deserves to be heard throughout the Midwest. Hamilton’s openhearted, insightful, and all-too-timely book holds great significance for Iowa’s natural landforms and for their advocates and appreciators. People who may not realize how much they rely on the comfort and beauty of nature will have cause to thank him in the future.”—Holly Carver, former director, University of Iowa Press
“Nature may prove to be the most eloquent of the powerful voices Professor Neil Hamilton has captured in his compelling trilogy: The Land Remains, The River Knows and now, Through Nature’s Lens. Nature’s perspectives come from below—ground up, sky down, through crosswinds, deep roots and creatures—invasive through endangered. The Professor’s work compels us ‘to consider another player’ as we come to understand the challenges we face with our current ag system and our failure to act. Yet, forever the optimist, Neil and his nature friends offer ‘hope and new big ideas to embrace.’ Ignore them at our collective peril. This is a must-read.”—Pat Boddy, former deputy and interim director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and senior partner emeritus of RDG Planning and Design in Des Moines
“Hamilton has spent a career as a sleuth, problem solver, and visionary. While his focus has been in agricultural law, his passion for truth telling always drives his take on farming, ranching, and rural development far beyond the field, feedlot, orchard, and small town. In Through Nature’s Lens, he completes his trilogy engaging the foundations of agriculture by inviting the reader into a dialogue with the land, water, and now nature. He takes often complicated issues of law and policy and makes them comprehensible, familiar, and accessible for everyone with an interest in a deeper appreciation for how we can all live better together on Earth.”—Matt Russell is a 5th generation Iowa farmer, USDA appointee in both the Obama and Biden administrations, and an agricultural leader for over 25 years at Catholic Rural Life; The Drake University Agricultural Law Center; Iowa Faith and Climate Network, and Iowa Farmers Union.
“Neil Hamilton has been a central figure in efforts to prevent the decimation of Iowa’s natural environment after decades of unrestrained and unregulated activity from the industrial agriculture sector. His new book takes stock of where we are in this fight a quarter of the way through the 21st Century as viewed through the eyes of nature. This book is ideal for anyone desiring that the most fertile agricultural region in the world can someday contribute to an environmental and public health renaissance rather than being a symbol of environmental degradation and biodiversity loss.”—Adam Shriver, Director of Wellness and Nutrition Policy, Harkin Institute for Public Policy and Citizen Engagement
Neil Hamilton is an emeritus professor of law and the former director of the Agricultural Law Center at Drake University in Des Moines. He retired from full-time teaching in 2019 after thirty-eight years focusing on agriculture and food law. Raised on his family farm in Adams County, he attended Iowa State University for Forestry and the University of Iowa for Law. Teaching, writing, and consulting work led to travels around the globe and across the state and nation. His advice is sought by Presidential candidates, cabinet secretaries, reporters, and others looking for insight on issues involving farming, rural society, conservation, and land tenure. He has served for decades on a variety of non-profit boards including the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation and Seed Savers Exchange. He lives with his wife Khanh at Sunstead Farm, a market garden oasis they created on Sugar Creek, near Waukee, just west of Des Moines. His previous books are The Land Remains and The River Knows.