Christopher Brown
@christopherbrown.bsky.social
Writer & lawyer. Author of A NATURAL HISTORY OF EMPTY LOTS • Novels TROPIC OF KANSAS et al • urban nature newsletter FIELD NOTES • christopherbrown.com
Pinned
My new book A Natural History of Empty Lots is released today. I hope you like it—it distills 20 years of exploring the edgelands, working on rewilding projects, and trying to understand what such places teach us about our lives, history and future: www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/chris...
Got my first “can I send you my work?” pitch from a bot
September 21, 2026 at 11:51 AM
Got my first “can I send you my work?” pitch from a bot
Reposted by Christopher Brown
An especially enjoyable Field Notes this week; I really liked trying to follow along on a satellite map as I read.
Field Notes from a trip to NYC’s rewilded landfill, with urban prairies, industrial estuaries, harriers & herons, abandoned shopping centers, 9/11 memories, and packrafting for the psychogeographer: fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com/p/in-the-bur...
In the Burial Mounds of Eghquhous
No. 201
fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com
September 20, 2026 at 5:28 PM
An especially enjoyable Field Notes this week; I really liked trying to follow along on a satellite map as I read.
Reposted by Christopher Brown
i saw some footage of a school of cownosed rays in newtown the other day though; life as always keeps on keepin' on
September 20, 2026 at 3:58 PM
i saw some footage of a school of cownosed rays in newtown the other day though; life as always keeps on keepin' on
Reposted by Christopher Brown
Great piece. Spent a pleasant half hour locating the landmarks and tracing the route on my phone’s map app. Staten Island is now a (cool) place where before it was just a name. And the ending sneaks up on you.
Field Notes from a trip to NYC’s rewilded landfill, with urban prairies, industrial estuaries, harriers & herons, abandoned shopping centers, 9/11 memories, and packrafting for the psychogeographer: fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com/p/in-the-bur...
In the Burial Mounds of Eghquhous
No. 201
fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com
September 20, 2026 at 3:18 PM
Great piece. Spent a pleasant half hour locating the landmarks and tracing the route on my phone’s map app. Staten Island is now a (cool) place where before it was just a name. And the ending sneaks up on you.
Reposted by Christopher Brown
A lovely read about an unexpectedly lovely place (Freshkills, aka Robert Moses' Staten Island solution to NYC's 20th century garbage problem. Now a new kind of nature. And a buried memorial. (h/t @jwomack.bsky.social) fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com/p/in-the-bur...
September 20, 2026 at 2:39 PM
A lovely read about an unexpectedly lovely place (Freshkills, aka Robert Moses' Staten Island solution to NYC's 20th century garbage problem. Now a new kind of nature. And a buried memorial. (h/t @jwomack.bsky.social) fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com/p/in-the-bur...
Field Notes from a trip to NYC’s rewilded landfill, with urban prairies, industrial estuaries, harriers & herons, abandoned shopping centers, 9/11 memories, and packrafting for the psychogeographer: fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com/p/in-the-bur...
In the Burial Mounds of Eghquhous
No. 201
fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com
September 20, 2026 at 12:20 PM
Field Notes from a trip to NYC’s rewilded landfill, with urban prairies, industrial estuaries, harriers & herons, abandoned shopping centers, 9/11 memories, and packrafting for the psychogeographer: fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com/p/in-the-bur...
You can currently get a digital copy of *Empty Lots* for less than a cup of Saturday morning coffee, almost as cheap as the free flotsam texts one can sometimes find in an actual empty lot. But what you really want is a beautiful hardcover from your nearest indie shop: www.amazon.com/Natural-Hist...
A Natural History of Empty Lots: Field Notes from Urban Edgelands, Back Alleys, and Other Wild Places
A Natural History of Empty Lots: Field Notes from Urban Edgelands, Back Alleys, and Other Wild Places - Kindle edition by Brown, Christopher. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading A Natural History of Empty Lots: Field Notes from Urban Edgelands, Back Alleys, and Other Wild Places.
www.amazon.com
September 19, 2026 at 11:28 AM
You can currently get a digital copy of *Empty Lots* for less than a cup of Saturday morning coffee, almost as cheap as the free flotsam texts one can sometimes find in an actual empty lot. But what you really want is a beautiful hardcover from your nearest indie shop: www.amazon.com/Natural-Hist...
Your Saturday morning bull armadillo
September 19, 2026 at 11:19 AM
Your Saturday morning bull armadillo
Reposted by Christopher Brown
@christopherbrown.bsky.social I’d guess that Our Wild Familiars by Dan Werb is on your radar, but if it’s not, it seems like something you’d like.
