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Kiedy wzywa nas dzicz. Jak więź ze zwierzętami może zmienić nasze – i ocalić ich – życie
Kiedy wzywa nas dzicz to poruszający głos w świecie zdominowanym przez technologię i ciągłą komunikację cyfrową. Przełomowa książka Richarda Louva, Ostatnie dziecko lasu, zapoczątkowała międzynarodowy ruch poświęcony idei połączenia dzieci z naturą.
Teraz w W kiedy wzywa nas dzicz autor redefiniuje wspólną przyszłość ludzi i zwierząt. Bada nasze powiązania ze zwierzętami i to, jak mogą one odmienić nasze fizyczne i duchowe życie, służąc jako antidotum na postępującą samotność. W rozmowach z naukowcami, teologami, ekspertami od dzikiej przyrody, uzdrowicielami, psychologami, działaczami i rodzicami, wyjaśnia między innymi: – jak ludzie komunikowali się ze zwierzętami kiedyś, a jak robią to dzisiaj; – jak psy mogą uczyć dzieci etyki; – jak terapia wspomagana przez zwierzęta może zmienić podejście do zdrowia psychicznego i edukacji; – jaką rolę odgrywają relacje człowiek-zwierzę w naszym duchowym życiu.
Kiedy wzywa nas dzicz przemawia za ochroną, wsparciem i tworzeniem zrównoważonego i wspólnego siedliska dla wszystkich stworzeń – nie z powodu strachu, ale z powodu miłości. Wskazuje nam to, czego wszyscy pragniemy w erze technologii: prawdziwego połączenia. Louv pisze o naszej potrzebie zatracenia się w naturze i o tym, jak nasze interakcje ze zwierzętami mogą pomóc ocalić nie tylko nas samych, ale i planetę. W lirycznej, czasem mistycznej prozie kwestionuje nasze założenia dotyczące tego, jak odnosimy się do innych gatunków.
Teraz w W kiedy wzywa nas dzicz autor redefiniuje wspólną przyszłość ludzi i zwierząt. Bada nasze powiązania ze zwierzętami i to, jak mogą one odmienić nasze fizyczne i duchowe życie, służąc jako antidotum na postępującą samotność. W rozmowach z naukowcami, teologami, ekspertami od dzikiej przyrody, uzdrowicielami, psychologami, działaczami i rodzicami, wyjaśnia między innymi: – jak ludzie komunikowali się ze zwierzętami kiedyś, a jak robią to dzisiaj; – jak psy mogą uczyć dzieci etyki; – jak terapia wspomagana przez zwierzęta może zmienić podejście do zdrowia psychicznego i edukacji; – jaką rolę odgrywają relacje człowiek-zwierzę w naszym duchowym życiu.
Kiedy wzywa nas dzicz przemawia za ochroną, wsparciem i tworzeniem zrównoważonego i wspólnego siedliska dla wszystkich stworzeń – nie z powodu strachu, ale z powodu miłości. Wskazuje nam to, czego wszyscy pragniemy w erze technologii: prawdziwego połączenia. Louv pisze o naszej potrzebie zatracenia się w naturze i o tym, jak nasze interakcje ze zwierzętami mogą pomóc ocalić nie tylko nas samych, ale i planetę. W lirycznej, czasem mistycznej prozie kwestionuje nasze założenia dotyczące tego, jak odnosimy się do innych gatunków.
432 pages, Paperback
First published November 5, 2019
170 people are currently reading
4373 people want to read
About the author
Richard Louv
33 books272 followersRichard Louv, recipient of the 2008 Audubon Medal, is the author of seven books, including Last Child in the Woods and The Nature Principle. The chairman of the Children & Nature Network (www.cnaturenet.org), he is also honorary co-chair of the National Forum on Children and Nature. He has written for the San Diego Union-Tribune, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Christian Science Monitor, and other newspapers and magazines. He has appeared on The Early Show, Good Morning America, Today, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, NPRs Morning Edition, Fresh Air, Talk of the Nation, and many other programs. For more information, visit www.lastchildinthewoods.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
April 28, 2021
3.5 A book that contains a large amount of information. I actually read a few chapters at a time, which I feel is the best way to absorb everything within. Animals, wild and domestic are integral to not only nature but our lives. Our connection is integral to our well being, to our ecological system and a necessary enrichment in our lives.
I loved the personal stories, people that connected with an animal, or in one instance, ants that awakened their interest in nature. Comfort animals, animals that help those with various difficulties, endangered animals due to changing habitats and those already irradiated, made extinct by our lack of care. The growth of electronic media, which serves to separate us from each other and the natural world. Just a small sampling of what this important, vital book contains.
"Some of us think, all of us feel."
I loved the personal stories, people that connected with an animal, or in one instance, ants that awakened their interest in nature. Comfort animals, animals that help those with various difficulties, endangered animals due to changing habitats and those already irradiated, made extinct by our lack of care. The growth of electronic media, which serves to separate us from each other and the natural world. Just a small sampling of what this important, vital book contains.
"Some of us think, all of us feel."
Read
August 13, 2019This may be a good book, but I'm definitely not the right audience for it, and to be honest I only made it halfway through before giving up. This book provides a wide look at humanity's relationship with the natural world, especially in relation to our connection with animals. The author is clearly deeply concerned by the increasing separation of many people from a natural environment and from meaningful interactions with animals in daily modern life. As someone who spends a lot of time outdoors and enjoys a sense of connection with the natural world, this ended up feeling a bit like preaching to the choir. I imagine this could be a profoundly moving book for those who have an unexplored sense of disconnection from animals and the natural world, and it might present lots of new ideas and insights. For those who are already concerned with and well informed on the issues of science, history, and culture that come into play, however, this book doesn't seem to provide the new insight or depth of coverage I was hoping for.
Read
December 12, 2024This book is my heart in written form.
