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Tigers In Red Weather: A Quest for the Last Wild Tigers
Poet, writer, and descendant of Charles Darwin, Ruth Padel set out to visit a tropical jungle and wildlife sanctuary in India-- and her visit turned into a remarkable two-year journey through eleven countries in search of that most elusive and most beautiful animal: the tiger. Armed with her grandmother's opera glasses and Tunisian running shoes, she set off across Asia to ask the question: can the tiger be saved from extinction in the wild?
Tigers are an "umbrella species," they need everything in the forest to work in tandem: they eat deer, the deer need vegetation, the vegetation has to be pollinated by birds, mammals, rodents and butterflies. If you save the tiger, you save everything else. Today, the 5,000 tigers that still survive in the wild live only in Asia and are scattered throughout 14 countries. Padel says that while tigers will never become extinct--they are too popular for that--they may disappear from the wild. There are as many tigers in cages in the US as there are surviving tigers in the wild.
As she travels she meets the defenders of the wild--the heroic scientists, forest guards and conservationists at the front line, fighting to save tigers and their forests from destruction in the places where poverty threatens to wipe out all wildlife. She also examines her fascination (both as a poet and as the great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin) with nature, wildness and survival and in the end, becomes a knowledgeable advocate for the tiger. The result is a beautiful blend of natural history, travel literature and memoir, and a searing, intimate portrait of an animal we have loved and feared almost to extinction.
Tigers are an "umbrella species," they need everything in the forest to work in tandem: they eat deer, the deer need vegetation, the vegetation has to be pollinated by birds, mammals, rodents and butterflies. If you save the tiger, you save everything else. Today, the 5,000 tigers that still survive in the wild live only in Asia and are scattered throughout 14 countries. Padel says that while tigers will never become extinct--they are too popular for that--they may disappear from the wild. There are as many tigers in cages in the US as there are surviving tigers in the wild.
As she travels she meets the defenders of the wild--the heroic scientists, forest guards and conservationists at the front line, fighting to save tigers and their forests from destruction in the places where poverty threatens to wipe out all wildlife. She also examines her fascination (both as a poet and as the great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin) with nature, wildness and survival and in the end, becomes a knowledgeable advocate for the tiger. The result is a beautiful blend of natural history, travel literature and memoir, and a searing, intimate portrait of an animal we have loved and feared almost to extinction.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published June 23, 2005
8 people are currently reading
334 people want to read
About the author
Ruth Padel
55 books44 followersRuth is an English poet and writer. She has published poetry collections, novels, and books of non-fiction, including several on reading poetry. She has presented Radio 4′s Poetry Workshop, visiting poetry groups across the UK to discuss their poems.
Her awards include First Prize in the UK National Poetry Competition, a Cholmondeley Award from The Society of Authors, an Arts Council of England Writers’ Award and a British Council Darwin Now Research Award for her novel Where the Serpent Lives.
Ruth lives in London and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Member of the Bombay Natural History Society, an Ambassador for New Networks for Nature, a Patron of 21st-Century Tiger and a Council Member of the Zoological Society of London.
Her awards include First Prize in the UK National Poetry Competition, a Cholmondeley Award from The Society of Authors, an Arts Council of England Writers’ Award and a British Council Darwin Now Research Award for her novel Where the Serpent Lives.
Ruth lives in London and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Member of the Bombay Natural History Society, an Ambassador for New Networks for Nature, a Patron of 21st-Century Tiger and a Council Member of the Zoological Society of London.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
February 10, 2019
4 1/2 stars.
A few (?) words about the author.
When I read the book many years ago, I knew nothing about Ruth Padel. When I wrote this review in 2012 I still had no memory of anything the book jacket said about her – or, perhaps, I had yet not developed my penchant for featuring author information in many of my reviews.
I've just spent time perusing the Wiki article on Padel. My goodness. What an interesting and consequential women she is.
Here's an edited version of the introductory section, Ruth Padel
From Biography I'll just mention that Padel is a great-great-grandchild of Charles Darwin. (I would guess that her knowledge of this must have played a part in the life path that she has followed.)
