Crossing Paths: Uncommon Encounters With Animals in the Wild

by Craig Childs

Recounts a naturalist's encounter with such animals as bears, coyotes, elk, smelt, porcupines, and blue sharks

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction, Animals, Natural History

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1997

About the author

CRAIG CHILDS is a commentator for NPR's Morning Edition, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Men's Journal, Outside, The Sun, and Orion. He has won numerous awards including the 2011 Ellen Meloy Desert Writers Award, 2008 Rowell Award for the Art of Adventure, the 2007 Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award, and the 2003 Spirit of the West Award for his body of work.

Reviews

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I don't camp, am not drawn to wilderness and have seen few animals in the wild, but I enjoyed this book enormously. It's not exciting, but I found it contemplative, and in some places (especially the meeting with a mountain lion) to be poetic. Yes, I know not much happens in each of the 24 stories, but they still held my interest, and Childs does succeed in leaving me feeling I had indeed met a wild animal and come to understand its being just a bit better.

There are some memorable facts. The pronghorn antelope is not an antelope, or anything else. It is the only member of its own genus. A bighorn sheep ram drank nineteen liters of water in one go. And the mosquito chapter is horrifying, and worthy of a vampire novelist.

Childs is also the story in this book, and a bit of a wild animal in his own right. He has apparently kept a journal, so the tales have considerable detail. He makes choices I certainly would not make, nor would any person concerned with their safety. This is, of course, non-fiction, but we read novels to experience people different from ourselves, and he certainly qualifies in that respect for me. In a way I cannot put into words, I sort of understand why he did (and perhaps still does) these things.

This is different from any animal book i have read. The animals are not cute, cuddly, or described in terms of remarkable intelligence or the parallels they share with us humans. They just are, and I enjoyed meeting them.

[David Kessler · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most ubiquitous animals in North America are highlighted by unusually extensive efforts of a natural explorer. The author is a very active person and has lots of personal stories about contact with all sorts of critters: grizzlies, heron, mice, whale, fish,marmots etal.
A terrific bit of writing; I shall be reading more of his writing.

[Barbara Broker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it! Well written, engaging and expanded my knowledge of critters I've had to contend with.

[Fussnik · Rating 5 out of 5]

oh this is maybe the fifth or sixth time I've read this. jeez this guy can take you there. The kitty who crawls inside his blanket every night with snow covered paws is what I read first.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I had liked this book more. Childs is a good writer, and creates evocative scenes that are well-described. But, I guess I just wasn't in the mood for this book, or something. For one thing, he is the sort of guy who goes camping for weeks on end in remote places - the sort of trips where he has to drive out in an ATV to bury a food stash at the halfway point. He and I clearly have little in common. Also, all these episodes he describes can be boiled down to "I saw a wild animal, and it was really awesome." There's a feeling of sameness that kept me from getting into the spirit of things.