Mother Nature is Trying to Kill You

by Dan Riskin

A fun exploration of the darker side of the natural world reveals the fascinating, weird, often perverted ways that Mother Nature fends only for herself.

It may be a wonderful world, but as Dan Riskin, biologist and host of the Animal Planet TV show Monsters Inside Me, explains, it’s also a dangerous, disturbing, and disgusting one. At every turn, it seems, living things are trying to eat us, poison us, use our bodies as their homes, or have us spread their eggs before we collapse. In Mother Nature Is Trying to Kill You, Riskin explains that nature is the perfect embodiment of all the behaviors humans have come to think of as “sinful”—and, in fact, those sins are precisely what allow plants and animals to survive and thrive.

Using the Seven Deadly Sins as a raucous roadmap, Riskin offers dozens of jaw-dropping examples that illuminate how brutal the natural world can be. From slothful worms that hide in your body for up to thirty years, to wrathful snails with poisonous harpoons that can kill you in less than five minutes, to lustful ducks that have orgasms faster than you can blink, these fascinating accounts reveal the candid truth about “gentle” Mother Nature’s true colors.

Riskin’s passion for the strange and enthusiastic expertise brings the earth’s most fascinating fauna and flora to life. Throughout his adventures—which include sliding on his back through a thick soup of bat guano just to get face-to-face with a vampire bat, befriending a parasitic maggot that has taken root in his head, and coming to grips with having offspring of his own—Riskin makes unexpected discoveries not just about the world all around us, but the ways this brutal world has shaped us as humans.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Nature, Biology, Animals, Science Nature, Natural History

260 pages, Hardcover

First published March 4, 2014

About the author

Daniel K. Riskin is a Canadian evolutionary biologist and television personality.

He was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta and currently lives in Toronto, Ontario. He received a BSc in zoology from the University of Alberta, an MSc in biology from York University, and a PhD in zoology from Cornell University. He also completed post-doctoral studies at Boston University and Brown University.

During high school, Riskin read a book called Just Bats by M. Brock Fenton. The book inspired him, so he contacted Fenton, then a professor at York University, and told him that he would like to meet him. Fenton invited him to come out to join his lab. Within a few months, Dan was catching bats in Costa Rica.

Riskin has studied bats in Costa Rica, USA, Canada, Anguilla, France, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad, Ecuador, South Africa and Madagascar and has filmed in USA, Morocco, England, China and Germany. He has authored or co-authored more than 20 papers.

After publishing a scientific paper about running vampire bats in 2005, Riskin was interviewed on Discovery Canada’s flagship daily science show, Daily Planet, by then-host Natasha Stillwell. Years later, Riskin joined the show as the replacement for long-time host Jay Ingram.

Riskin appears on the Animal Planet series Monsters Inside Me, which is about parasites, as an expert.

To promote that show, Riskin has appeared on The Dr. Oz Show (2009), The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (2010), and several times on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (2010-2014). Riskin has also appeared on the shows Evolve (2008) and Bedbug Apocalypse (2011). In 2010, Riskin became the co-host of Daily Planet, on Discovery Channel Canada with Ziya Tong.

Although Riskin now works full-time in television, he still dabbles in bat research. On one of his first segments on Daily Planet, he filmed in China to look for the fishing bat which catches fish with its feet.

Riskin's first book, Mother Nature is Trying to Kill You: A Lively Tour Through the Dark Side of the Natural World, was published by Touchstone Books on March 4, 2014.

Riskin is married to scientist Shelby H. Riskin. They have one child.

