A short but powerful religious treatise on animal rights.
A Christianity-infused call for greater respect for the natural world.
Echols patterns this brief, meditative tract about having more “reverence for life” on the writings and broader ethos of Albert Schweitzer, who coined that phrase. The debut author specifically condemns humankind’s arrogance, citing its self-centeredness as the main stumbling block to connection with the world’s other living creatures: “Our anthropocentrism,” he writes, “our unflagging yet highly dubious and injurious belief that the human animal is somehow more deserving than other life forms, is causing great harm to and often the untold deaths of countless other animals, species, and their habitats.” Alluding often to Schweitzer’s writings, the author offers a series of wildlife-related prayers and meditations on biblical passages, reflecting always on the welfare of nonhuman animals—which were created, he says, so that they might live “free from human domination and devastation, able to enjoy their lives to the fullest extent.” As Echols takes readers through these reflections, culminating in an itemized list of the most prominent industries that engage in animal abuse, he regularly notes the key sentiment of Schweitzer’s work—the assertion of solidarity between humans and all other forms of life on Earth. The prose throughout this book is clear and ringingly compassionate, steadfastly drawing a one-to-one link between Christian thought and a wide-spectrum empathy for other animals. The author’s persistent casting of his calls to action as Christian prayers makes his target audience clear, but his broader claims, particularly regarding the independence of nonhuman animals—their innate value, apart from their utility to humans—are so stirringly put that they may also appeal to secular readers and those of other faith traditions.
A short but powerful religious treatise on animal rights.Pub Date: July 31, 2024
ISBN: 9798350956863
Page Count: 118
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: April 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
A familiar format, but a timely reminder that cities are made up of individuals, each with their own stories.
Portraits in a post-pandemic world.
After the Covid-19 lockdowns left New York City’s streets empty, many claimed that the city was “gone forever.” It was those words that inspired Stanton, whose previous collections include Humans of New York (2013), Humans of New York: Stories (2015), and Humans (2020), to return to the well once more for a new love letter to the city’s humanity and diversity. Beautifully laid out in hardcover with crisp, bright images, each portrait of a New Yorker is accompanied by sparse but potent quotes from Stanton’s interviews with his subjects. Early in the book, the author sequences three portraits—a couple laughing, then looking serious, then the woman with tears in her eyes—as they recount the arc of their relationship, transforming each emotional beat of their story into an affecting visual narrative. In another, an unhoused man sits on the street, his husky eating out of his hand. The caption: “I’m a late bloomer.” Though the pandemic isn’t mentioned often, Stanton focuses much of the book on optimistic stories of the post-pandemic era. Among the most notable profiles is Myles Smutney, founder of the Free Store Project, whose story of reclaiming boarded‑up buildings during the lockdowns speaks to the city’s resilience. In reusing the same formula from his previous books, the author confirms his thesis: New York isn’t going anywhere. As he writes in his lyrical prologue, “Just as one might dive among coral reefs to marvel at nature, one can come to New York City to marvel at humanity.” The book’s optimism paints New York as a city where diverse lives converge in moments of beauty, joy, and collective hope.
A familiar format, but a timely reminder that cities are made up of individuals, each with their own stories.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781250277589
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
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