In the section Books are mentioned thirteen books of poetry, her lone fictional book (see below), four non-fiction works including the book here reviewed), and six books under the subheading "Criticism, Editing".
In a section called Poetry: Political and Personal, there are subsections headed "Political Themes: Homelessness, Migration, Middle East, Religion"; "Darwin and Science"; "Music"; and "Personal Themes: Love, Journeying, Bereavement, Creativity".
In Non-Fiction the two subsections are "Greek Scholarship, Greek Myth, Rock 'n' Roll, the last phrase referring to her study I'm A Man: Sex, Gods and Rock 'n' Roll in which she argued that "rock music began as a ‘wishing well of masculinity,' which drew on mythic connections between male sexuality, aggression, anxiety, misogyny and violence which derived from Ancient Greece"; and "Wildlife and Conservation".
I'll just quote Fiction.
In Criticism, Teaching, here's the bits that interested me:
As Chair of the UK Poetry Society 2004-2007, she presided over the establishment of poetry 'Stanzas' across the UK; in 2011 delivered the Housman Lecture and inaugurated Radio 4's Poetry Workshop; her criticism reported to employ close analysis, knowledge of Greek poetics, myth, metaphor, tone and rhyme; had written introductions to the works of Palestinian poets Mahmoud Darwish, Mourid Barghouti and Ramsey Nasr, and British poets Walter Ralegh, Tennyson and Gerard Manley Hopkins; in her Foreword to the posthumous volume of Mahmoud Darwish, compared his sense of the poet's role in a time of violence to that of Seamus Heaney in Northern Ireland during the Troubles and of T.S. Eliot during the London blitz.
The section Awards, Appointments has to be tucked away, but somewhere easy to scan it
One final award has its own section, Oxford Professor of Poetry About one appointment which Padel chose to resign from. An unfortunate incident.
on to the book
This was a great read (5 stars) for the information on the state of tigers in the wild, but was also of course fairly depressing on that score. It was not quite as successful (3 stars) in weaving in the story of the author's love life. That part of the work was not really very intrusive, since it was brief interludes here and there, but at a distance of about five years since reading it, I can't really remember what the point of it was supposed to be. It definitely didn't make me care very much about her partner, or her love life.
The book is divided into three major sections: "Out of the West" deals with the Bengal Tigers of India, Bangladesh and Bhutan; "East" covers the South China tigers in Russia, Korea and China; and "South" describes the Indo-Chinese, Malayan and Sumatran tigers of South-East Asia and Indonesia. Ms. Padel visited all of these areas, and describes very well the difficult terrains she struggled through, in the company of local wardens, game keepers, and general protectors of the tiger populations. The constant vigilance needed by these people in their attempt to curtail habitat destruction and the always present poaching is a big part of the story she tells, as well as of course the rare tiger sightings which she experienced.
This book may one day be viewed as the best (and last) 21st century overview of the state of the tiger in the wild. The question yet to be answered is which will happen first: the disappearance of the tiger in the wild, or the decline of industrial civilization (even in developing nations) which might leave a sliver of hope for wild tigers (if they can survive climate change).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Previous review: The Origins of Modern Environmental Thought
Next review: Childhood's End
More recent review: Prussian Blue P-review
Previous library review: Symbiotic Planet
Next library review: Life from an RNA World
A few (?) words about the author.
When I read the book many years ago, I knew nothing about Ruth Padel. When I wrote this review in 2012 I still had no memory of anything the book jacket said about her – or, perhaps, I had yet not developed my penchant for featuring author information in many of my reviews.
I've just spent time perusing the Wiki article on Padel. My goodness. What an interesting and consequential women she is.
Here's an edited version of the introductory section, Ruth Padel
From Biography I'll just mention that Padel is a great-great-grandchild of Charles Darwin. (I would guess that her knowledge of this must have played a part in the life path that she has followed.)