Reviews

[Kuszma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ez a könyv azért született, mert Riskin szeretett volna egy klinkertéglát lóbálva végigkergetni mindenkit a városon, aki a "természetes" szót abban az értelemben használja, hogy "erkölcsös", "szép" vagy "tiszta". Ugyanis ilyen alapon mi sem természetesebb, mint megfogni az élő csirkét, és addig hajigálni a levegőbe, amíg egy ép csontja sem marad - hisz a kardszárnyú delfin is ezt csinálja. Sőt: az is természetes lenne, ha a csecsemőket konkrétan BELESZÜLNÉNK egy élő szarvasmarhába, hogy onnan rágják ki magukat - hisz több száz darázsfajnál ez a normalitás. Szerencsére Riskin alapvetően nem agresszív ember, úgyhogy a klinkertéglás opció helyett inkább írt egy könyvet arról, micsoda mészárszék akár egy csendes parkerdő is, ahol minden teremtmény arra törekszik, hogy kicsinálja egymást, és ha mód van rá, akkor téged is. Nem azért, mert gonosz, hanem mert egyszerűen az van belekódolva a DNS-ébe, hogy éljen túl: szaporodjon, valamint megegyen másokat és kerülje el, hogy mások meg ők egyék meg. Ennek érdekében pedig egyszerűen bármilyen eszközt hajlandó felhasználni - na, EZ a természetes. Mondhatjuk, ez a dolga, és ez teszi az élővilágot baromi izgalmas, ugyanakkor igazán veszélyes rendszerré. Szóval tiszteljük meg azzal a természetet, hogy nem plüssnyuszinak látjuk.


(Jaj, de cuki, mi? Na, hát ő Tilikum, a kardszárnyú delfin, avagy orka, avagy - stílszerűen - gyilkos bálna, aki arról híres, hogy két gondozóját is megölte, és grátisz még egy fickót, aki éjjel beszökött hozzá a medencéhez. Szóval amit a szemében láttok, ahogy az emberekre néz - hááát, az nem biztos, hogy szeretet.)

Igazából csak két dolgot vetnék a szerző szemére. Az egyik, hogy mindenképpen a hét főbűn köré akarta szervezni a történeteit, és ez néha enyhén erőltetettnek tűnt. A másik, hogy túl sokat beszél a saját családja iránt érzett szeretetéről. Értem én, miért - ezt a szeretetet ugyanis folyamatosan összeméri a természet "hús-vér robotjainak" DNS-vezérelt életével, és ebből érdekes kontrasztokat hoz ki. De azon túl, hogy időnként ezek a passzusok giccsbe hajlanak, engem még türelmetlenné is tettek. Nevezzetek érzéketlen tuskónak, de ilyenkor folyton az jutott eszembe, hogy: "Oké, oké, szereted a fiad, értem. De térjünk a lényegre! Mondjál még egy creepy sztorit a nekrofil varangyról, vagy a pókról, ami letépi a nemiszervét, bedugja a nősténybe, aztán elszalad, mielőtt megeszik!" Hisz végtére is legyünk őszinték: ezt a könyvet nem azért olvassuk, hogy tengermély bölcsességeket desztilláljunk belőlük. Hanem a szaftos sztorik miatt, amelyektől helyenként önkéntelenül kicsúszik a szánkon egy zsigeri "Húúúúú, b_meg, broáf"*. Mert ez ilyen ismeretterjesztő bulvár, bizony. De annak pervertált módon élvezetes.

(Mondjuk nem tudom szó nélkül hagyni: a formátum és a címválasztás ócska, kezembe nem vettem volna a könyvet, ha nem látom róla a pozitív recenziókat. Az eredeti cím - "Mother Nature is Trying to Kill You" - sokkal kifejezőbb és eredetibb.)

* Fun fact, hogy ezt a könyvet ebéd közben kezdtem olvasni - carbonara spagetti, alaposan elsózva -, erre rögtön az jött szembe, hogy valahol Belize-ben a fejbőre alá petézett egy bögöly**, és csak akkor vette észre, amikor jó húsos lárva lett belőle. Hát, nyeh.
** Amúgy ez egy jó ravasz bögölyfaj. Nem azt csinálja, hogy rád száll, aztán hajrá - hisz jó nagy rovarról van szó, ha ilyesmivel próbálkozna, jó eséllyel kiszúrnád és agyonütnéd. Hanem megfog egy szúnyogot, a petéit a szívó szájszervre rögzíti, aztán elereszti, hogy ő juttassa célba a csimotákat.

[Quirkyreader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a a fun read. I am a science nerd and this book just cracked me up while reading it.

Some parts of this book would be a great read along with kids interested in science. But before you read it to kids read it all yourself. There are parts of this book that are adult themed.

Possible spoilers...

It also talks about evolution. So be warned if that topic doesn’t fall into your beliefs. It can be easily read around.

The topics are also based around The Seven Deadly Sins.

