Entwined: Dispatches from the Intersection of Species

by Bridget A. Lyons

What can octopuses’ nine brains teach us about climate resilience? How can great horned owls’ keen hearing illuminate relationship dynamics? Does playing with kelp cultivate respect for the value of life? What can our 8.7 million “more-than-human” neighbors teach us about life? Dispatches from the Intersection of Species explores these questions through a collection of fourteen original essays by Bridget A. Lyons, a wilderness guide, traveler, and explorer who has encountered countless animals and plants in their native environments. From Alaska to Honduras, Lyons’s stories are braided with careful observation, scientific research, and wonder to foster the connection between us and our nonhuman neighbors. By focusing on the Anthropocene—the era during which human activities have had substantial impacts on the functioning of our planet—Lyons highlights the need to protect the planet’s quickly diminishing diversity. Each essay within Entwined seeks to keep nonhuman stories in the foreground, with Lyons’s personal experiences acting as a backdrop. Some of these moments include navigating icebergs in Alaska while researching the nesting strategies of common eiders, witnessing the apparent demise of a humpback whale on the Baja Peninsula while instructing a wilderness course, and observing ibex while trail running the Alps. While each piece can stand on its own as a literary examination of a creature’s life and a facet of the human experience, collectively, the narrative invites readers to consider what they have in common with even the most seemingly foreign of species, such as sea stars and sponges. Entwined rests on the belief that when we take the time to know unfamiliar creatures, we are more likely to alter our choices and behaviors in ways that ensure their continued existence on the planet.

Genres: Nature

224 pages, Paperback

Published July 18, 2025

About the author

Bridget A. Lyons is a writer, editor, artist, and explorer whose work focuses on appreciating the creativity and diversity of the natural world and increasing our species' awareness of the creatures and landscapes with whom we share our planet.

She currently resides in Santa Cruz, CA, where she makes a point of getting out to surf with sea otters, run through redwood forests, mountain bike with deer and turkeys, swim with sea lions or simply walk the local wrack line with kelp, sanderlings, godwits, and gulls every day.

Before moving to the coast, Bridget lived for a long time in Teton Valley, ID where she communed with elk, moose, aspen, and fireweed. And before that, she was an intinerant outdoor education instructor living in tents all over the world. To fund her wandering and creative work, she's done everything from teaching fifth grade, freshman composition, and yoga to making energy bars, catering, and pulling weeds in the McMansion yards. These days, she's lucky to work primarily with other writers, assisting them in shaping their ideas into manuscripts or their manuscripts into polished creations.

She has an undergraduate degree from Harvard and an MFA in Creative Writing from Northern Arizona University, speaks Spanish and French, and can proudly fingerpick her way through "Blackbird," "Helplessly Hoping," and "Landslide." She can't dance to save her life, is flummoxed by most simple repairs, and is trying like crazy to talk only to people, animals, plants, algae, fungi, rocks, rivers, and oceans—and NOT to devices of any kind.

Reviews

[Matt Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I read Entwined, I was so in tune with the animal experiences Bridget Lyons wrote about that I was worried I was loving Entwined only because it reminded me of amazing experiences in my life.

Monarchs? I visited Natural Bridges in the early eighties, and what looked like clumps of dead leaves hanging on eucalyptus trees became a million butterflies warming their wings in the morning sun then filling the air with motes of brilliance. It’s one of the memories that stands out in my mind to this day.

Great horned owls? I’ve wanted to see one since I read Farley Mowat’s book The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be, and he wrote about the great horned owl he had as a pet when he was a child. My late friend Chuck kept saying that the area around our house in Pacific Grove was great horned owl territory, but I never saw one until one day my neighbor told me there was one nesting in the oak tree above his porch. He called the next day to say it was out, and there he was, looking down at me. Looking through me, it seemed.

I even spent a month in February twelve miles north of Alaska on the Bering Sea ice, almost where she spent time observing eiders. I’ve been where she has so many times. But I haven’t, and that’s what makes this book great. I haven’t been there as Bridget Lyons, and Bridget Lyons is interesting.

Reading about her experiences with the animals, I learned new animal facts. I reveled in her descriptions of the behavior and idiosyncrasies of the intriguing beings she spent time with.

But what I kept looking forward to were her personal stories that intersected, Entwined, if you will, with those of the animals. And that made everything brilliant.

[Mathieu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not what I expected. Like many authors, such as Marina Richie, Lyons is entwining her own life and experiences in this book with those other denizens of the natural world, the plants and animals that have affected her. In so doing, she is making the connection between all humans and all nonhumans. This is powerful, and with her quality writing, this book is a joy and thoughtful read.

Here are only a few quotes that, at this point in my life, I find powerful and revealing of truth:

"Connection breeds care and curiosity, which, in turn, engender understanding, empathy, and, hopefully, advocacy ... the Anthropocene, the era during which the behaviors of our species have become the most powerful force on the planet."
-- p xi

"All of this ... isn't just another attempt to impose human control over forces that are much more powerful than we will ever be."
-- p. 147

"With humility in the face of mind-blowing complexity, perhaps we can make more nimble choices and hold them more loosely."
-- p. 199

[Sarahmarie Specht-Bird · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entwined is a beautiful mosaic of nature writing, memoir, travelogue, and love letter to the nonhuman world. Lyons explores species as disparate as fireweed, octopuses, great horned owls, ibexes, and sea kelp, and yet somehow quietly convinces us of how they entwine with us—all while exploring questions about what makes a human life and what our role is in the climate crisis. This book will join the likes of Robin Wall Kimmerer, Amy Leach, Carrot Quinn, Nicole Walker, and Rebecca Solnit on my “nonfiction that speaks to my soul” shelf.

[tbR · Rating 5 out of 5]

My journey through Entwined discovered a fluid, remarkable and absorbing read that needed unhurried, reflective stops along the way. Bridget's poignant and vivid descriptions of her encounters with "ingenious and inspiring nonhuman neighbors" educated me. In every dispatch, she demonstrates how the fate of any one species intertwines inextricably with that of all species. The realization causes me to see nonhuman creatures as companion travelers. Finally, Bridget intersperses each chapter with personal narratives that are absorbing, forthright, and candid. Entwined is, in every way, an inspiration.