August 12, 2019
Backing up with scientific evidence what animal lovers have always instinctively known, author Richard Louv offers an intriguing read of how humans and other animals need each other in his latest, and timely, book. The anecdotes were my favorite parts - fascinating and often touching stories of human-animal interactions, though the "scientific" reasoning was sometimes irking. (ie., that dog wasn't trying to save you from drowning by offering you a tree branch in his mouth for you to hold on to - he just wanted to play tug of war.) However, for a book that professes to be a call to reevaluate humans' relationship with other animals, it was a bit jarring that animals were consistently and dismissively referred to as "it".
September 7, 2019
I won a copy of this book via Algonquin Books’ Goodreads Giveaway under the premise that I would write an honest review.
First off, this book has many things that I personally like in a book -science with sources listed, animals, and personal stories.
However, I have to be honest that this was a tough read for me. I feel that I had a difficult time following much of it, because it seemed to me to be organized in such away as to appear very unorganized, if that makes sense. Imagine having a conversation with a very pleasant, intelligent, and interesting person, but the way they talk to you in circles makes you wonder half the time what the original point was or how you got there in the first place. That’s how I felt reading this book. I feel that if the chapters and sections were structured differently, it may have been much more pleasant of a read. To be fair though, this could just be more of a structure preference on my end as opposed to problems with the book itself. That’s just the only way I can explain as to why it was such a difficult read for me.
Now, that being said, chapter 4 was my favorite chapter. I thought it was interesting, kept with the author’s overall premise of the book, and structured better than the others in that it was easier to follow and did not bounce around from topic/story to topic/story.
As a final thought, I think I wanted to like the book more than I did, because I grew up spending significant time in nature in the PNW and definitely had the advantage of connecting with animals and nature in the way the author is talking about. But perhaps because I do have that background, it wasn’t very enlightening for me. I would suspect that people who were not fortunate enough to spend significant time in nature, and/or people who are overwhelmed and overstimulated by the fast pace of our society and technology, may be able to get more from the book than I was able to. The book is not bad, because I didn’t care for it. I just didn’t care for it for the above mentioned reasons, which is why I gave it 3 stars. I think there are many others who would enjoy it. I think if given the choice, I’d rather just spend a couple of hours around the campfire or a fire pit with a few drinks and a good conversation with the author.
First off, this book has many things that I personally like in a book -science with sources listed, animals, and personal stories.
However, I have to be honest that this was a tough read for me. I feel that I had a difficult time following much of it, because it seemed to me to be organized in such away as to appear very unorganized, if that makes sense. Imagine having a conversation with a very pleasant, intelligent, and interesting person, but the way they talk to you in circles makes you wonder half the time what the original point was or how you got there in the first place. That’s how I felt reading this book. I feel that if the chapters and sections were structured differently, it may have been much more pleasant of a read. To be fair though, this could just be more of a structure preference on my end as opposed to problems with the book itself. That’s just the only way I can explain as to why it was such a difficult read for me.
Now, that being said, chapter 4 was my favorite chapter. I thought it was interesting, kept with the author’s overall premise of the book, and structured better than the others in that it was easier to follow and did not bounce around from topic/story to topic/story.
As a final thought, I think I wanted to like the book more than I did, because I grew up spending significant time in nature in the PNW and definitely had the advantage of connecting with animals and nature in the way the author is talking about. But perhaps because I do have that background, it wasn’t very enlightening for me. I would suspect that people who were not fortunate enough to spend significant time in nature, and/or people who are overwhelmed and overstimulated by the fast pace of our society and technology, may be able to get more from the book than I was able to. The book is not bad, because I didn’t care for it. I just didn’t care for it for the above mentioned reasons, which is why I gave it 3 stars. I think there are many others who would enjoy it. I think if given the choice, I’d rather just spend a couple of hours around the campfire or a fire pit with a few drinks and a good conversation with the author.
July 31, 2019
There are some great stories in here - both from life experience and research about animals but it seemed a bit dense at times. I don't know how the author could have broken up the stories differently but it lack cohesion for me. Overall I enjoyed it.
November 13, 2019
Richard Louv's previous work made me quite excited to get an early review copy of Our Wild Calling. However, I was consistently disappointed throughout the book. Organizationally, as others have mentioned, it seemed very unfocused. Instead of each chapter clearly addressing a specific argument, it seemed like a collection of anecdotal ramblings about random human encounters with animals. Overall, in contrast to his previous work, I felt that this book was entirely too metaphysical. While he certainly mentioned scientific research it seemed to me as if it was only included after his more metaphysical positions were established.
With that said, the most glaring problems I noticed throughout the text were his references to indigenous knowledges. As an anthropologist who works with American Indians, it was hard for me to get over his stereotypical, "noble savage" perspective of indigenous groups worldwide. While I appreciated his inclusion of a Native perspective in chapter 19, it was overshadowed by inaccuracies (his claim that Lakota people believe storks are associated with babies ignoring that there are no storks living in any region remotely close to Lakota homelands) and his exploitative perspective (culturally appropriative vision quests, an actual Lakota practice, are admissible when the experience is had by a white scientist). Overall, he seems much too romantic in his understanding of indigenous perspectives on the environment and much too quick to exploit them for his own personal gain.
With that said, the most glaring problems I noticed throughout the text were his references to indigenous knowledges. As an anthropologist who works with American Indians, it was hard for me to get over his stereotypical, "noble savage" perspective of indigenous groups worldwide. While I appreciated his inclusion of a Native perspective in chapter 19, it was overshadowed by inaccuracies (his claim that Lakota people believe storks are associated with babies ignoring that there are no storks living in any region remotely close to Lakota homelands) and his exploitative perspective (culturally appropriative vision quests, an actual Lakota practice, are admissible when the experience is had by a white scientist). Overall, he seems much too romantic in his understanding of indigenous perspectives on the environment and much too quick to exploit them for his own personal gain.
