The New York Times Book Review - Vicki Constantine Croke
In making his case, Louv deftly brings together cutting-edge science, longstanding wisdom and recent discoveries, along with wonder and humor, while never losing sight of the magic that's possible when humans and nonhumans connect…This is a book that offers hope.
Publishers Weekly
09/09/2019
In this intriguing and poetic treatise, journalist Louv (Vitamin N) argues for a “great reset” in how humans relate to the rest of the animal kingdom. Humans may feel themselves separate from other creatures, he observes, but human history and existence have always been intertwined with them, to the extent that wild animals are now adapting to urban environments. He shares stories about unexpected cross-species interactions—there’s a wonderful anecdote about an initially tense encounter between a diver and an octopus, who forge a “nonaggression pact”—and details about the varied ways animals (and even plants) have of communicating with each other—horses, he notes, have 17 facial expressions. After that, Louv turns to subjects that include therapeutic relations between humans and animals, the inability of technology to substitute for these interactions, and how to educate the next generation about having a healthier relationship to nature. Thoughtful and hopeful, Louv’s work is a stirring look at “the blurred lines that have always existed between wild and domestic, human and other than human.” Agent: Jim Levine, Levine, Greenberg, Rostan Literary. (Nov.)
From the Publisher
A game-changer.” —Psychology Today “Louv deftly brings together cutting-edge science, longstanding wisdom and recent discoveries, along with wonder and humor, while never losing sight of the magic that’s possible when humans and nonhumans connect. This is a book that offers hope.” —The New York Times Book Review “Our Wild Calling is a thoughtful, calm, reasoned book, best read at a chapter-a-day pace, allowing time to think and digest what the author has presented.” —The Associated Press "A manifesto for a new way of living in the world, the book reveals a natural tapestry too often ignored." —The Christian Science Monitor “Impassioned and compelling . . . A thoughtfully researched, poetically inspiring call to action that will resonate with a broad range of readers.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review “Louv writes of our need for immersion in nature and of how our interactions with animals can help us to save not only ourselves, but also the planet. In lyrical, sometimes mystical prose, he challenges our assumptions about how we relate to other species.” —Booklist, starred review "[An] intriguing and poetic treatise . . . Thoughtful and hopeful, Louv’s work is a stirring look at ‘the blurred lines that have always existed between wild and domestic, human and other than human.’ ” —Publishers Weekly “Looking at scientific research from a variety of experts, this is a compelling call to reestablish ties with the animal world. Strongly recommended for anyone feeling overwhelmed or spiritually bereft in today’s society."—Library Journal “Richard Louv has done it again. A remarkable book that will help everyone break away from their fixed gaze at the screens that dominate our lives and remember instead that we are animals in a world of animals.” —Bill McKibben, author of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? “These pages weave a wondrous tapestry in which we all are crucial threads. It’s a picture of our own creation, about a future we will share, a future we can strive to make worth living for.”—Carl Safina, author of the New York Times bestseller Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel “We need community with nature and communication with animals more than ever now that so many of us live in urban environments. Through many fascinating stories of human-animal interaction, Richard Louv urges us to be open-minded about animals and reposition our species inside the natural world.” —Frans de Waal, author of Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us about Ourselves “I wish I had written this book! In this deep exploration, Louv celebrates our essential connections to animals—in the wild, in the city, in our dreams, in our hearts.” —Jennifer S. Holland, author of the New York Times bestselling Unlikely Friendships series “Not just a brilliant, wise, and eloquent book, but a powerful summons to reconnect with the life all around us. Reconnecting with animals is a remedy for much of what ails modern life including loneliness and boredom.” —David W. Orr, Paul Sears Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Oberlin College “Powerful. A must-read for everyone who is concerned with the ways in which human animals are becoming increasingly alienated from nonhuman animals, with devastating results for all involved.” —Marc Bekoff, author of Rewilding Our Hearts “The timing for Our Wild Calling could not be better. Louv suggests that humans who have strong relationships with animals help their own mental health as well as possibly saving life on earth. This book is incredibly important to our future on this planet.” —Robert Bateman, artist, naturalist, and author of Robert Bateman’s Canada “Richard Louv continues to connect all of us to nature through his new book . . . A great read for all!” —Fran P. Mainella, 16th Director of the U.S. National Park Service
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2019-09-15
The renowned nature writer explores how we can find better ways to coexist with animals in the future.
In his latest, Louv (Vitamin N: The Essential Guide to a Nature-Rich Life, 2016, etc.) expands on key themes he has addressed in his previous books: specifically, how we must engage more directly and harmoniously with nature. He offers an impassioned and compelling case for establishing a sustainable bond with animals by proactively seeking to protect them. With extensive urbanization and the devastating effects of climate change driving more wild animals outside of their traditional habitats and into the cities, the urgency is greater than ever. "Wild animals, for their solitude or independence, stay a respectable distance from us," writes Louv. "How do we do the same for them? How do we protect the spaces in which other animals live and still watch them, connect with them, be with them? The point is not just to fulfill our human need for connectedness but to mindfully replace our destructive interactions—as individuals, as a society." Weaving his personal experiences into accounts of his interviews with wildlife experts, psychologists, teachers, and others, the author recounts spiritual and sometimes mind-altering or life-changing encounters with various types of wild animals. These range from dogs to cattle to birds to snakes to sea creatures (a particularly interesting section involves a diver's enigmatic meeting with a giant octopus). Louv offers glimpses of how animals can effectively communicate with their own species and remarkable examples of cross-species interactions. He further considers how interactions with animals can be therapeutic, both physically and mentally, including our increasing dependency on support animals and evidence of how animal-assisted therapy can benefit autistic children. By understanding how to effectively connect with the animal world, argues the author, we will not only reduce human and animal loneliness; ideally, we could find the key to our survival on this planet.
A thoughtfully researched, poetically inspiring call to action that will resonate with a broad range of readers.
