Part I. Getting Curious about Nature: 1. Fieldwork and nature: observing, experimenting, and thinking Tim Burt and Des Thompson; 2. The place of field studies in environmental science Michael Church; 3. The history of field work in the geosciences Andrew S. Goudie; 4. Pioneering fieldwork heroes in the life sciences Stephen Trudgill; 5. The educational benefits of out-of-classroom learning Michael J. Reiss; Part II. Inspiring Fieldwork: 6. Understanding the decline of hen harriers on Orkney Arjun Amar; 7. Rocky shores are not just for the able-bodied John Archer-Thomson; 8. Life, love and longing to survive Alison Averis; 9. Bringing palaeoecology alive Hilary H. Birks; 10. Expedition botany / hobby botany John Birks; 11. The Illisarvik drained-lake field experiment: a legacy of J. Ross Mackay Chris Burn; 12. In praise of meteorology field courses Stephen Burt; 13. Time, place and circumstance Tim Burt; 14. Sampling fish diversity along a submarine mountain chain Ingvar Byrkjedal; 15. Place and placefulness Richard Carrick; 16. Ripples across the pond Stuart Corbridge; 17. Fieldwork, field-friends, and the paradox of absence Douglas Davies; 18. Ornithological fieldwork - essential and enjoyable Roy Dennis; 19. Exploration science on the shore of the Arctic Ocean - a personal experience David J. A. Evans; 20. Only connect - and make records Alastair Fitter; 21. Studying patterned bogs David Goode; 22. Mapping the rise of the animals: Cambrian bodies in the Sirius Pass, North Greenland David A. T. Harper; 23. Evolution in the cellar: live-trapping wild house mice in the Italian Alps Heidi C. Hauffe; 24. Reflections on 'babooning' Russell Hill; 25. Bogs, birds and bones: interdisciplinary fieldwork on the Isle of RuÌm NNR Peter Higgins; 26. Exploring world(s) down under Emily Husband; 27. Experiments by nature - strength in realism Christian Körner; 28. Big problems - small animals Charles J. Krebs; 29. Soil survey: a field-based science Allan Lilly; 30. A traveling ethnography of urban technologies Andrés Luque-Ayala; 31. My date with the devil Peter Marren; 32. Peregrinations through the heathlands and moorlands of Britain: an applied plant ecologist's tale Rob Marrs; 33. The Maimai catchment New Zealand Jeff McDonnell; 34. 'Writing in the field' - the importance of a local patch Stephen Moss; 35. Looking but not seeing - how sketching in the field improves observational skills in science Stephen Mott; 36. From rum to recording forest soils via the Soil Survey of Scotland - a life of fieldwork Andrew J. Nolan; 37. In praise of bat detectors Kirsty Park; 38. In search of Tawny Frogmouths Stuart Rae; 39. Don't just sit there reading ... Jane M. Reid; 40. Fieldwork in the Australian bush - if it doesn't kill you, it'll convert you Lisa Robins; 41. Field studies of behaviour and life-changing events Leigh W. Simmons; 42. Sediment, wind turbines, and rhinos: ah, the life of a geographer! Mike Slattery; 43. Conservation science - the need for a new paradigm founded on robust field evidence William J. Sutherland; 44. The worst journey in the world Des Thompson; 45. Field-less fieldwork in archaeology's digital age Andrew Tibbs; 46. Reflections on a career with FSC Sue Townsend; 47. My love-affair with rocks that fizz Maurice Tucker; 48. In the footsteps of John Wesley Powell - restoring the sand bars in the Grand Canyon Alan Werritty; 49. Connecting the next generation to their world Natalie White; 50. Beyond the curriculum - wider conceptions of learning in the field Lewis Winks; Part III. Reflections and where next for field studies: 51. Conclusion: inspiring, curious and novel fieldwork Tim Burt and Des Thompson.