#34 [2026/CBR18] Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton

I saw Raising Hare (2025) on so many different lists at the end of the year, but I was a little resistant. All I knew was that a woman raised a baby hare and wrote a book about it. I love animals, so you'd think I'd jump at a chance to read more about them. However, I'm not a big fan of turning wild animals into pets, and I feared that Raising Hare would be some kind of Disney-fied rendition of nature.

Fortunately, I was wrong. I listened to Raising Hare as an Audiobook, and I loved it. As soon as I finished, my inclination was to immediately get the hardcover, so I could read it again myself. (I haven't done that yet, but I think it's only a matter of time).

In February 2021, Chloe Dalton has returned to her country home in the English countryside while everything is shut down by Covid. Her home is a converted barn that sits in the middle of a field and family members live close by. One day she stumbles on a newborn hare lying flat in the middle of the lane. She hopes that its mother will come for it and leaves it be. But when she walks by again, many hours later, the hare is in the same place. Worried that it will get run over or that dogs will get it, Dalton picks up the hare and brings it home.

I learned a lot about hares in this book--primarily, that hares are different from rabbits. Rabbits burrow underground and are born furless and with their eyes closed. Hares do not burrow, but have their babies above ground. Hares are born with fur and with their eyes open. They are able to move very shortly after birth but rely on hiding until they are a little older and faster. When hares are a year or younger, they are called leverets.

Dalton quickly learned that it is very difficult to keep a leveret alive in captivity. It is rarely, if ever, done and there is very little information about it. But she was informed that it was too late to bring the leveret back, now that it had her smell on it. After trying to pawn the leveret off on her sister, Dalton focused on keeping the little thing alive. 

Dalton fed the leveret three times a day, but otherwise handled it only when necessary. She pulled some grasses from the field near where she found the leveret and set up a little home in a shoebox. Critically, Dalton made a hole in the shoe box, so the leveret was not trapped. In fact, the one time Dalton followed "hare-raising" advice from the internet and put the leveret in a cage, was the one time that the leveret did not do well and seemed close to dying. It seems that the stress of captivity is not good for them.

I loved Dalton's approach to keeping the leveret. She used a mix of common sense and a respect for its autonomy as an independent creature. She did not think of it as her pet. She tried not to interfere or control it, and she was always opening up doors in her house so that it had free rein. Dalton wanted the leveret to grow up and live a normal life outside.

It was clear the leveret felt safe with Dalton and the two had a relationship. But this book isn't just about the leveret, but also about how much the leveret changed Dalton. She became so much more aware of the other animals in the fields and the dangers they faced. She started doing research on a large number of new topics as the natural world became more important to her. She learned a number of small things she could do around her house to improve wildlife habitat. The leveret even changed her perspective on success and what she wanted out of life. This small animal that is often overlooked or dismissed as a pest became so interesting and so important as soon as Dalton took the time to observe it with its best interests at heart.

It was inevitable that the leveret raised by Dalton would eventually take off into the fields. Sometimes it would come back in the morning, and sometimes she wouldn't see it for weeks. But one day, Dalton found the young hare's new babies in her garden. And so, she got to learn even more about hares as she watched the hare that she had raised, raise others. 

I loved this book. It seemed like both a small, personal story, and also a meaningful glimpse into a larger world. I'm still thinking about this book many days later. I'm not sure if everyone will find this book as emotional and as powerful as me, but I would highly recommend it.

#32 [2026/CBR18] Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I've Cried About by Isabel Klee

I stumbled on Isabel Klee on one of my Instagram-reeling marathons (@Simonsits). She seemed like a nice, young woman who fosters dogs and documents their stories on Instagram. She lives in Brooklyn, which I recognized from my visits to my brother and enjoyed seeing again. I've liked her Instagram stories for awhile now. The publicity she brings to her rescue dogs and the rescue organizations she works with bring in a fair bit of money and many potential adopters. Every time she works with partners to advertise things on Instagram, she donates some of that money.

So, when I saw Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I've Cried About (2026) by Klee, I figured it might be fun to read. I'd heard that she had worked for The Dogist (another NYC-based, social media, dog person), and I was curious about the details. I was also curious how she came to have her dog, Simon, and how he changed her life. In addition, I'd seen Isabel's fiancé on Instagram, and I was curious about their story. I used Audible to listen to the Audiobook, which is read by Klee.

Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed in this book because it wasn't what I was expecting. I wanted to like this book because I liked Klee from Instagram, but there wasn't enough detail for me. If I'm going to read a memoir, then I want to really understand what makes them tick and how they became who they are. Although I superficially learned about some of Klee's previous relationships, I didn't really get a sense of who she was. Many of the dogs that she discusses in her book, I'd seen on Instagram, so she'd taken care of them relatively recently. But she has them interspersed throughout the book with mini lessons of what we can learn from them. I found I enjoyed seeing their stories in person more than reading about them.

Klee writes that she dropped out of college and moved to New York City, something she's always wanted since growing up in New Jersey. She lives in a number of not great apartments with various roommates and dates men who are not great for her--at least two of them cheated on her. I was interested to hear how she adopted Simon, and when she found out that he had a seizure disorder. It was also interesting to see what she thought about her now-fiancé when she first met him. 

It's hard for me to describe what put me off this book. First, I do wish I could have understood her trajectory better. Although she mentions working for Elias for many years (the dogist), there was very little detail about what she did for him besides a couple short stories here and there. I had assumed that it was her work with Elias that led her to developing her own social media platforms, but she never talks about it. Second, I wish Klee had been more specific when discussing her relationships. She would mention an ex-boyfriend and that they had problems, but there were never enough details for me to really see what was happening. Even when she has problems with her current fiancé, she says that she pushed him away because he wasn't crazy about her, then she went to therapy and it was better. It is certainly her right to only divulge what she is comfortable divulging, but I found it frustrating and difficult to relate to. Instead, she used generic descriptions about love and friendship and lessons learned that were hard to hear from someone younger than me without the details to back it up.

I enjoy Klee's content, and I wanted to enjoy this book, but it just wasn't for me.

#20 [2026/CBR18] West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge

I read West With Giraffes (2021) by Lynda Rutledge because it was chosen by my book club. After reading some pretty bad books, we've made up a loose rule that you need to have read the book before nominating it for book club. Well, it didn't happen this time. The husband of one of our book clubbers said it would be a good book for us. I think the majority of us would agree that it was not. I think I was most frustrated at what it could have been.

It is the midst of the Great Depression. Woodrow Wilson Nickel (Woody) lost his family in the Dust Bowl in Texas. He made his way up to New York City to live with his unfriendly cousin. But then a raging hurricane came through, killing his cousin. Woody is hurt, and has just figured out he's on his own, when he sees the giraffes on the dock. One of the giraffes is hurt as well. Woody learns the giraffes are going to be trucked across the country to the San Diego Zoo. Woody decides to follow them to California, the land where dreams come true.

Eventually Woody ingratiates himself with the "old man" in charge of transferring the giraffes, and he becomes the driver. They have many adventures, including being followed by a young woman Woody calls "Red" who says she is taking pictures for Life magazine. Woody is enamored with Red, and she is a pretty large part of the story.

