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Adrift on the Ark: Our Connection to the Natural World
This small, charming and disturbing book is divided into twenty chapters, each centred around one or more animals encountered by the author in various countries-England, Canada, Greece-and ranging from peacocks to foxes, from beavers to goats, from a huge domestic pig to a skinny feral cat, and beyond-and the larger settings in which they occur.
For example, in "Phobia";, Thompson opens with a description of a huge tarantula spider sitting on her hand, relates how as a child she was frightened by a spider, an experience which entrenched a deep, if acknowledgedly irrational, fear of them. Over the years, however, partly through watching a spider spin a web, partly through a television show, Thompson gradually overcame her fear until now she can bear to hold the incredibly light, if fearsome-looking, but gentle tarantula on her outstretched palm. Along the way she discusses the almost universal human reactions of fear and disgust to certain animals, especially spiders and snakes, with a brief overview along the way of spiders in various mythologies-Arachne (Greek), Anansi (African), and Spider Woman (Navajo).
It's a very honest book. In "Animal Behaviour";, Thompson describes her battle with a team of beavers whose dam-building was flooding her property. Her campaign succeeds when human reinforcements arrive, and kill all the beaver. Each species, as Thompson wryly observes, acts true to their nature. And though she regrets the death of the beavers, and feels somewhat 'tainted' by her action, and the fact that she can no longer 'claim to be an animal lover without blushing', she admits that, given the same circumstances, she would probably do the same thing again.
While in places lamenting not only the loss of countryside and the freedom of children to roam unsupervised therein, but also the environmental challenges and species loss occurring around the world, her tone is poignant, rather than hectoring. This is a book that can be read right through, or placed beside one's bed to be dipped into a bit at a time, and reflected upon, while savouring the elegant line drawings which introduce each chapter.
Elizabeth Woods' imminent novel is an inventive fantasy -- Coyote: A Tale of Unexpected Consequences - about a robot coyote who longs to be free.
Posted by Writers' Choice Reviews
Choice Reviews
For example, in "Phobia";, Thompson opens with a description of a huge tarantula spider sitting on her hand, relates how as a child she was frightened by a spider, an experience which entrenched a deep, if acknowledgedly irrational, fear of them. Over the years, however, partly through watching a spider spin a web, partly through a television show, Thompson gradually overcame her fear until now she can bear to hold the incredibly light, if fearsome-looking, but gentle tarantula on her outstretched palm. Along the way she discusses the almost universal human reactions of fear and disgust to certain animals, especially spiders and snakes, with a brief overview along the way of spiders in various mythologies-Arachne (Greek), Anansi (African), and Spider Woman (Navajo).
It's a very honest book. In "Animal Behaviour";, Thompson describes her battle with a team of beavers whose dam-building was flooding her property. Her campaign succeeds when human reinforcements arrive, and kill all the beaver. Each species, as Thompson wryly observes, acts true to their nature. And though she regrets the death of the beavers, and feels somewhat 'tainted' by her action, and the fact that she can no longer 'claim to be an animal lover without blushing', she admits that, given the same circumstances, she would probably do the same thing again.
While in places lamenting not only the loss of countryside and the freedom of children to roam unsupervised therein, but also the environmental challenges and species loss occurring around the world, her tone is poignant, rather than hectoring. This is a book that can be read right through, or placed beside one's bed to be dipped into a bit at a time, and reflected upon, while savouring the elegant line drawings which introduce each chapter.
Elizabeth Woods' imminent novel is an inventive fantasy -- Coyote: A Tale of Unexpected Consequences - about a robot coyote who longs to be free.
Posted by Writers' Choice Reviews
Choice Reviews
Submitted on July 18, 2011 in By David.