So get ready for some interesting reading.

[Wanda Pedersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A catchy title designed to sell books. Obviously, Riskin decided to take a former host of Daily Planet (Jay Ingram) as a role model when he wrote this volume. (This made me realize how out of touch I am with the state of TV broadcasting in Canada, as I didn’t recognize his name at all –but I’m still glad I got rid of the television three years ago!) The author is a bat researcher and travels to see different bat species. As a birder, I was immediately on the band wagon. I believe that eco-tourism is one way of making wildlife valuable enough to convince governments to preserve it. If live animals bring in millions of dollars on a regular basis and dead ones yield only thousands for one time only, it becomes attractive to keep your wildlife alive and well.

The book is a combination of two things: use of the seven deadly sins to structure the chapters and a very Richard-Dawkins-lite (and I mean very lite) version of the world. The 7 Deadly structure was rather cutesy, but it provided a tidy framework to hang the stories on. If you are completely unfamiliar with Dawkin’s Selfish Gene theory and/or you are phobic about learning science/biology, this would be a good introductory read. I must confess that I find Dawkins a bit daunting, so I can imagine that many other folk would as well (although I think I understand his basic argument and have to say that I find it very powerful). However, Riskin’s harping on “Meat Robots” (that we are all bodies driven by our DNA) got on my nerves by the book’s end.

I think this would be an excellent book for a young audience—high school, perhaps, or as supplementary reading for freshmen university students taking science courses for non-science majors. It is fun and the science presented is very straight forward (dare I say easy?). There were a couple of “strange animal” stories that I had not heard before, but most of it was recycled material for me (I was a volunteer natural history educator for 17 years and had a long repertoire of strange and/or gross stories with which to regale my audience and I’m told I was very adept at hooking 8-9 year old boys with tales of poop and vomit).

I have to agree with one of his major ideas—just because something is “natural”, i.e. occurs in nature, that doesn’t mean that it is wonderful and harmless. You can justify almost any behavior through an animal example and parasites, disease, venom, and many other things that can threaten your well-being are very natural.

After spending the whole book convincing his audience that we are part of the natural world and dependent upon it, Riskin then switches gears to convince us that we can also rise above our genetic programming for selfishness and continue the human quest for human rights and prevention of environmental catastrophe. I have to agree with that sentiment as well.

[Carrie Ardoin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 STARS

I was initially quite excited to read this book, because from the way the synopsis made it sound, it was supposed to be about all the devices (be they animal, weather, disease, etc.) that nature has waiting around every corner to lead to your possible demise. After I got past the introduction, in which the author describes the experience he had with a botfly larvae living in his scalp, it became clear that this wasn't really what the book was about at all.

The author lays out each of his chapters with a theme. The theme is "the seven deadly sins", so there are chapters on greed, lust, envy, and so on. Within each chapter, the author showcases several animal behaviors that reflect on the specific chapter title. For example, in the chapter on lust, the reader is given an account of how female pintail ducks are forcefully mated with by the males of the species...which takes less time than it does for you to blink your eyes.

While I was, in the beginning, disappointed that the book was not about what I had hoped, the tales of each species the author presented drew me in and I often found myself checking Wikipedia or YouTube to see for myself what the book was describing.

The overall theory that Dan Riskin is attempting to prove is that all animal life is basically driven by what their DNA has programmed them to do; whether it be scrounging for food, finding a mate, or even loving your child, every animal is acting on instinct and only looking our for their individual best interests--even (and especially) humans. He also makes a valid point in that the use of the word "natural" to describe something doesn't always make it better or right. If humans were to act as some of the rest of the natural world does, our mere existence would be chaos.

The main thing that bothered me is that throughout the entire book the author was working toward, and successfully proving, his theory, only to have it completely discredited by his own thoughts in the end. Humankind does not want to think it's on the same level as the rest of the world's animals, and while we are in the most basic of ways, it's the ways that we're not that are the most important. It's in our hands to change the world, and since we are the only creatures that have the awareness that we can affect the planet, it's our duty as well.

[Dovilė Stonė · Rating 5 out of 5]

Knyga trumpa, lengvai skaitoma, bet pilnutėlė visokių įdomybių iš gamtos pasaulio.