February 12, 2020
An easy-to-read overview of human-animal relationships that includes lots of nice discussions of animal minds and animal languages. It's a very lightweight book, and a fast read.
December 19, 2020
If you believe in the interconnection between all life, then you will be overjoyed to read this book. The author is speaking at Ground Rounds at Children’s Medical Center coming up. His work is pivotal!!
Read
February 19, 2020Notes I took while reading. Not a review:
Our Wild Calling: How Connecting with Nature Can Transform Lives -- and Save Theirs
By Richard Louv
Author of “Last Child in the Woods”
Vitamin N
Nature deficit disorder
Bare light bulbs, LED, incandescent, disco ball.
Communion (Thomas Berry)
THE Same Spirit that abides in me abides in you.
Neophiles like novel experiences. Bears, raccoons.
Millennials feel lonelier than past generations.
So much social linkage, but still divided by screens. And ego.
(New ways to receive, perceive, make sense/story and respond.)
Anthropocene, ecozoic, Symbiocene -- together.
Heartful, heart full.
Liminality: the threshold stage between a previous and new way of perceiving one’s identity, like the initiation stage. Sacred time in many cultures. Like changing between seasons, caterpillar to butterfly, physical and other changes manifested.
It vs. being, resource vs. fellow earthling. Empathy feel with, sympathy feel for, compassion feel with action.
Within the chrysalis the old body parts of the caterpillar are undergoing a remarkable transformation, called 'metamorphosis,' to become the beautiful parts that make up the butterfly that will emerge.
Limerence is the chemical reaction that accompanies human love that is measurable but defies full explanation.
Engages neurotransmitters during sex for some more than others: ocytocin, serotonin, dopamine.
Adrenalin: notice things with greater clarity.
Transported, engaged, altered state, connection with others and including domesticated and wild animals sharing our world. Not dominion.
Mutualistic, symbiotic.
Cognition.
Many animals have the same brain activity. That’s why drugs affecting mood and behavior work on them too.
They signal one another. Dolphins: you can detect the differences in their vocalizations. Match emotions and perceptions.
Noticing an animal looking at, regarding you. Bridge the perceived divide.
Marine biologist on dive: purple sea urchin getting to know her by using her tube feet to suck hard at her skin. Not want to let go. Could have stung the biologist with spear, but neither felt threatened.
Transformative experiences.
Even pond protozoa display through motion and where it stopped: having an intent. “Felt a consciousness.”
Paul Dayton Octopus suckers, 500 million communication-processing neurons.
Cephalopods may be able to see with their skin.
Bioengineering gets public dollars, though favored for producing products in the lab to be patented for profit by research universities and professors.
1937 Undersea by Rachel Carson. Worlds, interconnectedness of life.
Awe - encounter, exhilaration
Ave per Maslow is transcendence, as a motivator of generosity, kindness, and hope.
Catalyst of personal change and growth.
WHen you feel awe, connected, you don’t ever feel alone.
Language is symbols representing things, places, ideas.
Carl Safina: inner life of animals, can communicate. Contends derision of anthropomorphism has wrecked scientific study involved animals. Nuanced emotions and thoughts in other animals, contributes to lack of empathy leading to destruction of habitat and species at an unprecedented rate. (Decartes machines)
20% land mass for agriculture. Destabilized Earth.
Frans de Waal psych prof, authority on primates and pro-social behavior.
Anthropocentrism: animals are here for our use.
Animal centrism: effort to understand and feel what life must be like for a member of another species.
Trees send signals and nourishment through roots and fungi and transfer seeds by animals as mobile units.
Language: dolphin used for mine detection mimicking and trying to express in human language.
Ecotherapy
Elephants keep better time on drums than humans.
Bioacoustics
Patterns of communication, algorithms.
Chorus, tone changes
Gestures similar patterns ppl and chimps.
Zebra finches sing to eggs, protective effect.
When raptor approaches, tufted titmouse songbird sends out an alarm understood by squirrels and chipmunks. These calls between species learned rather than innate.
9 or 10 senses including tongue clicks echolocation.
Migrating birds and fish use the earth’s magnetic fields to navigate. Theory that humans have the same ability, called magnetoreception, in which our brains hold “grid cells” that keep track of where we are.
We read tells from other people that’s why we have hunches, laughter is contagious. Interbrain-induced sense of transcendence.
Cooperative signaling between birds and human populations.
Dogs and humans coevolution.
Suggests the potential of future development and practice of collaborative communication between humans and many other species.
Moral maze of our attraction to other animals: spectators, disrupters or participants?
Distorted factory farm, zoo.
Crosstalk molecules change each other. Microrna.
COevolution man wolf.
Dogs more communal than primates.
Packs. They humanize us.
Wild blood, hybrids exotic pets, Savannah cats long legs, chameleon one eye up and down other sideways, people release and nonnative threaten indigious wildlife like zebra mussels, african monitors, asian lionfish, snakes
Distorted interactions.
Yearn for deeper connections.
Therapeutic
Ecotherapist, cycles of nature inspire to be more adaptive.
Work for change to replace the Anthropocene (6th extinction) with Symbiocene.
Solastalgia: despondency over loss.
Administrivia.
Relationships
Human wildlife conflict
coyotes
Nature-rich urban design with wildlife corridors, green roofs, create new habitat.
Doug Tallamy, plant natives to attract nourish the native insects and restore bird migration routes.
Agrihoods, London working on this.
Octlantis off easter Australia octopus colony, think and see with cups on tentacles richin photons and neurons, sculpted shell piles into dens.
ONly ¼ of dogs alive today are companion animals. Rest are strays.
Biological carrying capacity.
CRISPR clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats: edit any genome of humans, other animals or crops.
Urban Wildlife Information Network mission reduce human-wildlife conflict in cities and champion biodiversity conservation.
