Gorgeous illustrations enrich this ode to nature and sustainability inspired by St. Francis of Assisi’s “Canticle of the Creatures”—from the acclaimed botanist and author of The Incredible Journey of Plants.

The oldest poetic text in Italian literature, St. Francis’s 13th-century song offers a surprisingly timely message. Taking inspiration from the Laudes creaturarum in his latest book, Stefano Mancuso highlights its revolutionary ecological vision of the world. A psalm of praise for creation, a prayer, and a hymn to life, it is at the same time a practical manual—the first “how-to” book—dedicated to life on our planet. Beginning with Brother Sun and ending with our sister Bodily Death, Francis praises the essentials of light, water, soil, and fire, telling the story of life, of the only exception to the void of the universe; that small difference that gives rise to enormous consequences.

St. Francis and Mancuso view life on Earth as an ecosystem of equally essential elements, whose every node is fundamental to its structure and in which there exists no hierarchy, no better or worse, no higher or lower. “Only by loving all the living beings with whom we share our common home will we be able to face, with a reasonable hope of success, our journey into the future.”