Reading the Florida Landscape

Dr Robert A. Norman is a board-certified dermatologist and family practitioner who has been in practice for over 30 years. He has written 46 books and over 300 articles, and his research focuses on ecology, conservation, nature writing and photography, and natural history. He is a graduate of the Advanced Master Naturalist program from the University of Florida, and is the author of the book Ocala National Forest. He writes a monthly newspaper column called "The Great Florida Outdoors" that goes to over 100,000 households. In December of 2015, he helped with the founding of the Silver Springs Forest. He volunteers as a fundraiser and educator for Nature's Classroom in Tampa, and has created films about the Hillsborough River and other nature subjects that are used in outdoors education and schools.

"Reading the Florida Landscape encourages the reader to identify evidence of land use decisions and events that have occurred in the past to better understand how these have influenced the health and function of ecosystems in the present. Using interviews with conservation scientists and historical and current case studies, Robert Norman has blended skills and knowledge gained from his experiences as a physician and an advanced Florida Master Naturalist to discuss how to identify, or perhaps diagnose, actions and events that have influenced the structure and function of Florida environments."Martin Main, PhDFounder and Leader of the Florida Master Naturalist Program, University of Florida