Bonobos Brian Hare evolutionary anthropologist Duke U: bonobos make love not war. A species that outcompeted others by becoming nicer. Changes in adrenaline levels and fur among foxes bred for more desirable demeanor.
Zoos habitat vs cages. Progress.
Principled critics
Zealandia first fully fenced urban nature sanctury, 556 acre ark. Allowed species from mainland to come home.
What you call wildlife, we call relatives.
In 2000, atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen focused publication attention on human activities that had become so powerful a force that we now shape the very systems and conditions that regulate life on our planet.
Half the world’s large rivers are dammed,
20 percent of our planetary landmass is used for agriculture;
Pour plastics and their derivatives permeates nearly every living thing,
Our carbon pollution is largely responsible for the rapidity of climate change,
Our habitat destruction contributes to biodiversity collapse and mass extinctions. Perhaps 95 percent f the land-cased vertebrate biomass is made up of pets and livestock living human-created monocultures.
Anthropocene defines the age of human domination.
Descartes: outsized influence, machines to be used.
Move from exploitative ethic (worldview) to nurturing ethic.
In school, encourage connections with nature and telling of stories about nature encounters. Go to habitats and observe silently. Be open to encounters.
Have students record observations and feelings, as in finding a dead squirrel in a park. Curiosity, understand science, cycle of life.
Social connection.
Cocha Cashu biological station Peruvian Amazon, pristine.
Trill, enthrallment.
Nurture and psychological and spiritual connection with nature, in addition to neighboring it.
Reciprocity.
Come to see damage to Earth is damage to ourselves.
Seeing the world through others’ eyes, come to see the world (and ourselves) differently.
Paul Dayton oceanographer,
Humane education -- not a good word, sounds like mainly about humans.
Educate new growing knowledge about animal intelligence and emotions.
Stop vivisection, promote alternatives.
Dominion, communion, subjugation.
Reciprocity in relationships: we take more from nature and animals than we give.
Call of nature: we can move away from mindless consumption and nurture and practice respect for all life and lives around us: communion.
Our Wild Calling: How Connecting with Nature Can Transform Lives -- and Save Theirs
By Richard Louv
Author of “Last Child in the Woods”
Vitamin N
Nature deficit disorder
Bare light bulbs, LED, incandescent, disco ball.
Communion (Thomas Berry)
THE Same Spirit that abides in me abides in you.
Neophiles like novel experiences. Bears, raccoons.
Millennials feel lonelier than past generations.
So much social linkage, but still divided by screens. And ego.
(New ways to receive, perceive, make sense/story and respond.)
Anthropocene, ecozoic, Symbiocene -- together.
Heartful, heart full.
Liminality: the threshold stage between a previous and new way of perceiving one’s identity, like the initiation stage. Sacred time in many cultures. Like changing between seasons, caterpillar to butterfly, physical and other changes manifested.
It vs. being, resource vs. fellow earthling. Empathy feel with, sympathy feel for, compassion feel with action.
Within the chrysalis the old body parts of the caterpillar are undergoing a remarkable transformation, called 'metamorphosis,' to become the beautiful parts that make up the butterfly that will emerge.
Limerence is the chemical reaction that accompanies human love that is measurable but defies full explanation.
Engages neurotransmitters during sex for some more than others: ocytocin, serotonin, dopamine.
Adrenalin: notice things with greater clarity.
Transported, engaged, altered state, connection with others and including domesticated and wild animals sharing our world. Not dominion.
Mutualistic, symbiotic.
Cognition.
Many animals have the same brain activity. That’s why drugs affecting mood and behavior work on them too.
They signal one another. Dolphins: you can detect the differences in their vocalizations. Match emotions and perceptions.
Noticing an animal looking at, regarding you. Bridge the perceived divide.
Marine biologist on dive: purple sea urchin getting to know her by using her tube feet to suck hard at her skin. Not want to let go. Could have stung the biologist with spear, but neither felt threatened.
Transformative experiences.
Even pond protozoa display through motion and where it stopped: having an intent. “Felt a consciousness.”
Paul Dayton Octopus suckers, 500 million communication-processing neurons.
Cephalopods may be able to see with their skin.
Bioengineering gets public dollars, though favored for producing products in the lab to be patented for profit by research universities and professors.
1937 Undersea by Rachel Carson. Worlds, interconnectedness of life.
Awe - encounter, exhilaration
Ave per Maslow is transcendence, as a motivator of generosity, kindness, and hope.
Catalyst of personal change and growth.
WHen you feel awe, connected, you don’t ever feel alone.
Language is symbols representing things, places, ideas.
Carl Safina: inner life of animals, can communicate. Contends derision of anthropomorphism has wrecked scientific study involved animals. Nuanced emotions and thoughts in other animals, contributes to lack of empathy leading to destruction of habitat and species at an unprecedented rate. (Decartes machines)
20% land mass for agriculture. Destabilized Earth.
Frans de Waal psych prof, authority on primates and pro-social behavior.
Anthropocentrism: animals are here for our use.
Animal centrism: effort to understand and feel what life must be like for a member of another species.
Trees send signals and nourishment through roots and fungi and transfer seeds by animals as mobile units.
Language: dolphin used for mine detection mimicking and trying to express in human language.
Ecotherapy
Elephants keep better time on drums than humans.
Bioacoustics
Patterns of communication, algorithms.
Chorus, tone changes
Gestures similar patterns ppl and chimps.
Zebra finches sing to eggs, protective effect.
When raptor approaches, tufted titmouse songbird sends out an alarm understood by squirrels and chipmunks. These calls between species learned rather than innate.
9 or 10 senses including tongue clicks echolocation.
Migrating birds and fish use the earth’s magnetic fields to navigate. Theory that humans have the same ability, called magnetoreception, in which our brains hold “grid cells” that keep track of where we are.
