DEATH IS NATURAL

by Laurence Pringle ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1977

Pringle characteristically treats his natural history subjects in an ecological context, and this is an attempt to do the same with death. He begins with a particular rabbit being struck dead by a car, and then attacked by scavangers and decomposers, but this is only used as an example of how ""not a single atom is wasted."" Pringle mentions different beliefs in an afterlife, but essentially in an aside, then returns to the idea of death as a natural and ""necessary part of the continual recycling of the earth's elements."" Later chapters deal with population cycles and the need for thinning; the ""weeding out"" process of natural selection; adaptation and the extinction of species; and the interdependence of all life. With pauses to explain the concepts of genes, elements, evolution, etc., this lacks Pringle's usual direct, on-target clarity; certainly it's no competition for Zim and Bleeker's thoroughgoing primer on Life and Death (1970). But Pringle's aim is for a different, more holistic sort of understanding, and perhaps for some it will all come together.

Pub Date: April 1, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Four Winds

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1977

Categories: NONFICTION