Tos įdomybės apie gyvūnus ir augalus pasakojamos gana stipriai viską antropomorfizuojant -- pats autorius pripažįsta šios savo perspektyvos ribotumą, bet manau, kad ji labai pagelbėja siekiant įkvėpti didesnį susižavėjimą net ir iš pirmo žvilgsnio mums šlykščiomis rūšimis: žarnyno kirmėlėmis, šliužais, blakėmis ir pan.

Bet knyga nėra tik faktų rinkinys. Ji turi labai aiškią struktūrą, be to, daug kalbama apie evoliuciją, mūsų santykį su gamta ir panašias gilesnes temas.

Taip pat neretai atkreipiamas dėmesys į žmonių pomėgį ieškoti argumentų savo moraliniams sprendimams ar veiksmams gamtoje. Jeigu kažkas pasitaiko gamtoje, reiškia, tai natūralu, reiškia, tai yra "gerai", todėl būdami gyvūnai, galime ir turime taip elgtis. Tai yra visiška nesąmonė. Gamtoje pasitaiko ir prievartavimas, savo vaikų valgymas, partnerių luošinimas, fekalijų valgymas ir t. t.

"Nature has no place in discussions of social justice. We're humans -- we evolved in nature, but we can do better than the natural order. Let's take a little pride in the fact that we've invented human rights. It doesn't matter whether they're natural or not. We're animals, but we don't have to act like them."

Gamta yra įstabi, ir ši knyga tai labai gerai iliustruoja. Gamta mums netarnauja ir mes nesame jos valdovai -- knyga irgi puikiai tai iliustruoja. Mes esame viso labo iš mėsos sudaryti robotai, tarnaujantys savo DNR -- viena vertus, ši mintis liūdna ir demotyvuojanti, kyla abejonė savo jausmų tikrumu ir apskritai gyvenimo prasme, kita vertus, ji kaip tik yra žavi ir kelianti dar didesnį pasigėrėjimą pasaulio sudėtingumu ir kiekvieno savo jausmiuko pagrįstumu:

"The fact that I understand the evolutionary origins of love should not have to "subtract" from its beauty. Knowing that my love for Sam comes from millions of years of evolution, if anything, should make that love more real."

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the antidote for any illusion you may have that Mother Nature is a collection of warm fuzzies that only wish us the best. Organized according to the Seven Deadly Sins of Catholic theology, Riskin gives examples of creatures that out do humans in committing deeds that parallel the human sins, except for the sin of Pride, which he feels that humans excel at, over anything possible in nature - I agree. My only reservation about Riskin's viewpoint is that he seems to write from a standpoint of metaphysical materialism - he describes all living things (including us) as "meat robots" - all living things are vehicles controlled by their DNA to propagate the DNA. Again, I agree, to a point. However, in the last chapter he is striving to get beyond seeing us as mere meat robots and advocates various social & political goals, but doesn't really explain philosophically why they should be pursued (and not others), other than they may help our species survive - not a bad reason, but if evolution by natural selection is just a blind materialistic force, then ethics, aesthetics, religion, etc. is just a froth on the matter of the world, and so imposing particular programs on others becomes a matter of might making right, or so it seems to me.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty simply, this is an old fashioned bestiary. And, organized around a pastoralia scheme. So lots of medieval to like.

Dan Riskin throws fact after fact at you about just how brutal and uncaring Mother Nature is, making this a fun, easy read. There's especial boyhood focus on the weird, gross, and wacky. Mother Nature isn't some benign nurturer giving us organic fruit. No, we learned to exist on what she happened to have around. And so does everything else.

The whole thing is tied together with the idea of challenging what we think of as "natural". We assume natural is good. Like natural childbirth. That's fine. But remember it's also natural for dad to eat his young after that birth. Be careful when throwing around terms like "natural", especially when implying to them a moral value. And worry less about protecting the natural world as if it can't take care of itself. RIskin doesn't like climate change, but points out a long argument of mine: we can't kill this planet. We can wipe out our own species, and even damage the planet, but Earth will go on just fine without us thank you. If you want to protect the environment, do it for human reasons.