This story is told from far in the future when Woody is over one hundred years old and about to die in a nursing home. He is desperately writing down this story from his childhood. He wants it to get to someone. I think this is supposed to make the story more meaningful, but it didn't do much for me.

I found this book occasionally interesting, and I like that the author was trying to bring awareness and appreciation for the animals that we are constantly losing through habitat destruction and climate change. In addition, it is true that two giraffes were trucked across the country after surviving a hurricane, which was the inspiration for Rutledge's story. Finally, Rutledge touches on real aspects of The Dust Bowl, how it was affecting people, and how desperate it was. 

However, reading this book was primarily a frustrating experience. I often found the descriptions lacking, and many of the events seemed unbelievable. I never had a good idea of what the truck looked like or how it worked. The situations they got in felt absurd and impossible. Both people and animals acted and reacted in ways that did not make sense to me. I often felt physics was not being taken into account in many of these situations.

For example, the old man has a hand that is so mutilated he cannot drive. But when the giraffe starts choking on a hat, he grabs a hose and climbs up the side of the truck. That's problematic enough because that would be challenging with two good hands. But then he sticks the hose down the giraffe's throat and the hat comes back up??? I don't see how waterboarding a giraffe is going to help a choking situation. And even if that was somewhat possible, I imagine you'd need some pretty intense water pressure to do anything--although that pressure is going down on the hat, so I still don't see how it would work. 

In addition, as far as I can tell from the internet, giraffes do not "caterwaul." The most I could find is something that sounded kind of like a growl when a mother giraffe was fighting with lions over its baby. I could go on for quite a while with things that were unrealistic or not described well enough to feel realistic. Red's car bumped the big giraffe truck at 5 mph, and suddenly the truck is leaning over the edge of a cliff. Later, Red somehow uses her car to keep the truck from tipping over in a flood. I had no understanding of how these things were physically happening.

I was also disappointed in the ending. Red was a pioneering woman who traveled across the country on her own. Except that we got no actual details of her journey. And in the end, she loses all of her pictures in a flood, she's pregnant, and she very quickly dies of heart problems. What a lame journey for her character. Even Woody is frustrating. He finally gets the giraffes to San Diego, but he doesn't even see them settled. Instead he steals another motorcycle and is forced into the army. This book has thousands of positive Amazon reviews, and many people enjoyed it, including my friend's husband. But I cannot recommend it.

#18 [2026/CBR18] The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan

I'm not sure if it was because I was getting older or my interests just shifted, but back in 2019 I suddenly became fascinated with birding. It felt like a whole new world opened up simply because I started paying attention. Now that I have a dog, I spend more time walking her than going out with my camera looking for birds. However, I still look out for them, and I still find birds (all animals, really) fascinating. I'm officially hooked.

Recently I stumbled on bird drawing classes from John Muir Laws. He has a ton of great resources and is an encouraging teacher (johnmuirlaws.com). He teaches nature journaling as a way for people to pay more attention to the natural world around them and thus want to protect it. This is relevant because my brother gifted me a copy of The Backyard Bird Chronicles (2024) by Amy Tan for Christmas. She took drawing and journaling classes from John Muir Laws, but she can't drive, so she started nature journaling in her backyard in Sausalito, California. The Backyard Bird Chronicles is Amy Tan's chronological drawings, descriptions, and stories about a whole different world happening right under her nose.

This book seemed designed specifically for me. I feel like I have so much in common with Tan. She started out knowing only three kinds of birds in her backyard. I began knowing only three birds in Colorado: robins, mallards, and crows. Tan did not take a drawing class until she was 64. I only just started drawing. I related wholly to Tan's excitement and wonder as she learned and observed. The birds' lives played out in front of her as chicks learned to fend for themselves, dominance patterns emerged, and life or death drama occurred daily.

Now, even with my love of birds, I went into this book wondering if a description of backyard feeders would hold my attention. It did. Tan is observant and empathetic, and she is a natural storyteller. She notices interesting aspects of her birds, and asks intriguing questions as she wonders about their behavior. All of the drawings of birds in her book are done by her, and they are great. I've found myself looking carefully at them as I try to figure out how to draw my own birds.

Occasionally the outside world intrudes into Tan's backyard. Raging wildfires led to unusual visitors as birds struggled to get away from the stifling smoke. Covid affected the world, but Tan's backyard remained a calm oasis, full of feeders and bird baths.

I really enjoyed this book. I have been inspired to try my own hand at nature journaling. I love the idea of learning to draw, and paying more attention to the natural world around me--wherever it can be found. I'm not sure if some admiration/appreciation of birds is required to enjoy this book or if Tan could win over even those who are still apathetic about our flying, feathered neighbors.

"I don't feel indifferent to any creature struggling to survive. I think my distress over theirs is a good thing." (168)

"I rationalize the cost of mealworms by calculating the amount of money I have saved by not having children." (178)

#49 [2023/CBR15] Elephant Memories by Cynthia Moss

CBR15Bingo: Africa (and Blackout!)

One of the best trips I've ever taken was when I went to Tanzania. We spent six days climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro and three more days seeing amazing animals on safari. I loved all of it. A large part of my personality would find it deeply satisfying to spend my life being some kind of wildlife biologist--observing wildlife in any number of places--but especially Africa. My life is very far from that dream, but I very much enjoy living vicariously through others. I often do this by reading books. (I also stumbled on a Youtube channel with daily safaris that I loved but don't have much time for anymore.)

Elephant Memories: Thirteen Years in the Life of an Elephant Family (1988) by Cynthia Moss is a relatively old book but it's right up my alley. I think it popped up on Amazon one day and sucked me right in. Moss began studying elephants in Amboseli National Park in Kenya in 1972.* The book covers thirteen years of births, deaths, family drama, feast, and famine. I learned a fair bit about elephants and how they live, and I thought it was really interesting. When I finished, I googled Cynthia Moss, and found that she's still in Africa and still involved in elephant research and conservation (as far as I could tell), which I was very happy to hear.

The book is structured both chronologically and thematically. Elephants can live over sixty years, so even thirteen years is just a glimpse into their lives. We learn about the elephants and how they grow over the years, but with each chapter also focusing on an element of elephant life. These include: drought, migration, mating, social relationships, babies, flexibility, and population dynamics.

The elephants in Amboseli National Park are generally pretty lucky. Poaching is not as extreme as in other locations, they have a fair bit of land where they are able to move about, and they have not been subject to very intense management (at least as of 1988). However, they still have their struggles. Drought can cause great struggle, often halting reproduction for years. In addition, even though the Masai, as pastoralists, are generally tolerant of elephants, they still sometimes spear elephants. In addition, as the Masai adopt farming and agriculture, the elephants and Masai's lives become more confrontational.

Moss named the elephants with each family all having names that start with the same letter. I sometimes found it difficult to keep track of all these names. However, after following their lives for so long, I became very attached to them. I really enjoyed this book, and even though it was written a long time ago, I would recommend it to anyone with similar interests.