We read tells from other people that’s why we have hunches, laughter is contagious. Interbrain-induced sense of transcendence.
Cooperative signaling between birds and human populations.
Dogs and humans coevolution.
Suggests the potential of future development and practice of collaborative communication between humans and many other species.
Moral maze of our attraction to other animals: spectators, disrupters or participants?
Distorted factory farm, zoo.
Crosstalk molecules change each other. Microrna.
COevolution man wolf.
Dogs more communal than primates.
Packs. They humanize us.
Wild blood, hybrids exotic pets, Savannah cats long legs, chameleon one eye up and down other sideways, people release and nonnative threaten indigious wildlife like zebra mussels, african monitors, asian lionfish, snakes
Distorted interactions.
Yearn for deeper connections.
Therapeutic
Ecotherapist, cycles of nature inspire to be more adaptive.
Work for change to replace the Anthropocene (6th extinction) with Symbiocene.
Solastalgia: despondency over loss.
Administrivia.
Relationships
Human wildlife conflict
coyotes
Nature-rich urban design with wildlife corridors, green roofs, create new habitat.
Doug Tallamy, plant natives to attract nourish the native insects and restore bird migration routes.
Agrihoods, London working on this.
Octlantis off easter Australia octopus colony, think and see with cups on tentacles richin photons and neurons, sculpted shell piles into dens.
ONly ¼ of dogs alive today are companion animals. Rest are strays.
Biological carrying capacity.
CRISPR clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats: edit any genome of humans, other animals or crops.
Urban Wildlife Information Network mission reduce human-wildlife conflict in cities and champion biodiversity conservation.
Bonobos Brian Hare evolutionary anthropologist Duke U: bonobos make love not war. A species that outcompeted others by becoming nicer. Changes in adrenaline levels and fur among foxes bred for more desirable demeanor.
Zoos habitat vs cages. Progress.
Principled critics
Zealandia first fully fenced urban nature sanctury, 556 acre ark. Allowed species from mainland to come home.
What you call wildlife, we call relatives.
In 2000, atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen focused publication attention on human activities that had become so powerful a force that we now shape the very systems and conditions that regulate life on our planet.
Half the world’s large rivers are dammed,
20 percent of our planetary landmass is used for agriculture;
Pour plastics and their derivatives permeates nearly every living thing,
Our carbon pollution is largely responsible for the rapidity of climate change,
Our habitat destruction contributes to biodiversity collapse and mass extinctions. Perhaps 95 percent f the land-cased vertebrate biomass is made up of pets and livestock living human-created monocultures.
Anthropocene defines the age of human domination.
Descartes: outsized influence, machines to be used.
Move from exploitative ethic (worldview) to nurturing ethic.
In school, encourage connections with nature and telling of stories about nature encounters. Go to habitats and observe silently. Be open to encounters.
Have students record observations and feelings, as in finding a dead squirrel in a park. Curiosity, understand science, cycle of life.
Social connection.
Cocha Cashu biological station Peruvian Amazon, pristine.
Trill, enthrallment.
Nurture and psychological and spiritual connection with nature, in addition to neighboring it.
Reciprocity.
Come to see damage to Earth is damage to ourselves.
Seeing the world through others’ eyes, come to see the world (and ourselves) differently.
Paul Dayton oceanographer,
Humane education -- not a good word, sounds like mainly about humans.
Educate new growing knowledge about animal intelligence and emotions.
Stop vivisection, promote alternatives.
Dominion, communion, subjugation.
Reciprocity in relationships: we take more from nature and animals than we give.
Call of nature: we can move away from mindless consumption and nurture and practice respect for all life and lives around us: communion.
December 10, 2025
"The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not..."
This was a really beautiful book, and perfect if you are looking for something to read in short bursts over a longer period of time. There was no singular storyline, but rather a series of anecdotes and essays about our connection to animals (both wild animals and pets) and the various ways this affects both humans and the animals themselves.
If you like reading about nature but don't like books that are too scientific and explanatory then you should give this a shot. There was a lot of beautiful nature writing but a lot of writing about psychology and philosophy as well. Normally this sort of more flowery nature writing bothers me but in this book I really enjoyed it. Perhaps because of how much I love animals, none of this was cringe to me and I could really empathize with the very deep connections to animals that are recounted in this book and enjoyed thinking about the deeper meaning these connections might mean for humanity.
"With their parallel lives, animals offer man a companionship different from any offered by human exchange. Different because it is a companionship offered to the loneliness of man as a species."
This will definitely stick with you and make you want to just go sit outside and watch the birds for a while. A very calm book which opens your eyes a bit to the world outside of your phone/house/job and your place in this larger environment.
January 9, 2021
3.5
Lots of information, but a bit too scattered for me. Louv cites study after study and recites conversation after conversation regarding animals and their influence on humans -- too many studies and too many conversations. The takeaway is: protecting wild animals, appreciating domesticated animals, connecting with nature is crucial to mental health, the ecosystem, etc. No argument. The problem is that, since everything is handled quickly, the devil in the details gets short shrift. Retired teacher, so his touting of dogs as reading buddies at schools, for example, sounds great until you start thinking about the details that would face teachers: allergic kids, kids with dog phobias, possibility of dog biting, poop cleanup, parents who object. Impossible in public schools in any but the smallest of the small special programs.
Lots of information, but a bit too scattered for me. Louv cites study after study and recites conversation after conversation regarding animals and their influence on humans -- too many studies and too many conversations. The takeaway is: protecting wild animals, appreciating domesticated animals, connecting with nature is crucial to mental health, the ecosystem, etc. No argument. The problem is that, since everything is handled quickly, the devil in the details gets short shrift. Retired teacher, so his touting of dogs as reading buddies at schools, for example, sounds great until you start thinking about the details that would face teachers: allergic kids, kids with dog phobias, possibility of dog biting, poop cleanup, parents who object. Impossible in public schools in any but the smallest of the small special programs.