In the section Books are mentioned thirteen books of poetry, her lone fictional book (see below), four non-fiction works including the book here reviewed), and six books under the subheading "Criticism, Editing".
In a section called Poetry: Political and Personal, there are subsections headed "Political Themes: Homelessness, Migration, Middle East, Religion"; "Darwin and Science"; "Music"; and "Personal Themes: Love, Journeying, Bereavement, Creativity".
In Non-Fiction the two subsections are "Greek Scholarship, Greek Myth, Rock 'n' Roll, the last phrase referring to her study I'm A Man: Sex, Gods and Rock 'n' Roll in which she argued that "rock music began as a ‘wishing well of masculinity,' which drew on mythic connections between male sexuality, aggression, anxiety, misogyny and violence which derived from Ancient Greece"; and "Wildlife and Conservation".
I'll just quote Fiction.
Padel's novel Where the Serpent Lives (2010), focusing on wildlife crime in India and the UK, was noted for vivid nature writing, innovative use of science and an animal's eye viewpoint. In India and the UK, reviewers commented on the imaginative connections between nature, poetry and science. "She has done for the forests of Karnataka and Bengal what Amitav Ghosh did for the Sundarbans in The Hungry Tide."
In Criticism, Teaching, here's the bits that interested me:
As Chair of the UK Poetry Society 2004-2007, she presided over the establishment of poetry 'Stanzas' across the UK; in 2011 delivered the Housman Lecture and inaugurated Radio 4's Poetry Workshop; her criticism reported to employ close analysis, knowledge of Greek poetics, myth, metaphor, tone and rhyme; had written introductions to the works of Palestinian poets Mahmoud Darwish, Mourid Barghouti and Ramsey Nasr, and British poets Walter Ralegh, Tennyson and Gerard Manley Hopkins; in her Foreword to the posthumous volume of Mahmoud Darwish, compared his sense of the poet's role in a time of violence to that of Seamus Heaney in Northern Ireland during the Troubles and of T.S. Eliot during the London blitz.
The section Awards, Appointments has to be tucked away, but somewhere easy to scan it
One final award has its own section, Oxford Professor of Poetry About one appointment which Padel chose to resign from. An unfortunate incident.
on to the book
This was a great read (5 stars) for the information on the state of tigers in the wild, but was also of course fairly depressing on that score. It was not quite as successful (3 stars) in weaving in the story of the author's love life. That part of the work was not really very intrusive, since it was brief interludes here and there, but at a distance of about five years since reading it, I can't really remember what the point of it was supposed to be. It definitely didn't make me care very much about her partner, or her love life.
The book is divided into three major sections: "Out of the West" deals with the Bengal Tigers of India, Bangladesh and Bhutan; "East" covers the South China tigers in Russia, Korea and China; and "South" describes the Indo-Chinese, Malayan and Sumatran tigers of South-East Asia and Indonesia. Ms. Padel visited all of these areas, and describes very well the difficult terrains she struggled through, in the company of local wardens, game keepers, and general protectors of the tiger populations. The constant vigilance needed by these people in their attempt to curtail habitat destruction and the always present poaching is a big part of the story she tells, as well as of course the rare tiger sightings which she experienced.
This book may one day be viewed as the best (and last) 21st century overview of the state of the tiger in the wild. The question yet to be answered is which will happen first: the disappearance of the tiger in the wild, or the decline of industrial civilization (even in developing nations) which might leave a sliver of hope for wild tigers (if they can survive climate change).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Previous review: The Origins of Modern Environmental Thought
Next review: Childhood's End
More recent review: Prussian Blue P-review
Previous library review: Symbiotic Planet
Next library review: Life from an RNA World
March 21, 2023
Tigers in Red Weather: A Quest for the Last Wild Tigers by Ruth Padel (Walker & Company 2006) (599.796).
This is an odd book. Author Ruth Padel, who is a direct descendant of Charles Darwin, is best known as a poet. She spent two years puttering around exploring the Far East while researching this book.