* Amboseli National Park is very close to Tanzania, just North of Mount Kilimanjaro. Moss even occasionally discussed the elephants in Lake Manyara, a place I've visited!

#23 [2023/CBR15] An Immense World by Ed Yong

(cbr15bingo - Strange Worlds square)

It's common knowledge that dogs can smell better than humans and eagles can see better than humans--although even that idea is sometimes hard to wrap my head around. But what about the animals that experience the world in ways we can't even imagine? They don't just see farther than us, but they see in colors not available to us. Or they feel the electromagnetic pulse of living creatures instead of touch. Ed Yong dives into the stories of different animals and their sensory experiences in An Immense World (2022). 

I first saw An Immense World on Barack Obama's reading list and was immediately interested. I love learning about animals and animal behavior, so this book was right up my alley. Yong begins his book with the senses and animals we are most familiar with: dogs and smelling. He describes the physical characteristics of the dog's nose and brain, and how they work to make them such incredible scent tracers. It was very interesting. I'd never noticed the little comma-like openings on the sides of the dogs nose before, and I didn't realize that this helps them recirculate air so they can recognize scents better. It really made me appreciate and (try to) understand my dog a little more.

But Yong quickly moves on to other senses. I learned that many birds (but the hummingbird especially) can see ultraviolet light. Many of the birds we see and find colorful are much more exquisite from a bird's perspective. In addition, many animals have a sense of touch, but at least one wasp species can feel with the tip of its stinger--so it knows when it hits the brain of its prey.

Bats that can "see" by echolocating and dolphins that use sonar are also very impressive. But I didn't know that a small number of blind people have figured out how to make sense of their world by echolocating as well. It made me want to try it, but even the idea was too intimidating. (It also takes many years and it might help if you're blind and more used to relying on hearing.)

Yong goes on and on, discussing electric eels, elephants, whales, and many other animals. It was fascinating and eye opening. I learned a lot, and it has made me think about the world in a different way. My only complaint is that it sometimes went a little too deep into the science that I felt could be difficult to understand.

*Nitpick - Yong mentions in a footnote that Gollum from LOTR is entirely unscientific because many animals who live in caves go blind as it is a waste of resources to keep a sense that doesn't help you. Okay, first of all, Gollum is a made up character in a fantasy series. Second, not long after calling Gollum out, Yong writes that "other animals have evolved exceptionally large eyes and wide pupils." (75) Hmmm.

"But every animal can only tap into a small fraction of reality's fullness." (5)

"But to me, the idea is wonderfully expansive. It tells us that all is not as it seems and that everything we experience is but a filtered version of everything that we could experience. It reminds us that there is light in darkness, noise in silence, richness in nothingness." (14)

"Only later did it occur to me that...their seeming interchangeability said more about my limited understanding than it did about their limited distinctions." (348)

"Idealizing a distant wilderness too often means not idealizing the environment in which we actually live, the landscape that for better or worse we call home." (353)

"Wilderness is not distant. We are continually immersed in it. It is there for us to imagine, to savor, and to protect." (353)

#18 [2023/CBR15] The Chimpanzee Whisperer by Stany Nyandwi with David Blissett

I found The Chimpanzee Whisperer: A Life of Love and Loss, Compassion and Conservation (2022) by Stany Nyandwi with David Blissett when I was browsing available audiobooks at my library to listen to on my commute. I was very lucky to stumble on a book that was perfect for me. I'm a huge admirer of Jane Goodall, and I've read at least one long biography of her life. I'm very familiar with her early research on chimpanzees in Tanzania, her efforts to improve the lives of chimps around the world, and her life-long focus on conservation. I was lucky enough to visit Tanzania back in 2018, and I thought it was a beautiful and fascinating country.  

This book is a memoir by Stany Nyandwi and his time spent with chimps in different countries throughout Africa. Stany worked at a number of chimpanzee sanctuaries that were a part of the Jane Goodall Institute. His ability to communicate with, take care of, and relate to the chimps was extraordinary. 

But there is even more to this story. Stany grew up in a hut in a village in the small African country of Burundi. Although I was familiar with Rwanda and the genocide and ethnic tensions between the Hutus and Tutsis, I did not know that this same dynamic was in Burundi as well. Stany is Hutu, and he went to work in Bujumbura as a "house boy" in rich, Tutsi households as soon as he was old enough. The work was indentured servitude at best, and was nothing like what Stany had been led to believe the work was like.

Finally, Stany was able to get a job cleaning cages at a chimp sanctuary in the city. The sanctuary had very limited means, but it was better than nothing. Stany eventually learned enough that he began to care for the chimps himself. Stany loved this job, but it wasn't without its struggles. He spent at least 6-7 hours walking to and from his village every day. And as the country got more violent, every commute became more treacherous. They were held at gunpoint and at least two sanctuary workers were murdered. Eventually it became too dangerous: the chimps were evacuated and Stany went with them. For years, he had no communication or knowledge of how his wife and children were doing. He was lonely and alone in a foreign country with only his work with the chimps as consolation. Stany later learned that his wife and children survived and he was reunited with them, but many members of his family had been brutally murdered.

Despite this tremendous trauma that could have understandably broken him, Stany continued to be a very gracious and loving person. Crediting religion for getting him away from alcohol, Stany continued to help chimps and the people around him. It really comes across in this book what a giving and forgiving person he is. 

In the end, the book shifts its focus back onto conservation, and what we can do to protect the chimpanzees and their habitats. This kind of thing always makes me feel powerless and frantic when I imagine the beauty of the world disappearing before our eyes as the billions of humans take over the last wild places. But you can give up or do the best you can with what you have. Both Stany Nyandwi and Jane Goodall are examples of people who have managed to be impactful against all odds. I'm very impressed by both of them. 

Also, so many conservation books that I read are from the point of view of Americans or Europeans. It was a nice change to see a book written by an African--to learn about his childhood, his country, and his struggles. It's impossible (and immoral) to save a country's animals, but ignore its people. This book was a fascinating glimpse into the extraordinary life of an amazing person, as well as a glimpse into a country that I had known nothing about.

#45 [2022/CBR14] The Bird Way by Jennifer Ackerman

An old college friend recommended The Bird Way (2020) by Jennifer Ackerman to me when I told him I'd gotten interested in bird watching. Paying attention to birds opened up a new world to me. I suddenly realized there were entire ecosystems busily living their lives all around me, but they were too far away to see clearly and moved too fast for me to follow. Now that I've learned a little about birds and can sometimes recognize them, it's so exciting to see what they're up to. There are apex predators (red-tailed hawks) wreaking havoc all over the place! And there are so many birds just in my backyard that are incredibly fascinating!

So, it's probably not surprising that I really enjoyed The Bird Way. I already knew that birds were amazing and incredibly diverse, but Ackerman really brings this point home. She points out that a lot of early research on birds was flawed because it was done by men in North America and Europe. They naturally focused on male birds that lived where they lived and extrapolated from there. But North America and Europe often have migratory birds with short breeding seasons, which makes for less interesting birds. If you really want to see what birds are up to, Australia is one of the best places to go. 

