A well-written tribute to a creature whose struggle to survive is one of many calls to action to save our ailing planet.
The story of a polar bear cub named Nora reveals the complex relationship among humans, animals, and the world we share.
Polar bears have long symbolized the “wild north,” a habitat that has steadily eroded due to global warming—and which is currently in critical danger. As Oregonian reporter Williams shows, polar bears have “become the sad-eyed face of climate change…represent[ing] the damage humans have done to the earth.” In this eye-opening book, the author brings us deeply into the life of Nora, who was raised by a group of compassionate human “moms” after being abandoned by her mother in captivity at the Columbus Zoo. Few readers will be able to resist the charms of this feisty and strong-willed cub. Of course, writes Williams, that is exactly the point: Big, lovable animals like polar bears are adorable ambassadors for their species and habitats, and by connecting them with humans, it gives the public a reason to care about their welfare. However, this interplay touches on two major conflicts, the causes and effects of climate change and the role of zoos: “Are zoos helping animals or hurting them?” Williams deftly navigates these tricky subjects, chronicling the lives of the Indigenous people inhabiting a melting landscape in the far north and the expert team of animal handlers responsible for Nora’s upbringing. The author weaves these topics together through tales of challenge and triumph, letting the characters and the science demonstrate how much is at stake. Even though the warming planet has little to offer in the way of good news, Williams never loses hope that things can change and that humans can improve their behavior toward animals. “Their stories have power,” he writes of animal ambassadors, a pronouncement that his compelling book bears out.
A well-written tribute to a creature whose struggle to survive is one of many calls to action to save our ailing planet.Pub Date: March 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-984826-33-6
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2021
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.
A charming bird journey with the bestselling author.
In his introduction to Tan’s “nature journal,” David Allen Sibley, the acclaimed ornithologist, nails the spirit of this book: a “collection of delightfully quirky, thoughtful, and personal observations of birds in sketches and words.” For years, Tan has looked out on her California backyard “paradise”—oaks, periwinkle vines, birch, Japanese maple, fuchsia shrubs—observing more than 60 species of birds, and she fashions her findings into delightful and approachable journal excerpts, accompanied by her gorgeous color sketches. As the entries—“a record of my life”—move along, the author becomes more adept at identifying and capturing them with words and pencils. Her first entry is September 16, 2017: Shortly after putting up hummingbird feeders, one of the tiny, delicate creatures landed on her hand and fed. “We have a relationship,” she writes. “I am in love.” By August 2018, her backyard “has become a menagerie of fledglings…all learning to fly.” Day by day, she has continued to learn more about the birds, their activities, and how she should relate to them; she also admits mistakes when they occur. In December 2018, she was excited to observe a Townsend’s Warbler—“Omigod! It’s looking at me. Displeased expression.” Battling pesky squirrels, Tan deployed Hot Pepper Suet to keep them away, and she deterred crows by hanging a fake one upside down. The author also declared war on outdoor cats when she learned they kill more than 1 billion birds per year. In May 2019, she notes that she spends $250 per month on beetle larvae. In June 2019, she confesses “spending more hours a day staring at birds than writing. How can I not?” Her last entry, on December 15, 2022, celebrates when an eating bird pauses, “looks and acknowledges I am there.”
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780593536131
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
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SEEN & HEARD
Alternately admiring and critical, unvarnished, and a closely detailed account of a troubled innovator.
A warts-and-all portrait of the famed techno-entrepreneur—and the warts are nearly beyond counting.
To call Elon Musk (b. 1971) “mercurial” is to undervalue the term; to call him a genius is incorrect. Instead, Musk has a gift for leveraging the genius of others in order to make things work. When they don’t, writes eminent biographer Isaacson, it’s because the notoriously headstrong Musk is so sure of himself that he charges ahead against the advice of others: “He does not like to share power.” In this sharp-edged biography, the author likens Musk to an earlier biographical subject, Steve Jobs. Given Musk’s recent political turn, born of the me-first libertarianism of the very rich, however, Henry Ford also comes to mind. What emerges clearly is that Musk, who may or may not have Asperger’s syndrome (“Empathy did not come naturally”), has nurtured several obsessions for years, apart from a passion for the letter X as both a brand and personal name. He firmly believes that “all requirements should be treated as recommendations”; that it is his destiny to make humankind a multi-planetary civilization through innovations in space travel; that government is generally an impediment and that “the thought police are gaining power”; and that “a maniacal sense of urgency” should guide his businesses. That need for speed has led to undeniable successes in beating schedules and competitors, but it has also wrought disaster: One of the most telling anecdotes in the book concerns Musk’s “demon mode” order to relocate thousands of Twitter servers from Sacramento to Portland at breakneck speed, which trashed big parts of the system for months. To judge by Isaacson’s account, that may have been by design, for Musk’s idea of creative destruction seems to mean mostly chaos.
Alternately admiring and critical, unvarnished, and a closely detailed account of a troubled innovator.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9781982181284
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
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