November 16, 2020
This book combines anecdotal evidence with scientific research about the relationships we develop with animals, highlighting both our impact on them and their impact on us.
My favorite parts of Louv’s books are those describing his hopeful and galvanizing speculations about how we can better integrate nature into all aspects of our lives. This book offers those and explains the mindset changes that need to occur for them to take root in reality.
My favorite parts of Louv’s books are those describing his hopeful and galvanizing speculations about how we can better integrate nature into all aspects of our lives. This book offers those and explains the mindset changes that need to occur for them to take root in reality.
September 3, 2023
udalo mi się skończyć książkę, z postanowieniem że będę ją tylko czytać przebywając na dworze - to było fajne wyzwanie :)) momentami książka była słabsza, momentami lepsza, ale ogólnie polecam każdemu miłośnikowi przyrody. warto się zastanowić nad swoją więzią ze światem natury, którego jesteśmy nieodrywalną częścią.
April 17, 2024
I really enjoyed this Wildlife Center of Virginia book club read. I appreciated the length of the chapters, it was super informative, and I appreciated that the author didn’t shy from difficult topics that can be divisive in the outdoor recreational space (outdoor cats, racism, etc.). I will always love a book that incorporates the reciprocal nature of our relationship with our home - the earth takes care of us and we should be taking care of it. While this point can feel overwhelming in the work we have to do to truly be decent stewards, the author highlighted positive changes happening. I didn’t feel the doom and gloom I’ve felt with some other books. This one felt hopeful.
April 27, 2022
A dense book full of great stories about positive human-non-human interactions and fascinating scientific details, but the lack of an overarching narrative thread is a significant flaw.
August 9, 2019
Not only did I love this book, but I think I will look back to this book and credit it with my soon-to-have infatuation with Wendell Berry.
September 5, 2019
This book took a long time to read; not that it was difficult but there was so much information to absorb and think about! I loved the stories about people "connecting" to animals even if it was a brief moment or simply a pigeon. The love of animals is such a powerful thing. I need to keep this book close to me and reread sections if I ever feel I'm losing my humanity.
October 4, 2019
I won this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway.
I'm not really sure what I was expecting when I picked this book up, but whatever it was, this wasn't it. While this book had some amazing anecdotes and facts through it (there was a lot of "Ooh, listen to this..." and "Whoa, did you know that...) it was a really slow read for me. A lot of non-fiction reads like a novel to me, but this was almost more like a textbook. Not bad, just not my usual style and I found myself having to reread certain passages a couple of times. I did love the overall message of the book, and it made me look closer at my own relationship with both my pets and the animals I run in contact with in the wild.
I'm not really sure what I was expecting when I picked this book up, but whatever it was, this wasn't it. While this book had some amazing anecdotes and facts through it (there was a lot of "Ooh, listen to this..." and "Whoa, did you know that...) it was a really slow read for me. A lot of non-fiction reads like a novel to me, but this was almost more like a textbook. Not bad, just not my usual style and I found myself having to reread certain passages a couple of times. I did love the overall message of the book, and it made me look closer at my own relationship with both my pets and the animals I run in contact with in the wild.
Want to read
July 2, 2019Animals are my life. Finally found a book that I’ve been looking for!
May 1, 2020
This book was really not what I was expecting. I was very excited to read it and even started a book club at work. Most of us didn’t even finish reading it as it did not offer the content and connection it advertised. I’m usually a fan of this author but this book was not the best.
May 13, 2022
A little over halfway through this book, and to be honest, I'm not sure of how much more I can take. As an autistic person, and someone who has a BSc and almost MSc in biology, I have many criticisms of this book that make it a very difficult read.
What I'll say about it is that it's a good book for someone who has little experience with animals beyond pets. I think for those interested in becoming more involved with local wildlife, or wanting to know in more detail how humans and wild animals are meant to co-exist, this is a perfectly fine read. But that is where I believe the merit of this book fades.
This book gets some information in cited studies entirely incorrect--in one chapter, Louv cites a study with zebra finches, claiming that something about mothers singing to the eggs makes them grow differently inside of the egg. This is not the case--the actual study suggests that communication within the eggs allows chicks with stunted growth due to extreme heat to be more experienced communicators and thus grow better once they have hatched. There's a lot of anthropomorphism in this book, despite its insistence that it strives to be critically anthropomorphic, and it makes it very hard to take its claims seriously on that basis.
Many of the sources for the claims of this book (that animals share significant experiences with humans) are also purely anecdotal, which is nice in Chicken Soup for the Animal Lover's Soul. Less so for a book meant to be informative. There's a passage discussing how people aren't allowed to cite personal anecdotes as scientific information or experiences, and like, yeah, of course not. There's no data backing up the significance of an octopus grasping onto a diver's face from the octopus' perspective, Richard.
Additionally--the discussion of autistic people in this book is frankly insensitive. Louv uses terms such as "high functioning", which have been criticized in recent years for their ableist connotations. Additionally, Louv also cites that autism cases are "rising", as though autism is a disease of some sort, and not because under-diagnosed groups such as women/girls and people of color are now getting more diagnoses, and because the definition of autistic symptoms are always-changing. I understand this may only be my perspective and is mired by personal vendettas but I have many autistic friends who feel similarly about such terms. It comes from an ableist perspective, is my point, and it mires the story trying to be told here.
I had a lot of hopes getting this book, but so far it's been a difficult read. For a book meant to appeal to people from all sorts of backgrounds with animals, and backgrounds in general, I found this book a coupling of insensitive and inaccurate in many ways.
What I'll say about it is that it's a good book for someone who has little experience with animals beyond pets. I think for those interested in becoming more involved with local wildlife, or wanting to know in more detail how humans and wild animals are meant to co-exist, this is a perfectly fine read. But that is where I believe the merit of this book fades.