The book is separated into five sections: talk, work, play, love, and parent. Ackerman focuses on the most interesting outliers of birds in these categories, which highlights how different, talented, and smart birds can be. Fortunately, I was already familiar with some of the birds Ackerman discusses, but I tried to google all the others so I could have a clear visual when she was describing them.

I loved this book. I found it fascinating, informative, and easy to read. I also felt like it had a bit of a feminist bent to it. Is it possible to put, "nevertheless she persisted"  in your book by accident? Also, who knew that mallard hens have genetically conspired a way to deter drake mallards from fathering their progeny when they're not wanted. When I discovered there was a whole world of birds around me, it opened up a whole new layer to my environment. Ackerman has opened up yet another layer with this book. 

Below are some of my favorite facts of the birds in Ackerman's book.

The superb lyrebird has an incredible gift for mimicking sound, and has been recorded sounding like a chainsaw. (It's on Youtube, but most of the time these birds mimic other birds and sounds in their environment.)

Australian Magpies are super smart and about 1/3 of the males can be super aggressive when defending their nests.

Kea's are incredibly smart and curious, and it would be delightful to visit a research station with them in Australia.

Eclectus parrots have a striking difference in color between the sexes. The mothers will sometimes kill their male sons. Scientists think this might be because females are born slightly earlier and thus are more likely to survive.

The brush turkey in Australia moves literal tons of dirt and plant material into a giant, decaying mound and buries the eggs inside so they will stay the perfect temperature. The babies have to dig their way out and the adult turkey kicks them away once they reach the surface.

And then there's the mallard duck. Mallards were one of the few birds I could recognize before I got into birding and one of the few birds I often see around here. It turns out that mallard males (drakes) can be giant assholes. They go after females, singly and in groups to force copulation--sometimes so violently that the hen dies. Now, here's the crazy part. Mallard drakes have a corkscrew-shaped penis [seriously, I had to look it up and it's crazy], but mallard hens have developed corkscrew shaped genitalia that goes the opposite direction--making it more difficult for male drakes to inseminate them if they are fighting them. I never knew such crazy drama was happening right under my nose, and I feel bad for those poor mallard hens constantly being bullied and attacked.

#40 [2022/CBR14] For the Love of a Dog by Patricia B. McConnell

Since we adopted our puppy, Sadie, back in May, I've been reading a lot of books about dog training and dog behavior. I really enjoyed The Other End of the Leash by Patricia B. McConnell, so I figured I'd try another one by her: For the Love of a Dog. I listened to this one on audiobook, which is perhaps part of the reason I did not find it as memorable as The Other End of the Leash.

For the Love of a Dog discusses whether dogs (and animals) feel emotions. McConnell looks at fear, anger, surprise, sadness, love, jealousy, and anger. She compares these emotions to human emotions and shows how dogs feel them.

Fortunately, we are past the days when scientists were denying emotions in animals, but the detail McConnell takes in showing the reader how dogs think and feel was very interesting. My favorite parts of the book were when McConnell discussed specific dogs she's trained or her deep connection with her own dogs. I was a little less interested in the heavy talk about how brains work. I found it a little hard to follow--especially listening to it on audiobook.

The worst part about listening to this book instead of reading is that McConnell has an extended section on facial expressions in dogs. She describes these expressions, but it was very hard to imagine what I should be looking for from a mere description. Apparently, the paper book has pictures to show examples of each expression, which would most likely be more helpful.

We got a lesson in dog fear from poor Sadie on Thanksgiving evening. My husband and I were taking Sadie for an early evening walk when a neighborhood homeowner decided to set off some fireworks (on Thanksgiving!?!) in the street. They were very large, noisy fireworks, and Sadie freaked out. We went straight home--with her pulling like she was running for her life. And then even at home she huddled in the corner, looking up at the ceiling like it was going to attack her. She wouldn't even eat dinner (which had never happened before). It was so sad. We were able to get her to eat dinner after a couple hours, and she will now pee in the backyard before bedtime (with treats and both of us out there with her), but it was so sad. And we couldn't explain to her that she was safe.

#27 [2022/CBR14] Fuzz by Mary Roach

I've read a lot of books by Mary Roach, but I was unaware that Roach had published two new books since I'd last read anything by her. Somehow I'd missed both Grunt (2016) and Fuzz (2021) by Roach. I decided to remedy that and picked up Fuzz at the library.

Even though it's been years, I was hoping that I would still appreciate Roach's unique investigatory writing style. Where her most memorable books involved big topics like: sex, death, and space, I wasn't sure I would be as interested in: "when nature breaks the law." I read a lot of books about nature and animals, and I can be frustrated when the topic is not handled well. Fortunately, Roach created a sometimes thoughtful, sometimes funny book that was both interesting and informative.

Roach begins her book with a discussion of bears getting into trash in the alleys of Aspen. There are problem black bears around the country, but the wealth in Aspen adds an interesting dimension. Roach shadowed some of the career wildlife people whose job it is to deal with bears. Whenever you have humans and animals living in close proximity, there will always be some issues, but there are definite ways to reduce conflict. The challenging part is to get people to do what needs to be done. In Aspen, people were not securing their trash as required, and it made a significant difference. 

Roach continues on in her book to discuss elephants killing people and ruining crops, monkeys in India, leopards killing people, gulls at St. Peters, birds eating crops, and the killing of invasive species in New Zealand in order to save native species. They are all interesting topics. The difference in attitude towards animals between the United States and India was particularly interesting. In general, the United States is much less forgiving of animal trespasses, and death is quickly meted out while in other countries more care seems to be given to the animals. For instance, if an elephant kills a human, it will only be killed if it is determined that the animal acted aggressively. It is very possible for an elephant to accidentally kill a human and then nothing is done.

One other topic was controlling animal populations with birth control. I learned that the majority of wild mares in Theodore Roosevelt National Park are on birth control. I was a little surprised because I was up at that park last summer and didn't hear anything about it. 

A running theme is that with more and more humans encroaching more and more on land that has been used by wild animals that conflict is inevitable. There are no magic answers, and there will always be problems. "Meanwhile, you do what you can to reduce the heavy footfall of humanity: keep working to restore forests and set aside preserves." (66)

#26 [2022/CBR14] The Story of Your Dog by Brandon McMillan

On May 13th, my boyfriend and I officially adopted a puppy! Her name is Sadie. She's very cute and very sweet, and she's a handful. As the first dog of our adult lives, I feel a responsibility to not mess her up too much. She's signed up for some group obedience classes, but we can't get her in for almost another month. So I've been reading puppy training books and watching Youtube videos, which have been pretty helpful. It's kind of amazing to see her learn something from scratch--when she goes from confused and frustrated to understanding what I want from her.

Anyway, I was still in the mode of learning everything I can when I saw that The Story of Your Dog (2022) by Brandon McMillan was at the library as an Audiobook. It sounded right up my alley, and I was excited when it became available.

