An important book for conservationists, land-use planners, and environmental activists.
A keystone ecosystem provides lessons in how we can save the world from ourselves.
Sinclair, a professor emeritus of zoology at the University of British Columbia, has made a lifetime study of the Serengeti, the vast East African ecosystem that contains an unrestrained river, expansive grasslands, and low-growing forests. Inside of this ecosystem, one of the few in the world that is nearly unchanged from Pleistocene times, there is an astonishing diversity of plant and animal life as well as massive migrations of herbivore species such as wildebeest, to say nothing of elephants, buffalos, zebras, and other creatures. As Sinclair notes, the Serengeti has more large-mammal species than any other place on the planet and nearly as many bird species as can be found in all of Europe. From his studies of the interaction of species and their environment, the author discerns seven principles of regulation that help explain how the place works: “the rules that produced the unique features of the great Serengeti ecosystem and allowed it to persist.” One of the most vexing of these principles to figure out was how animal populations grew to optimal size and, for the most part, remained at that size over generations, disproving Malthusian demographics. The mechanisms that regulate population size are bottom-up, dependent on food supply, and top-down, dependent on predators; in healthy operation, they work out so that each birth is accompanied by a death, assuring stability. Ironically, writes Sinclair, just as this nearly untrammeled ecosystem has lasted for so long without significant damage, the government of Kenya, for one, has big plans, including damming the major river and building roads on the Serengeti plains. Both are guaranteed, by Sinclair’s lights, to introduce untoward levels of disturbance and disrupt this natural regulation. The principles he outlines, including the maintenance of large areas of natural habitat and a diverse population, are essential to “rewilding” natural ecosystems throughout the world.
An important book for conservationists, land-use planners, and environmental activists.Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-691-22233-2
Page Count: 232
Publisher: Princeton Univ.
Review Posted Online: Aug. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A charming, thoughtful pleasure for any animal lover.
A celebration of animal companions, mammalian, reptilian, avian, and otherwise.
The Ulysses S. Cat of NPR commentator Simon’s title was a “chunky orange Scottish Fold with endearing floppy ears and a broad, flat face that looked…as if he had been running full steam after a mouse when a door opened and…splat!” He may not have been the most photogenic of critters, but he was a steadfast companion to Simon’s mother and stepfather as the latter suffered illness and death. Other creatures populate Simon’s pages: a betta named Salman Fishdie, a grasshopper named Hoppy, many dogs and cats. Simon ranges widely to collect his stories; among the most affecting is a portrait of the people of Sarajevo under siege by Serbian forces, punctuated by an impatient colleague’s saying to Simon, “I do not want to get shot while doing a fucking pet story.” A good point, that, but Simon is emboldened and moved by the Sarajevans’ and U.N. soldiers’ care for pets displaced from their homes. “In making room for animals at the lowest times of their lives,” he writes, “Sarajevo showed the world real humanitarian aid.” In a somewhat lighter turn, Simon voices the hope that the afterlife will involve meeting again with all the animals and people we have loved, with no hard distinction drawn between birds, dogs, cats, turtles, and other beloved animal companions and other members of one’s family, biological and elective. While recognizing that animals make us better humans, holding unconditional love but eschewing grudges, Simon also decries the misuse of animals, particularly in laboratory settings where other modeling methods can be used that do not visit pain and death on such creatures as chimpanzees and white rats. Writes Simon, meaningfully, “Someday, I’m pretty sure we’ll look back on our use of animals in this way as something brutal.” Amen.
A charming, thoughtful pleasure for any animal lover.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9781324117186
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
PERSPECTIVES
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