Our Wild Familiars: How Animals Are Adapting to Cities …
Synanthropes have always been an immutable part of the …
www.goodreads.com
September 19, 2026 at 5:23 AM
@christopherbrown.bsky.social I’d guess that Our Wild Familiars by Dan Werb is on your radar, but if it’s not, it seems like something you’d like.
Reposted by Christopher Brown
There are still some places left on my Online Nature & Environmental course at @unioftheartslondon.bsky.social - we will read work by a variety of authors, workshop pieces of writing, discuss technical issues as well as approaches to writing about place. Open to all!
www.arts.ac.uk/subjects/jou...
www.arts.ac.uk/subjects/jou...
Introduction to Nature and Environmental Writing Online Short Course
Learn how writing connects us to nature. Develop nature writing skills through practical exercises and discussions. Explore the genre and refine your process.
www.arts.ac.uk
September 19, 2026 at 10:43 AM
There are still some places left on my Online Nature & Environmental course at @unioftheartslondon.bsky.social - we will read work by a variety of authors, workshop pieces of writing, discuss technical issues as well as approaches to writing about place. Open to all!
www.arts.ac.uk/subjects/jou...
www.arts.ac.uk/subjects/jou...
Reposted by Christopher Brown
operated by machine minds
Chris Brown (aka @christopherbrown.bsky.social ) reading "Wild Cats and Predatory Robots”
/ at Armadillocon
Chris Brown (aka @christopherbrown.bsky.social ) reading "Wild Cats and Predatory Robots”
/ at Armadillocon
September 12, 2026 at 1:39 AM
operated by machine minds
Chris Brown (aka @christopherbrown.bsky.social ) reading "Wild Cats and Predatory Robots”
/ at Armadillocon
Chris Brown (aka @christopherbrown.bsky.social ) reading "Wild Cats and Predatory Robots”
/ at Armadillocon
Reading today's newspaper while grabbing a late lunch and reckoning with the 21st century we got, versus the ones we imagined back in the 20th
September 11, 2026 at 7:31 PM
Reading today's newspaper while grabbing a late lunch and reckoning with the 21st century we got, versus the ones we imagined back in the 20th
Reposted by Christopher Brown
Whether you're an Austin urbanist and/or environmentalist, there's been a lot about Dog's Head over the past month at city council meetings and in the news.
Some folks I know are organizing a paddling event next Sunday to help folks learn about the Lower Colorado, alluvial floodplains, and more...
Some folks I know are organizing a paddling event next Sunday to help folks learn about the Lower Colorado, alluvial floodplains, and more...
August 22, 2026 at 5:52 PM
Whether you're an Austin urbanist and/or environmentalist, there's been a lot about Dog's Head over the past month at city council meetings and in the news.
Some folks I know are organizing a paddling event next Sunday to help folks learn about the Lower Colorado, alluvial floodplains, and more...
Some folks I know are organizing a paddling event next Sunday to help folks learn about the Lower Colorado, alluvial floodplains, and more...
Reposted by Christopher Brown
Christopher Brown's Tropic of Kansas was published in 2017, but its vision of American history is filled with disturbing parallels to our current political moment–what can we learn from the novel and its prequels, when it comes to our future?
Christopher Brown's Tropic of Kansas Was Eerily Prescient — And Is More Important Than Ever - Reactor
A 2017 novel predicted so much about the present moment — what can we learn from it?
reactormag.com
August 24, 2026 at 4:35 PM
Christopher Brown's Tropic of Kansas was published in 2017, but its vision of American history is filled with disturbing parallels to our current political moment–what can we learn from the novel and its prequels, when it comes to our future?
Reposted by Christopher Brown
all right, this is now live at @reactorsff.bsky.social , 2,200 words on Christopher Brown's Tropic of Kansas and alternate history colliding with our current history.
reactormag.com/christopher-...
reactormag.com/christopher-...
Christopher Brown's Tropic of Kansas Was Eerily Prescient — And Is More Important Than Ever - Reactor
A 2017 novel predicted so much about the present moment — what can we learn from it?
reactormag.com
August 24, 2026 at 8:41 PM
all right, this is now live at @reactorsff.bsky.social , 2,200 words on Christopher Brown's Tropic of Kansas and alternate history colliding with our current history.
reactormag.com/christopher-...
reactormag.com/christopher-...
Thanks so much to the wonderful @adeniro.bsky.social and the team @reactorsff.bsky.social for this fresh perspective on my 2017 novel Tropic of Kansas: reactormag.com/christopher-...
Christopher Brown's Tropic of Kansas Was Eerily Prescient — And Is More Important Than Ever - Reactor
A 2017 novel predicted so much about the present moment — what can we learn from it?
reactormag.com
August 25, 2026 at 11:39 AM
Thanks so much to the wonderful @adeniro.bsky.social and the team @reactorsff.bsky.social for this fresh perspective on my 2017 novel Tropic of Kansas: reactormag.com/christopher-...