Now that I've read it, it wasn't exactly what I was expecting or hoping for. Basically, McMillan discusses generalities of different dog breeds. I did learn some things, and I found some of it interesting. However, I didn't know many of the dog breeds (especially on Audiobook without pictures), so I wasn't that interested in genetic traits of many of the breeds. In addition, many of these traits were kind of repetitive. You know, "this dog will benefit from training and exercise." Then when he got to the breeds I really wanted to learn about, there wasn't enough information to keep it interesting to me. However, I did enjoy some of the history of the breeds, which helped explain their current behaviors. McMillan also used some anecdotes from his own dogs and training, which I enjoyed, but those are a very small part of the book.

This is probably my fault for not knowing what kind of book I was picking up. Apparently there is an earlier book of McMillan's where he goes more into the basics of training, which would have been more helpful and interesting to me.

#48 [2021/CBR13] The Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnell

Back when my boyfriend and I first started talking about getting a dog, I decided I should read some books about dogs and dog training. The Other End of the Leash (2009) was a little bit older, but it looked interesting and had very positive reviews. McConnell was also the author of The Puppy Primer, that I recently read, which is a book dedicated to the specifics of training puppies. 

The Other End of the Leash discusses dog training, but it's more general. Its focus is more on the evolutionary traits of people, the evolutionary traits of dogs, and how they can work best together. I really enjoyed reading it, and I'm encouraging my boyfriend to read it before we get a dog. 

Although people and dogs have been living and working together for thousands of years, our evolution has been quite different. McConnell highlights these differences to let us know that when people do things that come naturally to us, the dogs in our lives might not understand us or they might take it the wrong way. For instance, people are used to greeting each other with eye contact and hugs. Dogs like to greet each other by sidling around each other and sniffing each other's butts. McConnell makes sure to point out that strangers towering over a dog, staring at it, walking straight towards it, and patting it on the head can be somewhat terrifying. The better way to approach a dog is to stand sideways and ignore it, letting it come to you. Not all dogs you encounter on the street want a pat on the head from a stranger. 

In addition, what comes so naturally to us when we see an adorable ball of fluff--hugging--is not natural to a dog. McConnell showed a number of pictures of people hugging dogs where the people look delighted and the dogs look like they are tolerating an uncomfortable intrusion.

McConnell also compares how people use spoken language to communicate while dogs use mostly body language. She mentions that when training your dog, you need to be very careful about the cues you use and being consistent in your language. It was very helpful to imagine our constant babbling from the dog's perspective. There are only so many words they understand and the rest is just noise that they tune out.

Finally, McConnell discusses pack dynamics and dominance. She says there is a myth that the dog owner must show dominance over the dog. She goes into a lot of detail here that's worth reading because it is complicated, but alpha dogs never pin lower dogs to the ground. Dogs flip over onto their backs voluntarily to show submission. If a dog is being corrected it's by a fast snap to the dog's cheek--something humans are way too slow to accomplish. The alpha dog is quietly authoritative. Dogs that make a lot of noise and fuss are usually juveniles and not a leader in the dog world. As dog owners, you want to be a leader, so it's best to be calm and decisive.

McConnell included a number of stories of her own dogs as well as stories of dogs she's met through her training business. This book was right up my alley. I love animal behavior and I love dogs, and I have a lot of interest in knowing what I'm doing when I finally get one.

#47 [2021/CBR13] Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald

Just over a year ago, I stumbled into birdwatching, and it has stuck with me. I feel like I've discovered  a whole new world that was right under my nose my entire life; I just wasn't looking. So, when I saw a bird on the cover of Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald on NPR's Best Books of 2020, I was eager to read it. Vesper Flights is a collection of essays by Macdonald. They all explore the connection between humans and the natural world. There are a number of references to what human beings are doing to nature. I appreciate that Macdonald is a good writer who focuses on things that I find interesting, but the essays were a little hit or miss with me. Some of them I loved, some of them I couldn't quite understand, and others I just found mildly interesting. On the whole, I prefer one comprehensive story over short stories or essays, so it was hard for me to really get into this book. However, there were moments that felt like Macdonald was once again opening up a new world for me.

"Most of all I hope my work is about a thing that seems to me of the deepest possible importance in our present-day historical moment: finding ways to recognise and love difference. The attempt to see through eyes that are not your own. To understand that your way of looking at the world is not the only one. To think what it might mean to love those that are not like you. To rejoice in the complexity of things."

Macdonald is from England, so many of her stories are based in England. The one that stuck with me the most was "The Mysterious Life of Birds Who Never Come Down." Macdonald is talking about Swifts. These are birds that I had never seen and knew nothing about. I learned that as soon as they leave the nest, they spend their entire lives in the sky. They sleep, eat, and mate in the air. When females are nesting, they fly directly into their nest without landing. Although I've been studying birds for a little bit now, I had never imagined a bird that could live so apart from the Earth, whose bed could be in the sky. Macdonald describes how swifts will gather together near sunset and rise thousands of feet in the air in a phenomenon called Vesper Flights. She not only describes this amazing spectacle but calls people to look clearly at what's happening to the Earth and what we need to do to save it. She's talking about climate change and the massive decrease in wildlife and extinction of species.

"Swifts aren't always cresting the atmospheric boundary layer at dizzying heights; most of the time they are living below it in thick and complicated air. That's where they feed and mate and bathe and drink and are. But to find out about the important things that affect their lives, they must go higher to survey the wider scene, and there communicate with others about the larger forces impinging on their realm....Not all of us need to make that climb...but as a community, surely some of us are required, by dint of flourishing life and the well-being of us all, to look clearly at the things that are so easily obscured by the everyday."

In preparing this review and reminding myself of what I read, I just saw a glowing Amazon review from someone much older and facing their mortality. It made me wonder how I would feel about this book if I revisited it in twenty, thirty, forty years. I imagine it might speak to me in a stronger way.

"Not everything fits easily into our systems of classification. The world might be, it turns out, too complicated for us to know."

#33 [2021/CBR13] The Puppy Primer by Patricia B. McConnell and Brenda Scidmore

We are getting a puppy! Well, my boyfriend and I are planning on getting a puppy. We're trying to buy a house with a yard first, and that's proving challenging. But someday. Hopefully soon. We both grew up with dogs, but this would be our first dog without parents and siblings to help take care of it. Also, I don't think my dad used the latest and greatest training techniques. For my part, I'm pretty excited, and I'm taking my future dog ownership very seriously. And that's why I bought The Puppy Primer (2010) by Patricia B. McConnell and Brenda Scidmore. So, months before we might be ready for a dog, I sat there and read the entire puppy training book. I'm sure I will have to reread everything when we finally get a dog, but it made me feel better to have some idea of what I was getting into.

The Puppy Primer was highly recommended on Amazon, so I chose it from the many dog training books out there. Because it looked like a practical resource book, I bought a hard copy, since I assumed we would be referring to it often. After reading it through, I think it will be very helpful. My boyfriend has promised to read it before we actually get a dog. The chapters in this book are divided into things you teach your puppy in the first eight weeks at home with you. The instructions are step-by-step and very detailed. For instance, sitting is one of the first things you can teach your puppy, and the book explains where to put your hand and how to move to get the puppy to do what you want. This follows with some stay, leave it, and beginning to heel commands.

