I don't know how I ended up reading TWO books in the last month that are about Alaska and its' wildlife, but I DID! And I enjoyed them BOTH! Have you heard of Steller's Sea Cow? Because I never had and after reading Beasts of the Sea, they are now swimming around in my brain.
The skeleton of one of these enormous creatures is at the heart of this book that takes place in the frozen and remote places where wild things can exist. Well, they can exist until humans find them and then all bets are off. As we move through time we meet scientists and travelers, collectors and hobbyists, illustrators and diarists, many of whom have dedicated their lives to exploring the uncharted. I got lost in this novel every time I started listening, and although some of the unfamiliar Scandinavian names never particularly stuck, I was always able to get on sound footing, wherever the narrative took me. While this is a novel, not nonfiction, there is a lot to learn here about how humans have impacted the environment and the fauna that call it home.
One of the huge takeaways that's swimming in my brain along with the Sea Cows is the deeply upsetting reality of extinction that lies directly in the hand of humans. It is hard to think about our greed, our carelessness, the harm we have caused to the creatures we share this planet with. As a person who genuinely finds solace and peace both out in nature and in learning about the natural world, Beasts of the Sea kept my attention and gave me a lot to ponder.
The skeleton of one of these enormous creatures is at the heart of this book that takes place in the frozen and remote places where wild things can exist. Well, they can exist until humans find them and then all bets are off. As we move through time we meet scientists and travelers, collectors and hobbyists, illustrators and diarists, many of whom have dedicated their lives to exploring the uncharted. I got lost in this novel every time I started listening, and although some of the unfamiliar Scandinavian names never particularly stuck, I was always able to get on sound footing, wherever the narrative took me. While this is a novel, not nonfiction, there is a lot to learn here about how humans have impacted the environment and the fauna that call it home.
One of the huge takeaways that's swimming in my brain along with the Sea Cows is the deeply upsetting reality of extinction that lies directly in the hand of humans. It is hard to think about our greed, our carelessness, the harm we have caused to the creatures we share this planet with. As a person who genuinely finds solace and peace both out in nature and in learning about the natural world, Beasts of the Sea kept my attention and gave me a lot to ponder.
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