Follow me on Twitter: @Dr_A_Taubman

[Debra Komar · Rating 1 out of 5]

I want to be fair here - I strongly suspect that I am not the intended audience for this book. It is clearly "science for the masses" and therefore likely to be enjoyed by those with no background in the natural sciences. I could only get through three chapters of it and gave up, not because the concepts were hard but because they were insultingly easy. This book literally insulted my intelligence. Like Riskin, I am an academic now writing for the general public, but I don't feel that means "dumbing down" scientific concepts. For example, the first foot note of this book explains what a footnote is - just how uneducated does Riskin think his reader is? The language is simple to the point of uninteresting - I would describe the book as poorly written - and I kept getting the feeling that I was supposed to be oohing and awing over the examples he uses, but I had heard them all before, presented in far better ways. The notion that sex is often violent or self-destructive is not new, and neither is the way the author presents it. Maybe this started as an interesting lecture to an audience of non-scientists, but in book form, it is just condescending. At one point, I actually checked to see if perhaps this was intended for "young adults" but it is not. If the topic interests you, please read Dawkins' "The Selfish Gene," a far more credible, thoughtful and well-written treatment of much of the recycled arguments found in this book.

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book from Goodreads First Reads.

This book was entertaining, enlightening, and the with in which it possesses was harkening to every wonder about the natural world and the family heritage that a mom or dad often feels when contemplating how to explain to their children, why things are the way they are.

To say that I will pass this book onward would be doing it a disservice as it's not just a 'must-read' for any season, it's an adventure through the experiences that make every living creature valuable, vulnerable, and varied in flaws as well. To read how we all interconnect within our planet's confines (be it against or for another species or person)steers towards the Realist views we often need to broaden our views to to keep peace amongst ourselves, but it clarifies just how things... sometimes aren't fair and shouldn't always be.

From one meat robot who will try to love nature a little more, even through the stings and things with wings, I can say I'd recommend this book to anyone at anytime for every reason.

[Sheila Myers · Rating 2 out of 5]

The parts of the book that actually discuss animals and plants are good; otherwise, the book isn't that great. A lot of it strays from the title and synopsis. I can understand trying to write a book in a way non-scientists can understand it; however, for someone with a Ph.D., Dan Riskin uses too much slang and what I feel is crude wording. His premise of not setting our morals based on what happens in nature falls flat as he repeatedly states were driven by our DNA.

[Todd Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation. During the minute that it takes me to compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive, many others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear, others are slowly being devoured from within by rasping parasites, thousands of all kinds are dying of starvation, thirst, and disease. It must be so. If there ever is a time of plenty, this very fact will automatically lead to an increase in the population until the natural state of starvation and misery is restored. In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.”
― Richard Dawkins, River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life

You’ve seen the advertising slogans … ‘all natural’, ‘no artificial additives’, ‘organic’, ‘100% natural’ and of course the pinnacle of nonsense (unless you’re referring to a perfect vacuum) … ‘chemical free’. While these slogans are largely meaningless, what they all imply is that:
Natural = good
Artificial = bad

Here’s the problem with that logic … whether something is natural or not is irrelevant to whether it is good or bad for you. Rattlesnake venom, asbestos, uranium, lava, poison ivy, radiation, tornadoes, earthquakes and gamma ray bursts from a nearby galaxy all meet the criteria of ‘all natural’, but few would claim that they are beneficial to your health. Similarly, people will sometimes appeal to naturalistic explanations of moral phenomenon … it’s Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve! This ‘logic’ is similarly flawed. If you want to use the gray wolf as an example of why animals should mate for life, then you must also accept:
- Step fathers should kill their step children (lions).
- Necrophilia is fine (certain frogs).
- Stealing is moral (every animal on the planet).
Ironically, we’d also be more accepting of homosexuality, since many animals engage in this behavior.

In Mother Nature Is Trying to Kill You Canadian evolutionary biologist Dan Riskin forgoes bunnies and rainbows to examine the ‘red in tooth and claw’ side of nature and provides many fascinating examples of the “dark side of the natural world”. The writing is lively and interesting and Riskin even attempts to inject a bit of humor into his prose (though I would advise him not to abandon his day job in pursuit of a stand-up comedy career). I also appreciated the fact that he has a skeptical turn of mind and eviscerates various pseudo-scientific claims throughout the book. He ends with a positive message urging protection of the environment, but like every other breeder, ignores the fact that it’s really his own genetic urge to procreate that is the primary cause for the devastation of the natural world seen today. Has anyone with children ever admitted their culpability in this regard? It’s a shame that Riskin, who acknowledges the problem of over-population and seems fairly self-aware in other aspects of his life, is blind to his own contribution.

