RaveThe Washington Independent Review of BooksOrlean writes with genuine appreciation for her subjects. She is quick to point out an animal’s admirable qualities, whether it’s the beauty of a chicken’s feathers or the work ethic of a mule. The book is littered with comical anecdotes and fun facts ... Throughout, Orlean manages to avoid anthropomorphizing ... Though not weighed down by gnawing issues like habitat loss and extinction, On Animals doesn’t ignore hard truths about the treatment of animals and humans’ role in their future ... a witty and entertaining volume.
Gretel Ehrlich
RaveThe Washington Independent Review of BooksWhile global warming looms large in it, Unsolaced differs from other books with a climate-change theme in its emphasis on the human costs thereof. For Ehrlich’s friends in Greenland, the disappearance of sea ice equals the disappearance of their way of life and threatens their survival. Ehrlich worries not only about the warming of the earth and the extinction of animals, but also the extinction of cultures ... Readers familiar with Ehrlich’s writing may feel a bit of déjà vu as she revisits many of the same places and people she wrote about in The Solace of Open Spaces and other books, but each essay in Unsolaced is its own story. Her journalistic style places the reader squarely in the middle of others’ lives. Chapters read like articles out of National Geographic but aren’t bogged down by abstruse scientific terms and explanations ... Her profound rapport with all that surrounds her is laced into poignant portrayals of her dogs and encounters with wildlife, as well as in illuminating descriptions of the pristine Arctic landscape ... unpredictably timely, a compelling adventure story and an inward and outward journey that may leave the reader with more questions than answers in these uncertain times, the most provoking being, \'Where do we go to find solace now?\'
Kendra Atleework
PositiveWashington Independent Review of BooksCarefully braided through Miracle Country is a complex history of water in the Eastern Sierra—the struggle over who owns it, who takes it, and where they take it from ... It would be easy to assume that Miracle Country is another depressing account of the consequences of climate change and urban development. Instead, the author has pieced together an intimate portrait of one family’s resilience and a community deeply rooted in the Eastern Sierra. Memories of her mother and her family are written with candor and affection, and the land comes alive through her prose. We are tied to our landscape, and Kendra Atleework is a fresh voice reminding us of that fact.
Richard Louv
PositiveThe Washington Independent Review of Books... examines a wide range of topics ... This book is for anyone interested in the profound interaction between animals and humans. Neatly divided into sections and brief chapters, Our Wild Calling reads like a series of short stories that merge into a bigger picture. This book covers a lot of territory, and the amount of information can feel overwhelming. Even with its heartwarming anecdotes and tinges of humor, it might be best appreciated in small doses ... Though it’s questionable that this book will convince someone to adopt a pet, what it will do is cause the reader to pause and appreciate the complexity of animals and their place in our world, while contemplating our \'calling\' to protect that world.
Elizabeth Kolbert
RaveThe Washington Independent Review of BooksWhile climate change and global warming have been debated for decades, Kolbert here examines our impact on the planet and makes a connection between the Earth’s next cataclysm and humankind ... By delving into the lives of plants and animals that no longer exist or that we cannot see and experience, Kolbert engages the reader in a conversation about current environmental threats we all face. Her easy, matter-of-fact narrative navigates a large volume of complex studies and discovery so fluidly that readers whose memory of the Ordovician-Silurian and Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinctions may be a little rusty will not get lost in a sea of scientific details. The book also contains ample graphs and illustrations, which provide further explanation for the reader. Even though the book can make readers feel as if they are walking through an endless gray cloud, with the end of the world looming on the next page, Kolbert’s clever narrative takes the edge off through hints of humor and reminders of nature’s beauty. Readers smile as Kolbert recounts her dream of frogs smoking cigarettes, and when she gazes into the star-studded sky over the Barrier Reef, readers are reminded of what an extraordinary world this is ... offers no solutions. Instead, it impresses upon the reader the enormity of the problem. The book lays the landscape of the future before us, and in the end, it leaves the question of what kind of world we want to leave behind.