In addition, there are helpful hints with potential problem areas, including house training and if your dog pees when it's excited. The book also discusses crate training and the need to start with just a couple of minutes and make it a pleasurable experience for your pup. The question I have with this is: What should I do with the puppy at night? Especially the first night? You don't want to just stick it in a crate by itself because that wouldn't be a positive experience, but I can't imagine you just take the puppy to your bed. I've found none of the books particularly clear on this point, and it may depend on your situation and your puppy, but I'd like some more explicit advice here.

Although the guidance in training will be helpful when we finally get our dog/puppy (we haven't completely decided yet), the most interesting part of the book for me was when the author described situations from both the owner's and the dog's perspective. One was when a puppy found a remote controller to chew on, and how the puppy reacted to the owner's negative reaction. 

It's too early to know how the practical training will actually go, but so far I recommend this book to others thinking about getting a puppy.

#28 [2021/CBR13] The Emotional Lives of Animals by Marc Bekoff

Ever since I read Animal Wise by Virginia Morell, I've been looking for more of the same. Morell's book was eye-opening and fascinating. I hoped I had found something similar when I saw The Emotional Lives of Animals (2008) by Marc Bekoff. With a foreword by the amazing Jane Goodall, and a topic right up my alley, I began it with high expectations. Unfortunately, I still have not found a book that rivals Animal Wise. Although I agreed with most of Bekoff's arguments, I was often frustrated by a lack of detail and discussion.

On the positive side, Bekoff seems like a kindred spirit. Not only does he live and work in Boulder (my hometown), but we both have a lot of interest in--and empathy for--all animals (humans included). I was impressed that he went against the grain as a scientist who chose not to do any experiments that harm animals. I always cringe when I read studies that involve hurting or depriving their subjects, even if the findings are interesting. I also agreed with his argument that animals feel emotions such as pain and joy, and that we should try to limit the amount of suffering we inflict on animals today.

At the end of his book, Bekoff goes over the three areas where we can make the most improvement. These include laboratory experiments, food industry, and zoos. He's not dogmatic but points out that we can reduce suffering by using fewer animals and improving conditions. In addition, zoos justify their existence by saying that they promote knowledge and conservation of the animals in their care, but there is no real evidence that people who visit zoos care more about conservation. I stumbled upon a Youtube channel, WildEarth, that livestreams jeep safaris for three to four hours every morning and evening in South Africa. Because it is live, sometimes there is not much to see, but when that happens the guides talk about the land, animal behavior, and anything else that comes to mind. Seeing animals living and surviving in the wild along with the expert information from the guides has taught me more than I would ever learn at a zoo. And now when I'm at the zoo, it is a letdown compared to seeing animals move and interact in the wild.

Bekoff has a simple request when it comes to improving animal welfare: "ask yourself, how do my current actions affect other animals, and what can I do differently to care for animals better?" (166) I think those are good questions to ask.

Now, I also found myself getting very frustrated when I read this book. This most commonly happened when I felt that Bekoff did not back up his statements or he was sloppy when using examples to prove his point. At the very least, I felt Bekoff needed more information to give some kind of context for some of the things he was saying. And instead of going into more detail where it was needed, he would repeat the same general statements over and over.

For example, Bekoff stated a number of times, "[w]hen animals express their feelings they pour out like water from a spout. Animals' emotions are raw, unfiltered, and uncontrolled. Their joy is the purest and most contagious of joys and their grief the deepest and most devastating." (19) First of all, this statement is not supported by anything in the book. Second, I would argue that it is simply not true and does a disservice to both animals and humans. Humans can have unfiltered emotions. This can easily be seen in children, but adults as well. Also, animals can be more sophisticated than simply broadcasting their every emotion to everyone and everything around them. Birds do this when they pretend they are not sick, and chimps do this when they pretend they are not excited when finding a secret food cache.

Although I one hundred percent agree that animals have emotional lives, I wasn't impressed by Bekoff's examples. He used lion anecdotes when discussing animals feeling empathy. Lions are not the first animal I think of when I think of empathy. Specifically, he said that a "lioness adopted a baby oryx, usually a lion's favored meal." Unfortunately, he included no other information. After some googling, I discovered that there was a lioness in Kenya (probably the same one, but I'm not sure) who was separating baby oryx's from their mothers. Scientists and rangers could not understand this aberrant behavior, but they usually intervened before the baby oryx starved to death. By the fifth time, they let nature take its course. The baby starved to death and the lion ate it. I think this was some kind of maternal instinct gone awry, and it is not typical or normal behavior. It did not prove his point and was frustrating in the lack of detail. Why not use examples of African wild dogs caring for injured members of their pack or even lions allosuckling their sister's cubs. Or what about the stories of dolphins protecting surfers from sharks. There are so many good examples out there, why bring up one that is atypical and doesn't really show empathy.

This kind of thing happened throughout the book, and I was consistently frustrated. Whether talking about the play behavior of dogs and then using an example where one of the dogs exhibited none of the play behavior characteristics he had just discussed, or using well-known examples from the 1960's for reasons against animal testing today, I almost always felt that there was a better example and/or I needed more information to understand the point he was trying to make. I finished rather frustrated and disappointed.

#24 [2021/CBR13] Owls of the Eastern Ice by Jonathan C. Slaght

I'm big on birds at the moment, and I was looking for a good audiobook for a road trip I was taking. Somehow I found Owls of the Eastern Ice (2020) by Jonathan C. Slaght. I'm sure I would have done a better job in remembering names and details if I'd read the book, because I can never pay as close attention with audiobooks. I liked this book. I learned a lot about wildlife biology, conservation efforts, and an owl I'd never heard of before.

I think it was for Slaght's post-graduate work that he decided to go to Eastern Russia and study the Blakiston's fish owl. This owl is the largest in the world, measuring in at a height of over two feet and a wingspan over six feet. Slaght had seen one by accident years before and he became captivated by the animal. It is an ambitious undertaking to study an animal in the winter in a very secluded part of Russia. Fortunately, Slaght spoke Russian, and he was definitely in for challenges and adventure. 

Besides acquiring funding and permission for his project, Slaght's main challenge was finding the endangered birds. Although they are huge, they also fly silently and come out in the dead of night to hunt. Slaght teamed up with local experts to help him navigate the area (often on snowmobiles) and find the birds. It was a thrill just seeing one, but his challenge for the next winter was to capture owl pairs and track them to learn their movements. This was a process fraught with trial and error. First, they couldn't catch any birds, then they had trouble with the trackers. They finally developed a process that seemed to work.

Slaght was an interesting and relatable narrator. This book was a bit of an adventure story as he made his way through an unknown (to me) world. Both the landscape and the people could be challenging. It seemed drinking was a large part of social interactions, which often caused literal headaches. There was also very little knowledge of the Blakiston's fish owl in the local population. Many of them did not know that the owl is endangered and either didn't know or didn't care that they shouldn't be killing them. Slaght also described a slaughter of native deer when the snow got too high for them to travel on anything but the roads. On the one hand, the local population needed the food. On the other hand, what they are doing is not sustainable and will harm them in the end.

