The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (NJMC) will celebrate the publication of its new coffee-table book, “The Nature of the Meadowlands,” with a special book talk and signing by author Jim Wright of the NJMC and Governor Thomas H. Kean, who wrote the book’s foreword.

The signing and talk are on Monday, Oct. 15, from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Meadowlands Environment Center in DeKorte Park.

The lavishly illustrated, 128-page book illuminates the Meadowlands’ natural and unnatural history, including its darkest days of a half-century ago and its inspiring environmental revival.

Copies of the “Nature of the Meadowlands” are now available at the gift shop in the MEC. Proceeds from the book go to the MEC's educational programs.

The book, which sells for $34.99, also celebrates the amazing landscapes and parks to be found here, including DeKorte Park, the home of the NJMC, the Kearny Marsh and Secaucus’s Laurel Hill.

Individual chapters are devoted to birds, butterflies, and mammals –with a final photo-essay section that captures the essence of the Meadowlands throughout the year.

At the Oct. 15 talk and signing, Governor Kean will speak about the environmental recovery chronicled in “The Nature of the Meadowlands” and Wright will give a slide show and talk highlighting its striking photography.

To reserve a copy of “Nature of the Meadowlands,” visit www.njmeadolwands.gov and click on “The Nature of the Meadowlands” box at the bottom of the page, call 201-460-4637, or email info@njmeadowlands.gov.