Featuring the new book trailer for Born of Fire and Rain by M.L. Herring
M
any readers will recognize the name M.L. Herring, better known here at Oregon State as Peg Herring—a celebrated science writer who served for many years as the editor of Oregon’s Agricultural Progress, the forerunner of Progress Magazine. Peg spent years shaping the stories of science and discovery at OSU, bringing clarity, curiosity, and creativity to the work of agricultural and environmental research.Now, Herring is back with a new book that’s as visually stunning as it is scientifically insightful. Born of Fire and Rain is a richly illustrated ode to the Pacific Northwest rainforest—an ecosystem she casts not merely as setting, but as the main character in a sweeping story that spans millennia. With her signature blend of lyrical, clear-eyed prose and detailed artistry, Herring offers a portrait of the coastal temperate rainforest as a place of endurance and transformation, where life and landscape are inextricably entwined.
One of the book’s most striking features is its handling of time and scale. Herring’s writing captures the feeling of being dwarfed by towering old-growth Douglas-fir trees, then shifts perspective to soar through the canopy, making the forest feel close enough to touch—like sweeping a hand through a wheat field. She moves fluidly between the massive and the minute, compressing and expanding time on a geological scale. The result is a reading experience that’s both exhilarating and calming—a joyride through deep time and a quiet meditation on place.
This trailer provides a glimpse into Herring’s vision, opening with scenes of the rainforest and then diving into a conversation with the author herself. Herring reflects on her lifelong practice of sketching the natural world, how illustrations can deepen our understanding of complex ecosystems, and the humbling lessons these ancient forests have to teach.
Part science, part art, and wholly a love letter to the place she calls home—where she and her husband hand-built their house and planted a peach farm decades ago—Born of Fire and Rain is a reminder of the resilience and beauty of this region, and of our own place within it.
At this particular moment when the earth is shifting all around us, understanding what it means to be a forest might help us understand what it means to be human.
Watch the video to step inside the forest and hear its story as it’s never been told before—then pick up a copy of Born of Fire and Rain to experience the full journey.