This book gets some information in cited studies entirely incorrect--in one chapter, Louv cites a study with zebra finches, claiming that something about mothers singing to the eggs makes them grow differently inside of the egg. This is not the case--the actual study suggests that communication within the eggs allows chicks with stunted growth due to extreme heat to be more experienced communicators and thus grow better once they have hatched. There's a lot of anthropomorphism in this book, despite its insistence that it strives to be critically anthropomorphic, and it makes it very hard to take its claims seriously on that basis.
Many of the sources for the claims of this book (that animals share significant experiences with humans) are also purely anecdotal, which is nice in Chicken Soup for the Animal Lover's Soul. Less so for a book meant to be informative. There's a passage discussing how people aren't allowed to cite personal anecdotes as scientific information or experiences, and like, yeah, of course not. There's no data backing up the significance of an octopus grasping onto a diver's face from the octopus' perspective, Richard.
Additionally--the discussion of autistic people in this book is frankly insensitive. Louv uses terms such as "high functioning", which have been criticized in recent years for their ableist connotations. Additionally, Louv also cites that autism cases are "rising", as though autism is a disease of some sort, and not because under-diagnosed groups such as women/girls and people of color are now getting more diagnoses, and because the definition of autistic symptoms are always-changing. I understand this may only be my perspective and is mired by personal vendettas but I have many autistic friends who feel similarly about such terms. It comes from an ableist perspective, is my point, and it mires the story trying to be told here.
I had a lot of hopes getting this book, but so far it's been a difficult read. For a book meant to appeal to people from all sorts of backgrounds with animals, and backgrounds in general, I found this book a coupling of insensitive and inaccurate in many ways.
December 11, 2019
We can all use a better connection to the world around us, particularly to the animals that share our space. We have pets and we love all kinds of animals, but how does this help us connect to nature? Are animals a pathway for humans to understand nature better?
In the book, Our Wild Calling, author Richard Louv explores our relationship with animals, both wild and domestic. How can humans draw closer to nature and to animals? What sorts of things are people out there doing now to help make this happen?
In this book, you will see a variety of ways in which we can enhance our lives and experience. Wildlife, pets, imaginary animals, and more, are all there for us to learn about and become closer to. Humans are learning more and more about the animals that share our planet.
Some of the things that you will learn in this book come from research and some from experience. There are plenty of ways to approach our need to get closer to animals. Some do this in a spiritual way and some in a scientific way. But, the approach itself isn’t what’s really important. The connection with nature and animals is what’s really important. That’s what need is being fulfilled here. Humans can’t exist in a vacuum without nature and animals.
I think I most enjoyed the chapter that talked about animal-assisted therapy. I think that’s probably a very important thing to be doing. The use of animals helps seniors and sick kids alike. All humans seem to love animals and we can all relate to them. So, their use in a therapeutic setting seems just natural. I enjoyed that part of the book a lot. The whole book is packed full of good information and I think there are many nuances in it too, that will require a second reading in more detail.
This is a book to savor and think about for a long time. I really loved it.
In the book, Our Wild Calling, author Richard Louv explores our relationship with animals, both wild and domestic. How can humans draw closer to nature and to animals? What sorts of things are people out there doing now to help make this happen?
In this book, you will see a variety of ways in which we can enhance our lives and experience. Wildlife, pets, imaginary animals, and more, are all there for us to learn about and become closer to. Humans are learning more and more about the animals that share our planet.
Some of the things that you will learn in this book come from research and some from experience. There are plenty of ways to approach our need to get closer to animals. Some do this in a spiritual way and some in a scientific way. But, the approach itself isn’t what’s really important. The connection with nature and animals is what’s really important. That’s what need is being fulfilled here. Humans can’t exist in a vacuum without nature and animals.
I think I most enjoyed the chapter that talked about animal-assisted therapy. I think that’s probably a very important thing to be doing. The use of animals helps seniors and sick kids alike. All humans seem to love animals and we can all relate to them. So, their use in a therapeutic setting seems just natural. I enjoyed that part of the book a lot. The whole book is packed full of good information and I think there are many nuances in it too, that will require a second reading in more detail.
This is a book to savor and think about for a long time. I really loved it.
August 28, 2019
Educational, Awe-Inspiring, Brilliant, Powerful.
In Our Wild Calling, Richard Louv transcends the surmountable importance between animals, nature, and human life. His words are breathtaking memorable, describing in each chapter real life examples pertaining to human and animal relationships. The book covers every area making the topic interesting by including a unique story behind an important point.
My favorite chapters were about intimacy, animal-assisted therapy, dreaming animals, and most importantly the chapter about how to incorporate animals in school as an educational perspective.
I was surprised to learn about new terms, and scientific studies that I’ve never even knew existed. A good example relates to how people use animals as over medication, such as hoarding, even considering how we maybe studying them too closely like DNA, Dolly the Sheep is an example. That’s my personal opinion (about Dolly the Sheep), the book doesn’t get into DNA but more how we are at war with animals in our own living environment. He delicately addresses and offers viable suggestions for us to connect with not only our pets but animals in the wild.
Beautiful book, I loved the extensive research, easy to read writing style, and passionate portrayal of our connection to nature. Every library, school, and anyone interested in growing as a human should read this book.
Thank you Goodreads, and the publisher for the opportunity of winning this book, this is my honest review.
In Our Wild Calling, Richard Louv transcends the surmountable importance between animals, nature, and human life. His words are breathtaking memorable, describing in each chapter real life examples pertaining to human and animal relationships. The book covers every area making the topic interesting by including a unique story behind an important point.
My favorite chapters were about intimacy, animal-assisted therapy, dreaming animals, and most importantly the chapter about how to incorporate animals in school as an educational perspective.