While I enjoyed Tigers in Red Weather, the book evinces two painfully obvious shortcomings. First, this book, though about tigers, was written by a poet rather than a scientist or a naturalist. No matter how many experts in the field our author quotes, the result is an example of travel writing rather than an addition to the scientific literature.
The second and more glaring problem with this volume is the fact that the author badly needed, but did not have the benefit of, a strong editor. This lack of serious editing resulted in howlers at the conclusion of every single chapter. (To clarify, the author apparently had been in a romance that ended badly from her perspective. For some not-at-all discernable reason, author Ruth Padel chose to end the chapters of this book about tigers with cryptically insulting comments about a former lover. Was it fair? Was it necessary to cap the chapters in this fashion? Did it have anything to do with tigers?)
Just saying. Read it and see if you agree. The parts about tigers are quite interesting!
My rating 6/10, finished 5/12/15 (edited 3/21/23).
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
July 13, 2009
Ruth Padel, who is best known as a poet, in Tigers in Red Weather travels through the countries where tigers live and those where they have recently become extinct. She meets the people who are involved in tiger conservation and discusses the situation around poaching, trade, deforestation and other issues threatening the future of the tiger. She also overcomes her own trepidation about adventurous hiking to climb into tiger territories to see the areas for herself.
This is a passionate and vividly described adventure but ultimately feels like a depressing exploration of one of our most beloved animal's last days.
This is a passionate and vividly described adventure but ultimately feels like a depressing exploration of one of our most beloved animal's last days.
February 27, 2013
While I could have lived without Ms. Padel's interwoven tale of lost love - this moving and well researched book on the fate of the tigers on the planet Earth was intense and important. If we can stop the poaching of tigers - selling, in the main, their parts to China and encourage the countries in which the few remain, we will save a food chain that is ecologically imperative for this planet. But more than that - we will save this magnificent creature - for whom there is no replacement period. Victor Hugo said that cats were created so we could touch the tiger. We need to touch the tiger too with conservation, protection and respect.
July 24, 2025
I should start by saying that I initially got this book for my research on the plight of tigers for my thesis in college in the area of international relations studies. When I realized the book read more like a novel in the beginning, I thought I'd hold onto it and read it for fun later, which I did, about a decade later (read in 2025).
It took a while to get into the poetic writing, and I couldn't exactly see a plot, but it sounded like it was going to be about a woman learning about the plight of tigers for the first time, and turning into a tiger-saving activist. I expected the "meeting the tiger" bit would come much, much later in the book, but I was wrong. The hype was soon lost along with any semblance of plot, and Padel rarely gave reasons to her actions or provided much context or backstory when it came to meeting people, so I was confused.
Long story short, I got tired and unmotivated to read the book. Many people do seem to love her poetic prose and travel-writing style, so I guess it just wasn't my cup of tea. I decided to dnf it as I only read one book at a time and time is too precious to spend on a book I don't enjoy.
I did like some of it, but I couldn't tolerate it after the halfway point, so that's why it sits at two stars for me using Goodreads rating. 1.5 stars in my personal rating.
Here's where she lost me:
------------Possibly Spoilery------------------------------
------------Possibly Spoilery------------------------------
Even before the halfway point, she meets her first tiger. So, I thought, "okay, this isn't going to be the conclusion. You hyped up finding tigers until this point, but now you've found them, what are you going to talk about here on?" Padel's book went from a quest to find tigers to, what sounded like, a story of a person blindly trying to learn about tigers but not involving herself in the actual saving of them. A constant bystander who begins each chapter with meticulous poetic description, gives barely any context to understand what scene she's shoved her reader into, gives little explanation of the motivations behind her actions, and moves on without a second thought.
Okay, maybe that was harsh, but I wanted to like it, and was trying so hard, but it wasn't getting better as some initially bad books might. Maybe her editor didn't do her right? I don't know. It was not good writing. The semblance of a plot in the beginning had left the chat, so to speak.
