Book Reviews
Insects and the people who love them: A review of “A Buzz in the Meadow”
In A Buzz in the Meadow: The Natural History of a French Farm by Dave Goulson, insects are given the respect they are due. For it is insects, in all …
Book Review: The Soul of All Living Creatures by Vint Virga
Vint Virga’s The Soul of All Living Creatures: What Animals Can Teach Us About Being Human opens with a quote from Hippocrates: “The soul is the same in all living …
The Best American Science and Nature Writing, 2014
Once a year, courtesy of Houghton Mifflin, we get to be wowed, disgusted, depressed, amazed, revolted, terrified, and sometimes even amused with the publication of The Best American Science and …
Book Review: The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim by E.K. Johnston
Imagine a world that is just like our own—same countries, same technologies, same history—but with one major difference: dragons. The dragons in The Story of Owen don’t limit themselves to …
Review of The Eye of the Whale by Jennifer O’Connell
A humpback whale is tangled in hundreds of yards of crab-trap lines. She can’t get free. She can barely keep her blowhole above water to breathe. The whale has been …
Book Review: Mikis and the Donkey by Bibi Dumon Tak
“Mikis stroked the donkey’s ears. It was six feet from the bottom of the ears to their very tip…and then six feet all the way back down again. Well, that’s …
Book Review: Invisible Beasts by Sharona Muir
Sharona Muir’s Invisible Beasts is an absolute delight, and not only for animal lovers. This smart, whimsical novel takes readers not only into a world of “invisible beasts” but into …
Book Review: We Are All Crew by Bill Landauer
I have to make a confession. In writing circles, there are certain types of books one is supposed to hold dearer than all others. Important books. Literary books. Books that …
The Chain picks up where The Jungle leaves off
The Chain: Farm, Factory, and the Fate of Our Food, by Ted Genoways, is an important work of reporting. Based on years of interviews and tireless research, the book spans the length …
Book Review: Deep River Burning by Donelle Dreese
“Memory is an unfolding force tucked away in the leaves of summer trees. With the slightest breeze of provocation, memories stir and reveal themselves, become more wide open and exposed. …