campbelltaral's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I'll read anything by David Quammen, he's one of my favorite science writers, and this lovely collection of some of his work was a delight. Switch out your morning doomscroll session with an adventurous or heartfelt story from this book, I promise you'll have a much happier start to your day.
eberico's review against another edition
4.0
I had certain expectations going into this book that I feel I need to declare up front. First, I adored Quammen's [b:Monster of God: The Man-Eating Predator in the Jungles of History and the Mind|79985|Monster of God The Man-Eating Predator in the Jungles of History and the Mind|David Quammen|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1170976247s/79985.jpg|77240], and on the basis of this adoration added Quammen's entire naturalist oeuvre to my Amazon wishlist. Second, I didn't realize this was a collection of previously published essays - not that that would have prevented me from reading it, of course, but I probably would've started elsewhere.
That said, I adored this book, read primarily on the elliptical over the last few weeks. Many of the original essays were published in his long-running Natural Acts column in Outside magazine, so at least a third of the essays lean towards sportsy-outdoors rather than sciencey-outdoors. Don't let that be a barrier to entry, however, as even the sportsiest of sportsy-outdoors essays allows time for reflection on our relationship with the natural world.
Topics of selected essays - and subsequent conversations over the dinner table or at bedtime - include:
- Man's relationship with the river
- Mountain lions (hunting, eating)
- Telemark skiing
- The varying types of wood grown in response to specific stresses
- Super pigeons
- Monogamy in the animal kingdom (including humans)
- Barnacles
- The plight of the Tanzanian Aborigine
If you enjoy your travel writing with a bit of science, or if you enjoy thinking big thoughts in small doses, this might just be the book for you.
That said, I adored this book, read primarily on the elliptical over the last few weeks. Many of the original essays were published in his long-running Natural Acts column in Outside magazine, so at least a third of the essays lean towards sportsy-outdoors rather than sciencey-outdoors. Don't let that be a barrier to entry, however, as even the sportsiest of sportsy-outdoors essays allows time for reflection on our relationship with the natural world.
Topics of selected essays - and subsequent conversations over the dinner table or at bedtime - include:
- Man's relationship with the river
- Mountain lions (hunting, eating)
- Telemark skiing
- The varying types of wood grown in response to specific stresses
- Super pigeons
- Monogamy in the animal kingdom (including humans)
- Barnacles
- The plight of the Tanzanian Aborigine
If you enjoy your travel writing with a bit of science, or if you enjoy thinking big thoughts in small doses, this might just be the book for you.
bluepigeon's review
3.0
Quammen writes very short, often interesting essays in this book, but I found his all-American childhood, stories of his visits to the Cincinnati Zoo, the history of the old family house more captivating than the writing that directly concerns nature and wild things. Sure, I learned some interesting tidbits of information about the coyotes of Los Angeles, and mountains lion hunting, but it all seemed too superficial. Some of the points he makes about the bioethics of zoos, ethics of hunting, and the role of the human in changing/destroying/trying to fix its environment are well-put, but again, nothing new or revolutionary here. In fact, some essays seem more like summaries of what such-and-such expert said in this book and so-and-so believes than Quammen contributing anything new to the question at hand. So for a good intro to many bioethical arguments and interesting nature factoids, this is a great book. For someone like me, it may be too light.
Quammen's writing style is journalistic for sure, but I found that I wanted more humor, more a sense of direction, which he does not provide. I wanted a bit of Bryson or even Chatwin in there. Some of the articles certainly get lively with rather testy ethical issues, like the one about mountain lion hunting, so that was fun.
Quammen's writing style is journalistic for sure, but I found that I wanted more humor, more a sense of direction, which he does not provide. I wanted a bit of Bryson or even Chatwin in there. Some of the articles certainly get lively with rather testy ethical issues, like the one about mountain lion hunting, so that was fun.
laura_sorensen's review
4.0
I skipped a few of these (notably, ones about rafting and ones about skiing) but there are many beautiful pieces in here.
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