I very rarely dnf a book. Not even for bad writing. I've stuck it out before and regretted it, but those books still left me wondering what would happen. After a few weeks of trying to read Tigers in Red Weather, I was done. I just stopped caring. I didn't care about what happened next. Completely lost interest and knew I wouldn't pick it up in the future. Unfortunate, really. I wanted to see what others liked so much about it.
Sometimes, it's just not meant to be. So, if you've read this far, and you are interested in trying it out for yourself, I would say go for it. Because, you never know. You might be someone who ends up loving it as so many have.
But you don't have to take my word for it ;)
It took a while to get into the poetic writing, and I couldn't exactly see a plot, but it sounded like it was going to be about a woman learning about the plight of tigers for the first time, and turning into a tiger-saving activist. I expected the "meeting the tiger" bit would come much, much later in the book, but I was wrong. The hype was soon lost along with any semblance of plot, and Padel rarely gave reasons to her actions or provided much context or backstory when it came to meeting people, so I was confused.
Long story short, I got tired and unmotivated to read the book. Many people do seem to love her poetic prose and travel-writing style, so I guess it just wasn't my cup of tea. I decided to dnf it as I only read one book at a time and time is too precious to spend on a book I don't enjoy.
I did like some of it, but I couldn't tolerate it after the halfway point, so that's why it sits at two stars for me using Goodreads rating. 1.5 stars in my personal rating.
Here's where she lost me:
------------Possibly Spoilery------------------------------
------------Possibly Spoilery------------------------------
Even before the halfway point, she meets her first tiger. So, I thought, "okay, this isn't going to be the conclusion. You hyped up finding tigers until this point, but now you've found them, what are you going to talk about here on?" Padel's book went from a quest to find tigers to, what sounded like, a story of a person blindly trying to learn about tigers but not involving herself in the actual saving of them. A constant bystander who begins each chapter with meticulous poetic description, gives barely any context to understand what scene she's shoved her reader into, gives little explanation of the motivations behind her actions, and moves on without a second thought.
Okay, maybe that was harsh, but I wanted to like it, and was trying so hard, but it wasn't getting better as some initially bad books might. Maybe her editor didn't do her right? I don't know. It was not good writing. The semblance of a plot in the beginning had left the chat, so to speak.
I very rarely dnf a book. Not even for bad writing. I've stuck it out before and regretted it, but those books still left me wondering what would happen. After a few weeks of trying to read Tigers in Red Weather, I was done. I just stopped caring. I didn't care about what happened next. Completely lost interest and knew I wouldn't pick it up in the future. Unfortunate, really. I wanted to see what others liked so much about it.
Sometimes, it's just not meant to be. So, if you've read this far, and you are interested in trying it out for yourself, I would say go for it. Because, you never know. You might be someone who ends up loving it as so many have.
But you don't have to take my word for it ;)
October 6, 2019
I persevered with Padels Travel Book which is a little bit biographical in places. Disjointed writing all over - maybe over editing or a look at how Padels mind works - I get the impression she's 'skatty' from reading this novel. One minute here one minute there, it is slightly irritating and does not make this book flow as well as it could. Many things irritate me more about the book and her travels - the fact that she isn't really a naturalist but somehow just uses her ticket of 'I'm Darwin's relative' to get recognised and given access to areas of Tiger conservation that others would struggle to (yes OK I am a little jealous). her overall outlook is bleak yet it has been reported by the WWF in the last few years that Tiger Conservation is in fact a success in places. On top of that she barely sees a Tiger and only tells us about it right at the end! All that travel and all those contacts... maybe if she'd been a bit more patient instead of moving around so much she may have been more successful - as most naturalists know 'patience' is always key in wildlife spotting! I digress - if you are interested in Tiger conservation and have the patience to put up with writing that is 'trying' a recommended book - otherwise steer clear!
March 9, 2018
This was in a free library box down the road; would never have picked it up otherwise. Am not particularly interested in travel writing and normally struggle to finish non-fiction books, and this was no exception. Found the author a bit annoying and self-indulgent, with oblique references to her relationship problems scattered throughout the book (affair? Unsympathetic.). More compelling, though often disheartening, were the descriptions of people's work with tigers, and the problems and issues they face. Was unfortunately not enough to make me stick with this one though.