[Am Y · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was very interesting for the most part, and would have got a much higher rating from me, if not for the author trying to exert his moral authority over almost everything discussed. The last straw for me was the last chapter, where he says we should all try to think of the planet, environment, greater good & not be so selfish and blah blah - don't get me wrong, I'm all for that - yet, throughout the book he says he would do anything for his son to ensure his son gets to enjoy a good future (even at the expense of others), etc etc, so he is the last person to talk about not being "selfish" and consuming more resources than one should, because in the first instance, he himself decided to reproduce, when he could always have chosen not to, or chosen to adopt instead!

[Lacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fascinating look at the natural world, but I found it quite sad that his dedication the the extreme view of evolution espoused by Dawkins made him question his love for his son and wife. Call me simplistic, but my own love for my family is a defeater for that worldview. I have no beef with the twin mechanisms of natural selection and genetics/mutation, but I'm not so committed to them that I'll deny love and free will when they are so completely self evident!

[Vivien Ágnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Szerintem nagyon erdekes konyv volt es sok hasznos, erdekes dolgot tudtam meg belole, amit mashonnan nem hallottam meg soha. Szeretem az ilyen konyveket, mindig tagitjak a tudasomat.

[Heather MacDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dan Riskin is able to make scientific knowledge accessible to the layman by using everyday language, clear analogies and humour in his explanations. The descriptions of his adventures in bat caves are among the hair-raising, scary, fascinating stories of his research. I will never look at plants, insects, birds or animals in the same way after reading this book!

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book full of did you know type, interesting facts!! He also shares very personal, touching stories about his life. I loved this book, even though some parts were.... ewwwww... haha!

[Bryce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful book about nature and peoples mass delusion with it. What a complete marketing scan "organic" and "natural" brand names and statements have become. Also our role in the future of not keeping this planet alive...but keeping humanity from extinction.

We have a choice.

[Grouchy Editor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Premise: Mother Nature is not nice. In fact, she is inherently selfish and cruel, interested only in perpetuating her own DNA, and if there is any hope for the future of mankind, it behooves us to rise above our own hard-wired, self-serving instincts to build a better world.

The Good News: The book itself is – or should be – an example of how technology can improve the experience of reading. There are links in the text so that, for example, after you read about a wild bird in the Brazilian rainforest, you can click on a link to watch YouTube videos of that very bird in the Brazilian rainforest.

The Bad News: The links did not work on my Kindle. Amazon would not take me to the Amazon.

More Bad News: Riskin’s decision to link wildlife to humanity’s “seven deadly sins” is often a gimmicky stretch. Is an insect that eats lots of food truly indulging in “gluttony” – or is it simply acting on instinct? Is a monkey really “envious” of another monkey’s bowl of grapes – or does it simply crave the grapes? Riskin’s theories are more successful when he likens human behavior to our animal cousins, less successful when he attributes human-like motivations to animal behavior.

Despite the publisher’s best efforts to convince us that "Mother Nature" is a unique take on what people are and why they do what they do, this is mostly just a biology book about creepy crawlies.

[Amy Rhoda Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about the horrible selfishness of life, focused around the DNA which uses us and all other organisms to replicate itself. The book is organized into chapters corresponding to the seven deadly sins, with each chapter describing several manifestations of that particular sin in nature.

The thread which ties it all together, oddly enough, is the author's love for his son. Like me (and many other nerdy overthinkers, I'm sure), Riskin has wrestled with the thought that the love he feels for his son is just an artifact of his DNA's need to successfully replicate. The love he feels for his son only exists because animals which felt this way about their offspring were more likely to successfully reproduce. It's all a horrible trick! Cuteness isn't real, it's just a feeling you invoke in me which makes you more likely to survive! You're cute so I won't throw you out the window when you cry!