I was surprised to learn about new terms, and scientific studies that I’ve never even knew existed. A good example relates to how people use animals as over medication, such as hoarding, even considering how we maybe studying them too closely like DNA, Dolly the Sheep is an example. That’s my personal opinion (about Dolly the Sheep), the book doesn’t get into DNA but more how we are at war with animals in our own living environment. He delicately addresses and offers viable suggestions for us to connect with not only our pets but animals in the wild.
Beautiful book, I loved the extensive research, easy to read writing style, and passionate portrayal of our connection to nature. Every library, school, and anyone interested in growing as a human should read this book.
Thank you Goodreads, and the publisher for the opportunity of winning this book, this is my honest review.
December 28, 2019
Please remember to respect wildlife! That is my first thought as I am reading this book. I have yet to finish, but I am enjoying it so far. I appreciate Luvs style and his emphasis on connection to nature. I only worry that this book may push more people to seek encounters with wildlife that not only endanger themselves but also the future welfare of that wildlife. Feeding wildlife, trying to get close for that inspirational selfie, stalking animals to see them. These practices can be harmful to animal species and to people. We are currently destroying more and more natural habitats of wild animals. And masses of visitors to public lands jepridise the survival of wildlife. Close encounters with animals may be inspiring to humans, but it may be extremely stressful to animals. When wildlife become to familiar with humans, or begin to depend on them for food, they can become dangerous to humans or their ability to survive without access to human food can decrease. I encourage all readers of this book to educate themselves on how to Respect Wildlife while seeking enriching encounters. Learn more at the LNT website.
https://lnt.org/why/7-principles/resp...
https://lnt.org/why/7-principles/resp...
January 6, 2021
This book was one of those books where at every turn of the page I find myself saying, "wow!" It is full of interesting facts and anecdotes. As an environmental educator I still found new and interesting ideas and information. I was grateful that it wasn't a repeat of his book, Last Child in the Woods. It focused on the converging "edges" between urban and wilderness, and how we as humans can respects, protect, and learn to live within these communities rather than fighting the wildlife that we have stolen so much habitat from. He struck a good balance between emotional, anecdotal ideas (ie part of which he calls "habitat of the heart") and concrete, scientific strategies. I appreciate his integration of calling for indigenous voices and knowledge, although I think it was too little and it could be a whole book merely on that. I found a lot of ideas and inspiration for environmental education and bringing these ideas to people who may not already know them. But, as I started by saying, just the amount of awe-inspiring facts about animals (crows, pandas, elephants) was worth this read. I had wished it wasn't a library copy, because I constantly wanted to highlight things to go back to later. I imagine I will re-read this some day with a highlighter on hand.
June 4, 2021
This author points out how we are a part of the natural world and we need to remember this for our mental, physical and spiritual well-being. He cites many encounters with animals in cities and other areas. The Betweens are especially discussed. These are animals that travel between our urban neighborhoods and their wild homes. Several ongoing projects working with keeping a habitat fit for us and for all creatures are disclosed and many are making a beginning. Indigenous people have lived for generations with consideration for all creatures, and the inclusive things they do are worth considering as our planet continues to lose species. Louv is especially concerned with the disconnect that young people and children feel today; closer ties with the natural world would help give them a connection with animals and people and their environment. He sees a benefit for our mental health as well as possibly providing for the future of this earth.
February 10, 2024
Our Wild Calling by Richard Louv is a captivating, reverential work, an attempt to bring humans a lot closer to reality. It urges us to look at and comprehend the healing power of nature, to embrace the wild. In a world of hustle, it requests you to slow down and reconnect with your roots.
Our Wild Calling brings together the beauty of human and animal kingdom. It is a book exploring the various aspects belonging to the interactions between humans and animals. We have come a long way, from being primitive, riding on the waves of industrialisation and modernisation and yet the primitive characteristics still exist - the instinct to survive, the yearning to be close to the nature. Author lays emphasis on the fact that as much as homo sapiens feel superior than other existing species, we still belong to the kingdom animalia. ©
Read the entire book review here 👇
https://ofbookbabiesandmore.wordpress...
Our Wild Calling brings together the beauty of human and animal kingdom. It is a book exploring the various aspects belonging to the interactions between humans and animals. We have come a long way, from being primitive, riding on the waves of industrialisation and modernisation and yet the primitive characteristics still exist - the instinct to survive, the yearning to be close to the nature. Author lays emphasis on the fact that as much as homo sapiens feel superior than other existing species, we still belong to the kingdom animalia. ©
Read the entire book review here 👇
https://ofbookbabiesandmore.wordpress...
September 3, 2019
In his latest homage to nature, Richard Louv urges us to learn to appreciate out relationship to the other creatures which share our planetary home with us. As someone who feeds squirrels, crows, racoons, turkeys, cats, lots of bird species and even skunks in my neighborhoodly front yard, I sincerely appreciate the value of getting to know them and taking advantage of their willingness to let me watch them at “work” and “play.” (To be fair, I have to say that they are largely fed by my husband and watched by me.) I believe the admonishment to be “stewards” of the land means taking care of it – not destroying it and bringing it into submission. So I thoroughly enjoyed his views on “how connecting with animals can transform out lives – and save theirs.” Thank you, again, for gifting us with your latest writing, Mr. Louv. We owe you a debt of beastly gratitude!
December 8, 2019
I love this book because Louv doesn’t lecture the reader. The focus is not on what we might be doing wrong, but on all the ways humans and other animals have done well together—and why. It covers childhood pets, wild encounters, studies of our mutual makeup, ways of communicating, and more! If anything, this combination of diverse anecdotes and scientific research aims to encourage awe and open observation when we connect with nature (and an acknowledgement of the benefits therein). Truly, Louv has provided a very readable--and moving-- collection that would be perfect for readers already enveloped in nature, those just stepping out the literal and metaphorical front door, and everyone else in between.
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