I love animals, nature, and wildlife, but I've always preferred a hands-off approach--even if that limits how much you can learn. I remember an article I read about biologists studying elk calves. (I think I'm remembering this correctly, but it was a long time ago). They were darting the calves, doing various tests, and then leaving them where they found them to recover. What they didn't immediately realize is that eagles were picking off the elk calves when they were still vulnerable from the darting process to the detriment of the elk population. Sometimes humans go charging into "nature" with high ideals and end up doing a lot more harm than good. I also think that humans can be so focused on discovering something new that they don't necessarily care about what it's doing to the animal--especially the effect it's having on those individuals they interact with.

I have to admit that I was inwardly cringing when Slaght described the chaos surrounding the capture of some of the owls. At best, it was a harrowing experience for the owl that could possibly change its nesting and eating habits. At worst, one of the owls was soaked in the process, forcing them to keep it overnight. If it had been nesting, the endangered chicks would have died from cold. In addition, the first trackers were put on with harnesses. When they recaptured the birds to get the information, the birds had destroyed or worked their way out of most of them. So, not only did they have to capture the owls multiple times, but they didn't get any information, and the harnesses were obviously an annoyance or distraction because of the effort the owls took to get out of them. 

In the end Slaght was able to track the owls more efficiently and mapped their territories, which will hopefully help agencies conserve the watersheds where the owls hunt and live. I do not know enough to know whether the information Slaght gained from his research was worth the harassment of the birds. It seems that he was able to gather heretofore unknown data that would be difficult or impossible to otherwise find in those conditions. I appreciate how much you can learn by tracking, and I feel like my position may be more on the fringe, idealistic side. However, I would prefer to learn the most we can in a noninvasive way whenever possible.

Finally, I feel like there was one missed opportunity with the audiobook. Slaght goes into great detail describing the mating call of the Blakiston's fish owl as well as describing the process in recording that call. But he didn't include it in the audiobook! I was waiting and hoping to hear it for myself. It would have been a great opportunity to creatively get the most out of the different medium.

#47 [2020/CBR12] "The Soul of an Octopus" by Sy Montgomery

I love animals, I love learning about animals, and I love reading books about animals. My main interests are animal behavior and animal intelligence. One of my favorite and most illuminating books on this subject was Animal Wise (2013) by Virginia Morell. Morell went into detail about some of the amazing, often unknown, talents of animals from ants to rats to birds. I have looked for similar books since and found nothing quite like it. 

So I was pretty excited when I discovered The Soul of an Octopus (2015) by Sy Montgomery. Not only was it a finalist for the National Book Award for nonfiction, but octopuses are incredibly interesting. I had just watched My Octopus Teacher on Netflix, which had some stunning footage of a wild octopus in the ocean. Unfortunately, this book did not live up to my expectations. It was not what I had expected, and it turned out to be a frustrating experience.

I was hoping to learn about how octopuses live, how their odd bodies worked, and read observations of how smart they were. Instead, The Soul of an Octopus is more the story of a woman who visited an aquarium in New England. The aquarium houses four octopuses in quick succession: Athena, Octavia, Kali, and Karma. Montgomery is able to go behind the scenes and interact with them. Later she learns how to scuba dive and is able to see some wild octopuses in the ocean.

My main problem with The Soul of an Octopus is that I didn't feel like I learned very much. Montgomery's interactions with the octopuses were pretty repetitive. She'd stick her hands in the water and the octopus would come up and explore her. There was some scientific talk about how their bodies worked, but it wasn't written in a very approachable way. Much of the information presented was asked as a question. Could the octopus know Montgomery was in pain by touching her? Can octopuses communicate between their arms without it going through their heads? Do octopuses not like smokers? If Montgomery had answered these questions, I would have been more satisfied. I'm not sure if the problem is that there simply isn't much known about octopuses or that Montgomery chose not to include more science in the book.

Once Montgomery went off on a tangent describing how an octopus was seen keeping a number of crabs together in front of it. She said that octopus ink blocks oxytocin, and then she somehow made the connection that their ink would help to subdue crabs. But octopuses use ink to aid in their escape, was the octopus with the crabs even using its ink? And blocking the "cuddle" emotion is not going to make crabs more pliable. It just doesn't make sense and she was guessing anyway. And even her fellow workers at the aquarium said she was reading into things.

One recurring issue I found was the question of keeping these incredible animals captive. One sentence, Montgomery was saying how incredibly sensitive and intelligent these animals were. But then she described that, "[p]revious octopuses, who had all come as young pups, had lived behind the scenes in tanks or barrels that were completely barren." (44) These octopuses couldn't even change color because they had so little stimulation. Montgomery kept talking about how meaningful touching an octopus was for her, but I just wondered how different the confined octopuses might be if allowed to reach their full potential.

Octopuses don't live very long--even the largest species only three to four years. But the octopuses didn't exactly fair well at the aquarium. Octavia was around long enough to lay thousands of eggs. But she was barren because she never had the opportunity to mate. Montgomery wrote this as a beautiful thing instead of something tragic. "[F]or many months, Octavia's constant attentions to her eggs were rituals rich and full of meaning." (235) But then when Octavia was old and near death, they moved her from the better-sized display aquarium to the small barrel in order to make room for the younger octopus. Montgomery decided that Octavia felt safer in the barrel, but that seemed to be based more on her own wishes than anything objective. It seemed that a different aquarium on the west coast was able to balance the needs of the octopuses better. They would introduce a male and female octopus on Valentine's Day and then release the female into the ocean, so she could lay fertilized eggs and die in a more natural way.

Kali was another octopus that did not fare well at the aquarium. She seemed to be very inquisitive and energetic, but because Octavia did not die as quickly as expected, they had nowhere to put her but that small, barren barrel. So for months, this incredibly intelligent animal was stuck with almost no stimulation besides some visits from humans and feedings. When she was finally moved to a bigger cage, she escaped her very first night, squeezing her body through a tiny opening and dying on the floor of the aquarium. 

I don't doubt that Montgomery and the workers and volunteers loved and cared about the octopuses in their care. However, Montgomery seemed too ready to defend capturing these animals without critically thinking about how it affected them--or even what better conditions might have done for them. I would have liked at least a more nuanced discussion on the subject. I'd say that Kali, at least, made her preference for freedom known.

Note: I read this book on Kindle, so the pictures were not of the best quality. I'm sure seeing the pictures in the printed book would have helped.

#35 [2018/CBR10] "Birds of a Feather" by Lorin Lindner (with Elizabeth Butler-Witter)

I am a sucker for animals. So, even though I don't have any, I was immediately drawn to the cover of Birds of a Feather (2018) by Lorin Lindner. Now, birds are not my favorite, but when you look a little deeper, they are smart and fascinating creatures. Since they often live in very complex, social societies, they can relate to humans in surprising ways. And they can talk to us! I'd already read Alex & Me by Irene Pepperberg, and I was willing to read more about parrots. When I looked closer, I saw that Lindner's book was both about saving parrots as well as helping homeless veterans. My job quite often requires dealing with the homeless and addicted, which is usually sad and frustrating. I wanted to read what Lindner had done to help them.

