A rich and surprising alternative vision of the past.
Siblings Will and Alice Shin present a survey of world history from the perspective of creatures great and small.
This historical survey by the Shin siblings, written by Will and illustrated by Alice, is difficult to parse at the outset. The opening refers to “the god” and describes evolution as “not a blessing at all, but an unavoidable curse meant to keep all creatures from ever defying the divine again,” but it soon becomes clear that Shin intends the work as a humorous but occasionally thought-provoking alternative take on the past. Shin organizes the book into different eras, including the Age of Settlement, the Age of Migration, and the Age of Espionage, employing funny illustrations that recall early web-based works, such as Ryan North’s Dinosaur Comics. In each age, Shin traces shifts in how humans and animals interact. In the Age of Settlement and Agriculture, for example, humans began taming other animals, and the wolf quietly took the lead in gathering intelligence on their activities: “The wolf…secretly met with the sheep, goats and pigs living close to humans.” By the Axial Age, humans tackled big questions in a way that they never had before: “Until then, humans understood the world through old myths…and when they wondered who they were or where they should go, they looked to nature and animals for answers. But around this time, humans—for the first time—began turning those questions towards themselves.” As religion develops, the animals begin studying human books, which creates a playful reversal of perspective.
The book has plenty of one-liners: “It is said that the Tyrannosaurus Rex—known simply as T. rex—read so many books that its arms grew short and, in time, it even began to wear glasses.” The author handles the collapse of dinosaur civilization with humor and sharp social observation, blaming it on natural forces, such as volcanoes and carbon dioxide, as well as on economic mismanagement: The dinosaurs, Shin writes, “taxed the goods made by those who looked different from themselves, while printing piles of money to give to those who looked the same.” The author repeatedly uses the style of myths for more elaborate bits, as when gossip destroys an alliance between the woolly mammoth and the saber-toothed tiger. Other stories place animals in the present day, as in a tale of mice, cast out of the animals’ world and huddled in secret compartments in human homes, using the power of prayer. Although the book is consistently funny, there’s an elegiac edge in the later chapters, including those set in the modern era—the Age of Withdrawal—when some animals “began quietly seeking out those among humans with delicate hearts and free spirits, those who valued the order of nature over the advance of technology.” The book recalls John Hodgman’s TheAreas of My Expertise(2005)in that readers can enjoy its sections at random for a bit of fun, but reading it from start to finish offers its own rewards.
A rich and surprising alternative vision of the past.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2025
ISBN: 9798999760012
Page Count: 217
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: yesterday
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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 heartwarming and inspiring story for animal lovers.
The third volume in the Elephant Whisperer series.
In this follow-up to An Elephant in My Kitchen, Malby-Anthony continues her loving portrait of the Thula Thula wildlife reserve, which she co-founded in 1998 with her late husband, South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony, who published the first book in the series, The Elephant Whisperer, in 2009. Following his death in 2012, Malby-Anthony sought to honor his legacy by continuing his vision “to create a massive conservancy in Zululand, incorporating our land and other small farms and community land into one great big game park.” At the same time, the elephants gave her “a sense of purpose and direction.” In the Zulu language, thula means quiet, and though the author consistently seeks to provide that calm to her charges, peace and tranquility are not always easy to come by at Thula Thula. In this installment, Malby-Anthony discusses many of the challenges faced by her and her staff, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic. These included an aggressive, 2-ton rhino named Thabo; the profound loss felt by all upon the death of their elephant matriarch, Frankie; difficulty obtaining permits and the related risk of having to relocate or cull some of their animals; the fear of looting and fire due to civil unrest in the region; and the ongoing and potentially deadly struggles with poachers. Throughout, the author also shares many warm, lighthearted moments, demonstrating the deep bond felt among the humans and animals at the reserve and the powerful effects of the kindness of strangers. “We are all working in unity for the greater good, for the betterment of Thula Thula and all our wildlife….We are humbled by the generosity and love, both from our guests and friends, and from strangers all around the world,” writes the author. “People’s open-hearted support kept us alive in the darkest times.”
A heartwarming and inspiring story for animal lovers.Pub Date: April 25, 2023
ISBN: 9781250284259
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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