Holy Mōlī: Albatross and Other Ancestors
The Laysan albatross is known as Mōlī in Hawaiian. It is difficult not to speak in superlatives when describing the albatross. The bird has a wingspan longer than most humans are …
Nonfiction
Introducing The Hopper
I’m pleased to introduce the new environmental literary journal The Hopper, along with a Q&A with the founders. Tell us a bit about The Hopper and how it came to be. …
Cloak and Jaguar: Following a Cat from Desert to Courtroom
Living in Southern Oregon, we’ve followed the comings and goings of a gray wolf named OR-7. When it dipped into Northern California, it became the first documented wolf in that …
Book Review: The Penguin Lessons by Tom Michell
The Penguin Lessons is the story of a young Englishman who, on vacation in Uruguay from his teaching job at a boarding school in Argentina, rescues an oil-covered Magellanic penguin. …
Book Review: The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey is a meditative, thought-provoking book about one of our most underestimated and underappreciated animals—the wild snail—and the ways in which the natural …
Book Review: The Vegan Studies Project
Donald Watson is widely credited with having coined the term “vegan” in 1944, when he and others founded the Vegan Society. Since then, the word has become so heavily loaded with cultural and emotional …
Do Unto Animals: A Guide to Raising a More Compassionate Family
I grew up around cats, so it always struck me as odd when people didn’t understand what a cat’s purr signified. Then again, I did not grow up around cows …
The Narrow Edge
The Narrow Edge By Deborah Cramer Yale University Press, 2015. The “narrow edge” in the title of this engaging book by Deborah Cramer evokes the image of …
Flight Ways: Birds living on the dull edge of extinction
In Flight Ways: Life and Loss at the Edge of Extinction, environmental philosopher Thom van Dooren tells the stories of five species of bird: Albatross Little Penguin Indian Vulture Whooping Crane Hawaiian …
Beyond Words: The more we study animals, the smarter they get
In Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel, Carl Safina sets out on a global journey to listen to and understand animals on their terms and not ours. By the end …
Book Review: Among Wolves by Gordon Haber and Marybeth Holleman
Among Wolves begins with tragic news of Gordon Haber’s death. Haber, the legendary biologist who spent over four decades in Alaska, died the way he lived, studying wolves in the …