Lindner wasn't planning on getting a bird, but when an acquaintance called to tell her that a bright-pink Moluccan Cockatoo was found screaming, alone in an empty house with no food, she adopted him. At the same time, Lindner was working at the L.A. Veterans Healthcare Center. She ran into countless homeless veterans on the street that were not getting any services. In fact, the Veterans Administration stated that there weren't any homeless veterans.

With small steps, dedication, and a lot of hard work, Lindner was able to intertwine her suddenly growing bird sanctuary with help for homeless veterans. She founded Serenity Park on the grounds of the LA Veterans Healthcare Center. The birds came from all over, and willing veterans helped to care for them. The birds were often traumatized and difficult--requiring a lot of care. But they were also social and non-judgmental. Not only did working at Serenity Park give the veterans something useful and fulfilling to do, but the parrots often became important companions. Lindner is honest in saying that this sometimes wasn't enough, and not everyone pulled through. But it did help a number of ex-soldiers.

This book was written in a very clear, straightforward manner. It was easy to read and consistently interesting. The writing isn't anything special, but I admired Lindner's dedication to helping those less fortunate around her. I think I am pretty sensitive, so I have a very hard time seeing any thing suffer. Lindner seemed to have a similar personality, but unlike me, she did something about it and had a significant impact on many lives. After finishing this book, I definitely did not want a parrot as a pet, but I had even more respect for them as intelligent animals. If you have any interest in them, I would recommend  the documentary The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. I also found Petra the African Grey on Youtube, and she is pretty entertaining.

#37 [2017/CBR9] "Pax" by Sara Pennypacker and ill. by Jon Klassen

Pax by Sara Pennypacker is a young adult novel geared for kids aged eight to twelve. I first saw it on NPR's Best Books of 2016 List, but it is also on the National Book Award Long List. I often enjoy young adult novels because they have a sweet simplicity that is appealing. I also enjoyed reading Pax.

Peter is twelve years old and has been living with his dad and caring for his pet fox, Pax, for five years. He found Pax as a kit and the two are inseparable. Pax is fully tame and devoted to his human. But Peter's father has enlisted in the army, and Peter has to go live with his grandfather. On the way there, Peter's father stops the car, and says they have to leave Pax because Peter's grandfather can't handle a kid and a fox. Peter tricks Pax by playing fetch, and Peter and his father drive away, leaving Pax behind. I can't imagine anyone getting through this part of the book without crying.

At his grandfather's house, Peter is haunted at how he left Pax. He knows that Pax can't survive on his own and decides to head out and go find him. Unfortunately for Peter, his plans quickly go awry, and after a number of mishaps, he ends up breaking his leg and crawling into a barn for shelter. He is awoken by Vola, an intimidating veteran from another war who is missing a leg. She has her own issues from her war, and uses her isolated home to hide away. Vola and Peter help each other out, as Peter heals physically and Peter draws Vola out using her own rules.

Pennypacker alternates the point of view between Peter and Pax. One remarkable thing I found about this book was how realistic Pennypacker makes Pax and the other foxes in the story. Although she has them speaking English, they still feel like genuine animals.

I was also not expecting that war would be a major plot point in this book. Vola is affected by war, war tears Peter from his father and Pax, and war threatens Pax and Peter later in the story. "And why didn't anyone count those things? 'People should tell the truth about what war costs.' Vola had said. Weren't those things the costs of war, too?" (250) I appreciated that the element and costs of war added a lot to this story. However, the author makes this an unnamed war in an unnamed place, and I found it distracting. This may not be much of an issue for the intended age range, but I wanted to know where this was happening. I was curious where this war was that took over Peter's old neighborhood so quickly. I would have liked it to be grounded in a real place and real circumstances.

This book was much more than I expected. I love animals, and I love the way Pennypacker portrayed Pax in this story. I also appreciated the complexities that came with the war and Peter dealing with the loss of his mother.

#44 [2016/CBR8] "Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?" by Frans de Waal

My unerring interest in animal behavior sometimes has me wondering whether I should have become a wildlife biologist. If I were only braver and smarter, maybe I could have been a new Jane Goodall, spending my life in the woods and learning about a completely different species. But my interests are never persistent or steady enough to commit to anything like that. So I have to satisfy this interest with some occasional reading. I recently read Animal Wise by Virginia Morell, which I found both eye-opening and fascinating. When I saw that a similar book, Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? (2016) by Frans de Waal, had just come out, I immediately looked it up at my library.

Frans de Waal covers a lot of the same ground that Morell hits in Animal Wise, so I didn't find it quite as miraculous as I might have if the information were new. The biggest difference between the two books, however, was the focus. Morell's book was more layperson friendly, with each chapter devoted to a specific animal and the amazing things they're learning about that animal. It was full of detailed descriptions of various scientific studies that show how we're increasing our knowledge about lives that are so different from our own that it's hard to comprehend.

On the other hand, de Waal spends a lot of time discussing the various ideologies surrounding the science of animal behavior. "This overview is obviously incomplete, but my main objective is to convey enthusiasm for evolutionary cognition and to illustrate how it has grown into a respectable science based on rigorous observations and experiments." (324) Often, it felt like the book was written to argue with his fellow scientists about what to call his discipline. Since I was just looking for interesting stories about animal intelligence, I found this very frustrating and almost gave up after the first chapter. [Although it continued through the rest of the book, once de Waal laid down the framework, it wasn't quite as pervasive.] However, even when he got to talking about animals, I wish he had gone into more detail about the studies, how they were executed, and how the animals performed.

One of the most memorable lessons from both books was that animal cognition is less of a hierarchy with humans at the top, than something like a bush. Animals have specialized strengths that vary so drastically, that even when comprehensible, it is impossible to say which is objectively better. Another memorable lesson is that throughout history, mankind's homosapien-centric views color their findings in ridiculous ways. In fact, the need to shout human supremacy before anything else gets in the way of a lot of research. Scientists declared that chimpanzees were bad at facial recognition, which they tested by showing them headshots of humans. They said they didn't use pictures of chimps in their study because chimps look too much alike. Needless to say, when pictures of chimps were used, the chimpanzees, as a complex, social animal, easily showed they were adept at facial recognition. The chimps could also tell which chimps were related to each other from pictures--even chimps they had never known. And now we know that even the octopus can recognize different human faces.

I agreed with de Waal's opinion that in order to study animals, you need to first spend thousands of hours studying them in their natural habitat. You can't run into a lab with an animal you know very little about and come up with useful and meaningful studies. The animals need to be humanely treated and not stressed out, too, both for ethical reasons, and for achieving accurate results regarding their behavior. I would prefer to keep animals out of labs all together, but I appreciate that de Waal cared about the lives of his subjects.

Although I preferred Morell's book to this one, and I could have done without a lot of the detail on the scientific bickering about terminology, he was still discussing one of my favorite subjects. I hope they keep publishing these kinds of books because I am looking forward to what the next discoveries may be.