I think the person who donated this was on a tiger kick, was shelved with Life of Pi, which I also nabbed.
I think the person who donated this was on a tiger kick, was shelved with Life of Pi, which I also nabbed.
September 11, 2020
A good book, but the premise is a bit cliche: finding myself in wild tigers. On the plus side a wonderful bibliography, and in person anecdotes with several very compelling conservationists. Additionally, good overview info on beliefs about the tiger. Finally, add this to the pile of works indicating the CCP is full of shit about everything.
January 8, 2025
Non-fiction prose written by a poet is something I never knew I needed in my life. A great read that doesn't sugarcoat or try to depress, just the facts laid out by a non-scientist.
June 6, 2016
An interesting mix of the information on pan-asian tiger protection, personal experiences as a new-to jungle adventurer, poet, descendant of Darwin and woman. What's totally missing in the book is the long and vast cultural tiger history of China. It's regrettable that she didn't meet anyone who could have informed her on the subject. It is China where the author could have had the tremendous amount of information and the starkest contrast about the gap between the tiger as the symbol and as the wildlife for money making.
September 10, 2007
Chronicling two years, eleven countries and countless dedicated guides, the quest to find and observe the wild tiger obsesses Ruth Padel in this poetic narrative. The simple descriptions illuminate the natural world and the obvious love that the author develops for tigers shines through. Personal narrative and private heartbreak are sprinkled throughout the text but at its heart is always the plight of the ancient tiger in a modern world.
August 2, 2011
A firsthand look at tigers in the wild, not from the point of view of a scientist, but from the point of view of someone who just fell in love with them. Her observations on environmental conditions versus politics are a real eye-opener. That makes it depressing at times, of course, but it's important to know, too. I could have done without the parallels to her love life, though. They were a bit distracting.
April 8, 2013
Imagine my surprise to discover this really was about tigers. I bought it thinking it was much praised Lisa klaussman novel of same title (from Wallace Stevens: an old sailor drunk and asleep in his boots catches tigers in red weather) and my edition didn't have the helpful subtitle. Padel is engaging and poetic (sometimes overly) on tigers but bit tedious on her broken romance (but aren't we all?)
September 12, 2007
Lonely, soul-searching women shouldn't necessarily write books about their spiritual journeys. I was hoping this book would be more about the promised tigers and their plight, and less about the whiny writer. i could only read half of this book before i gave up completely. The tiger part was fascinating, but the weepy autobiographical writing was too much to bear.
January 3, 2015
The most beautifully written book I have read in as long as I can remember. The author is a poet who ended a relationship and decided to travel the world because she was entranced by tigers and wanted to learn about their plight. At times heartbreaking, at times uplifting, I savoured every word and now have a new long list of places I want to see.
February 14, 2012
Perhaps I'm being insensitive, but I feel like the author should really have decided whether this book should be about tigers or about her relationship troubles. The constant interjections were terribly distracting from an otherwise wonderful book - still an important read for anyone who loves the great cats.
Read
May 1, 2010Delightful. A book to re-read - if it wasn't so long, and if we didn't have so much on the the shelf begging to be read! Ruth Padel set off on a crazy quest for Tiger-abilia. Not one page of goes wasted.
March 10, 2008
Ruth Padel is the great-grandaughter of Charles Darwin. Her book made me want to travel to India to see tigers in the wild - before they are gone for good.
July 10, 2008
Ah, books about animals. And travel. And a perfectly timed subplot about moving forward after a breakup. Who could ask for more??!!
December 3, 2008
Zoology by a poet - lyrical, but no linearity or compelling hook.
January 6, 2010
dis book was good
September 4, 2016
I really enjoyed parts of this book and found it fascinating, but at other times it kind of dragged
February 20, 2014
Beautiful even if I (and Padel?) did lose my way a bit. Dances with words.
October 21, 2012
Sumptuous summer read.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews