Book excerpt: Naturalists notice things. Scientists attempt to explain the natural world. Religions attempt to give meaning to human life. Writing as first-person narrative history, a naturalist explores, noticing things and the inner struggle of growing up and living in a Christian culture while science continued to bring new discoveries and knowledge into human grasp. This work is about the joy of a free mind noticing things and breaking free of one of humanitys primal afflictions: the ide fixe. It is the account of the evolution of the mind of naturalist.