It has always seemed to me that humans underestimate the abilities—and particularly the conscious lives—of non-human animals. We, humans, are not apart from (and above) but live in a continuum of consciousness with the rest of life. All these books share stories of relationships between human and non-human animals. They make clear that we are connected to and part of all life on Earth. We are all in this together, and we better take good care of our shared natural living world.
I wrote...
Natural Religion: A None's Journey of Religious Discovery
The through line of this book follows Safina’s efforts to raise an abandoned owlet, not as a pet but a wild owl. He succeeded.
His owl, Alfie, mated with a wild owl and raised three heathy owlet “grandchildren.” Interwoven into this story is Safina’s thinking about life on earth and the importance of human connection to the rest of life. He is sharply critical of Plato’s elevation of the realm of ideas over the material world and the Christian uptake of Plato. He finds himself more in sympathy with indigenous views.
He writes, “Some see a Universe dead and meaningless. Some have faith in divine interventions. Neither appears true to me…I see no need to choose between believing in a material world and embracing a spiritual world. It seems more a matter of…understanding that relationships create meaning. Alone, we could never have become. We are everything but alone. Indeed, we are everything.”
When ecologist Carl Safina and his wife, Patricia, took in a near-death baby owl, they expected that, like other wild orphans they'd rescued, she'd be a temporary presence. But Alfie's feathers were not growing correctly, requiring prolonged care. And soon Carl and Patricia began to realise that the healing was mutual.
Alfie & Me is the story of the remarkable impact this little owl would have on their lives. The continuing bond of trust following her freedom-and her raising of her own wild brood-drew Carl and Patricia across the boundary into Alfie's world, allowing them a view of existence from…
Godfrey-Smith is a philosopher, but also an avid diver.
This is an engaging and readable philosophical examination of the mind of a very different kind of creature, an octopus. He grounds his thoughts both in his many diving interactions with octopuses and in what we know of the evolution of life—and mind—on Earth.
'Brilliant' Guardian
'Fascinating and often delightful' The Times
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2017 ROYAL SOCIETY SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE
What if intelligent life on Earth evolved not once, but twice? The octopus is the closest we will come to meeting an intelligent alien. What can we learn from the encounter?
In Other Minds, Peter Godfrey-Smith, a distinguished philosopher of science and a skilled scuba diver, tells a bold new story of how nature became aware of itself - a story that largely occurs in the ocean, where animals first appeared.
Tracking the mind's fitful development from unruly clumps of seaborne cells to…
Pathways to Inner Peace offers the light of hope to a world often overwhelmed by stress, disconnection, and uncertainty.
This inspiring and accessible guide blends scientific insight with spiritual wisdom in a comprehensive approach to help readers cultivate greater emotional resilience and hope. The book takes readers on a transformational…
Forced by COVID to live solitary, the author ends up rescuing a baby hare and raising it to be wild, not a pet.
Growing up with her in her converted barn, her hare stays connected to the wild world beyond, but also to her human home. Mating with wild hares, Dalton’s hare has several litters, one in the human home itself.
THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024 A TIMES and SPECTATOR BEST BOOK OF 2024 A WATERSTONES BEST NATURE WRITING BOOK OF 2024 A BOOKSHOP.ORG NATURAL HISTORY GIFT BOOK 2024
'A beautiful book' - ANGELINA JOLIE 'A glorious book - for its warmth, its precision, its joy' - KATHERINE RUNDELL 'I will be recommending this to everyone' - MATT HAIG
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Imagine you could hold a baby hare and bottle-feed it. Imagine that it lived under your roof and lolloped around your bedroom at night, drumming on the duvet cover when it wanted your…
The author shares the details of a relationship she developed with a wild fox living near her home in the Montana mountains.
It is a beautiful evocation of the interface between the human and wild worlds. The fox would join her each afternoon, and she would read The Little Prince to him. They played games; she gave the fox eggs to eat, but he would hide them for her to find.
Fox’s tragic end emphasizes the challenges at the intersection of wildness and human civilization.
Winner of the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award * 2022 Nautilus Book Awards Gold Winner * Shortlisted for the John Burroughs Medal * Finalist for the Stubbendieck Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize * Shortlisted for a Reading the West Book Award
A Christian Science Monitor Best Book of the Year * 2021 Summer Reading Pick by BUZZFEED * NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW * KIRKUS * TIME MAGAZINE * GOOD MORNING AMERICA * PEOPLE MAGAZINE * THE WASHINGTON POST
“The book everyone will be talking about … full of tenderness and understanding.”―The New York…
This memoir chronicles the lives of three generations of women with a passion for reading, writing, and travel. The story begins in 1992 in an unfinished attic in Brooklyn as the author reads a notebook written by her grandmother nearly 100 years earlier. This sets her on a 30-year search…
This book shares the story of a magpie, “George,” that Frieda Hughes rescued.
George lived in both his human world and the wild world beyond. George liked to play games with his human “friends.” In one such game, he would fly down and bounce off a human’s head—endearing to some, petrifying to others. He would also play hide-and-seek with various items.
After months living between human and wild worlds, George disappeared, emotionally wrenching and life-changing for Hughes.
“Poignant and funny...a passionate book about unconditional love and commitment.” —The Washington Post * “Captivating.” —Associated Press * “Rich with imagery...It's impossible not to be smitten.” —Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
From poet and painter Frieda Hughes, an intimate, charming, and humorous memoir recounting her experience rescuing and raising an abandoned baby magpie in the Welsh countryside.
When Frieda Hughes moved to a ramshackle estate in the wilds of Wales, she was expecting to take on a few projects: planting a garden, painting, writing her poetry column for The Times (London), and possibly even breathing new life into her ailing marriage. But…
I grew up without any religious affiliation or church membership—a “none.” This book is the story of my discovery of my grandfather’s approach to religion, an approach that was new and appealing to me. Earl Clement Davis (1876-1953), a Unitarian minister from 1905 to 1953, denied any supernatural sources for, or elements of religion; he was an enthusiastic advocate for science and technology.
He argued against all authoritarian forms of governance—religious and civil. He lived in the wake of Darwin and believed in the power of life on Earth to develop and pursue truth, beauty, and goodness, to make the world better. God is life, he said.
Germany 1938. Herman watches in horror as his cousin is arrested. As a Jew, he realizes he must flee Germany, a decision that catapults him into a life changed forever by the gathering storm of world events.
Part coming-of-age fiction, part immigrant tale, part military adventure, Immigrant Soldier follows Herman’s…
Robert Widders served in the Navy, Army, and RAF: He joined the Navy at the age of 15, then went on to serve in Cold War naval missions, Naval Intelligence in Northern Ireland, a Tank Regiment in West Germany during the Cold War, and an RAF War Hospital during the…