It all gets a little convoluted and red-pill-blue-pill -- in my head, I mean, not in the book. The book is fine. The book is great, and he came to the same conclusion about the parental love thing that I did. And on the way I learned lots of cool, interesting, and gross animal facts.

[Philip Demare · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree with the reviewer who thought she was being talked down to in this book and that the examples are for the most part recycled and can be found cited elsewhere. (The last chapter is also a throw away in which he recants a major premise used in the first six chapters of the book.) The author has however written for television series on the subject and can be forgiven for targeting a much more general audience than is normal for the genre. His premise is still valid. Mother nature is not the nurturing, non-adversarial, earth goddess she is made out to be in some popular pseudo-natural histories currently believed by some.
I did find his continual reference to his wife and child and his use of the term "meat robot" to be tedious though. These were subjects used to illustrate points and fill out the book, however.
That said, the author does have an enjoyable, irreverent and at times comedic writing style. You could waste time reading a worse book on the subject that was much less enjoyable.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

In both substance and style, Dan Riskin's romp through "nature" is both enlightening and rejuvenating. Far from the clean narratives of documentaries or idyllic organic produce advertisements, Riskin introduces us to some of the crazier and--dare I say--more ungodly aspects of existence. It is brilliant, captivating, disorienting, and awe-inspiring. The overall thesis of the book falls a little flat for me, but I actually liked that aspect as well. It's as if any attempt to properly summarize life or draw conclusions from the world around us is bound to fail. The will to live, the innovation designed by the DNA that is controlling us meat robots, rules regardless.

Read more at http://znovels.blogspot.ca/2014/07/mo...

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll admit that this was not the book I was hoping to read. I was expecting a nice collection of death or near-death encounters with nature. Instead, this was both a treatise on how nature reflects the 7 Deadly Sins by giving examples of each category (pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth), and an attempt to explain to himself whether or not the love he feels for his child is legitimate or just a function of evolution and chemistry. It's a very strange premise, and the author does success to some extent. As I said, this was NOT the book I was expecting--but that being said, I enjoyed reading it, and I learned a lot. If you enjoy reading nature books, this is worth a shot.

[Maggie Holmes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dan Riskin is a very funny author and narrator. This was just what I needed on my drive. It may have been about parasites, deadly animals, extinctions and some very weird sex, but it was very funny. Needless to say, most of it was new to me. I was particularly surprised by some of the hermophroditic animals and the number of times that most of life was destroyed. I tried to get my husband to read the book I borrowed from the library, but he was still busy with Alexander Hamilton. This was NOT an Audible book. I borrowed it from Hoopla and my library. Sorry Amazon.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

A highly entertaining read that walks you through the scary awesome side of nature! Although backed by scientific research (with references through footnotes and endnotes), this is a book both for biologists, biology laymen, and other assorted learning nerds ;) The author's writing style is highly entertaining and the presentation of varying subjects is unique so it feels nothing like a textbook, though it is smart enough to be paired with a college biology class. I highly recommend it!

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I've been trying to read more non-fiction lately, in an effort to get outside of my comfort zone, and this book was perfect. I enjoyed learning so many facts about nature. I found this book opened my eyes to the mistake of thinking "nature knows best", and I definitely catch myself pondering emotions/DNA. Interesting and worthwhile - highly recommended!

[Kirsten Eckert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated the writer’s style and his wit. Hard to have the mythologies I have lived with for so long be replaced by hard truths, but it is necessary to live in the real world.

The final chapter was the most human and I wonder if we, as a seemingly intelligent species, have the wherewithal to not follow in the footsteps of the mice of Gough Island.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is entertaining, particularly if you are not hypochondriacal and don’t fret that you’re going to die via insect bite. A wonderful walk through mother nature and the ways in which several distinct evolutionary adaptation‘s across species tends to help proliferate, often at the hands of victims.

[Grant Kanigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most fun I've had reading a non-fiction work in years. Insightful, disgusting and absolutely compelling, this is a wonderful exploration of the wild world of biology. Don't miss it.

[Science For The People]

Featured on Science for the People show #271 on June 27, 2014, during an interview with author Dan Riskin. http://www.scienceforthepeople.ca/epi...

[Marcia harder · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting but extremely general water cooler information, terribly written with shallow opinions not based on current research.