Reposted by Christopher Brown
It’s the 200th issue of one of my favorite publications. I save each one up to read at just the right time, maybe a reward after a tough week, a salve for the environmental writer’s battered soul. Field Notes has got that magic.
Looking for signs of life in Silicon Valley, in this dispatch from a packrafting trip around its edges, with playful cryptids, a curious sea lion, and dreams of a less dystopian cyberspace (& the 200th issue of Field Notes, to its author’s surprise) fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com/p/how-to-pad...
How to paddle the Metaverse
No. 200
fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com
August 23, 2026 at 5:54 PM
It’s the 200th issue of one of my favorite publications. I save each one up to read at just the right time, maybe a reward after a tough week, a salve for the environmental writer’s battered soul. Field Notes has got that magic.
Reposted by Christopher Brown
Nice one from @christopherbrown.bsky.social this morning. No. 200 in the Field Notes wanders.
fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com/p/how-to-pad...
fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com/p/how-to-pad...
How to paddle the Metaverse
No. 200
fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com
August 23, 2026 at 4:52 PM
Nice one from @christopherbrown.bsky.social this morning. No. 200 in the Field Notes wanders.
fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com/p/how-to-pad...
fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com/p/how-to-pad...
Reposted by Christopher Brown
This piece by @christopherbrown.bsky.social is wonderful. I have long fantasised about exploring the Bay like this (and its East Coast cousin, the NJ Meadowlands), but there’s also the delicious fact that Mark Zuckerberg didn’t even invent the *name* for Facebook! www.newsblur.com/newsletters/...
August 23, 2026 at 3:43 PM
This piece by @christopherbrown.bsky.social is wonderful. I have long fantasised about exploring the Bay like this (and its East Coast cousin, the NJ Meadowlands), but there’s also the delicious fact that Mark Zuckerberg didn’t even invent the *name* for Facebook! www.newsblur.com/newsletters/...
Reposted by Christopher Brown
Take me to the river. Drop me in the water - this week's Field Notes: How to paddle the Metaverse by Christopher Brown. @christopherbrown.bsky.social
How to paddle the Metaverse
No. 200
open.substack.com
August 23, 2026 at 1:39 PM
Take me to the river. Drop me in the water - this week's Field Notes: How to paddle the Metaverse by Christopher Brown. @christopherbrown.bsky.social
Reposted by Christopher Brown
South Bay is ringed by many thousands of acres of public open space. The southern boundary is hills and valleys swarming with mountain bikers and hikers, the north side is vast and flat and wet and empty of people. Kudos for a cool report from the reach of Silicon Valley edgeland that nobody visits.
Looking for signs of life in Silicon Valley, in this dispatch from a packrafting trip around its edges, with playful cryptids, a curious sea lion, and dreams of a less dystopian cyberspace (& the 200th issue of Field Notes, to its author’s surprise) fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com/p/how-to-pad...
How to paddle the Metaverse
No. 200
fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com
August 23, 2026 at 1:10 PM
South Bay is ringed by many thousands of acres of public open space. The southern boundary is hills and valleys swarming with mountain bikers and hikers, the north side is vast and flat and wet and empty of people. Kudos for a cool report from the reach of Silicon Valley edgeland that nobody visits.
Looking for signs of life in Silicon Valley, in this dispatch from a packrafting trip around its edges, with playful cryptids, a curious sea lion, and dreams of a less dystopian cyberspace (& the 200th issue of Field Notes, to its author’s surprise) fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com/p/how-to-pad...
How to paddle the Metaverse
No. 200
fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com
August 23, 2026 at 12:52 PM
Looking for signs of life in Silicon Valley, in this dispatch from a packrafting trip around its edges, with playful cryptids, a curious sea lion, and dreams of a less dystopian cyberspace (& the 200th issue of Field Notes, to its author’s surprise) fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com/p/how-to-pad...
Reposted by Christopher Brown
There's an excellent and haunting long read about Starbase here:
Field Notes from a July visit to SpaceX’s South Texas Starbase, where the launch gantries tower over one of our wildest coastal wildernesses, and the alligators bellow back when the rockets fire:
fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com/p/rocket-sum...
fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com/p/rocket-sum...
Rocket Summer
No. 199
fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com
August 17, 2026 at 11:24 PM
There's an excellent and haunting long read about Starbase here:
Best list to get on ever 🦝💚🙏
LOL the library system has this staff list put together
August 14, 2026 at 8:23 PM
Best list to get on ever 🦝💚🙏
Why did the armadillo cross the road?
July 29, 2026 at 2:59 AM
Why did the armadillo cross the road?