At a time when the climate change discourse is focused mainly on its causes, its effects on weather and our so-far tepid efforts to address the problem, it’s good to see a book on how animals and plants are responding and faring amid the flux ... Despite the gravity of its subject, though, this is not a depressing book. An award-winning biologist and author whose earlier work has focused on bees, feathers, seeds and gorillas, Hanson is an affable guide and storyteller, with a knack for analogy, a sense of humor and the natural curiosity of a scientist ... There were occasions when I was hoping for information that didn’t materialize ... The author declares a passion for fishing. In doing so, he joins a sizable cadre of self-described animal-loving writers who nevertheless pursue a pastime that causes fear, pain and suffering in their quarry. There is now robust science demonstrating pain and emotion in all kinds of fishes, salmon included. The dissonance here is not just ethical but ecological. As Hanson explains, the native cutthroat trout he seeks is threatened by hybridization with rainbow trout, with which these streams have been stocked to serve the recreational demands of anglers.
Synthesizing a wealth of recent findings, [Hanson] opens trapdoors onto the vivid lives of other beings in hopes of giving humans a close-grained understanding of our role in habitat change and the varieties of adaptation that may be in store for our species too.
It’s a somewhat guilty pleasure, then, to revel in Hanson’s globetrotting exploits, some of them conducted under the constraints of the pandemic. We are taken from the rainforests of Costa Rica to the Arctic ice of Franz Josef Land and the coral reefs of Indonesia. The range of species he investigates and the climate responses they exhibit are sometimes dizzying, but some general features emerge ... Hanson supplies abundant reason to marvel at nature’s ingenuity, but also to fear for it in the face of the drastic changes we are generating. He reminds us that our own responses, as we try to adjust to wildfires, heatwaves and sea level rise, are a part of that story too.
Lighthearted in tone but wholly serious in purpose, Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid is an unworthy title for an outstanding introduction to a global threat.
... exciting ... Hanson introduces readers to an array of scientists documenting these changes and conducts his own often humorous experiments ... With contagious curiosity, Hanson nimbly avoids pedantic, moralistic admonishments. Nature-lovers will be thrilled to see science so vividly described, and will marvel at the incredible ingenuity of creatures across the globe.
