Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World's Largest Owl by Jonathan C. Slaght

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It is February, and I’m shivering in my draughty underinsulated house reading about the hardships faced by a biologist tracking down rare owls in a remote part of eastern Russia in the depths of winter. Maybe things aren’t really so bad for me.

The conditions faced by Jonathan Slaght and his colleagues were extreme, and the challenge considerable. It’s a tale of perseverance and dedication, played out by a range of characters who might be considered eccentric to many of us but who are perhaps NFR – normal for Russia.

The beasts in question are remarkable – the world’s largest owls, which catch salmon in these forbidding territories. We learn of streams warmed by radioactive gas, of logging roads and hermits and the dangers of being eaten alive by tigers and bears. I chuckled aloud at the tale of being mistaken for freelance radiology technicians.

Having said that, he does go on a bit. Science demands the recording of much detail but there is rather a lot of repetition and unnecessary minutiae here for the general reader. A few more paragraph breaks and fewer colons would aid readability, but for me the main sin is the terrible choice of typeface (presumably not the author’s choice). In my 2021 Penguin edition the text is set in a rather tiny font with a low x-height but generous leading (space between the lines). Without getting even nerdier, I found this made it hard to read.

I’m glad I persevered though, both for the natural history knowledge and the conclusion of the remarkable story of human endurance and dedication to the cause. Friends who have completed PhDs often remark how difficult it is to achieve the doctorate, but few can have conquered such challenges as Dr Slaght.



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