Synopses & Reviews
Thousands of ravenous tiny shorebirds race along the waterandrsquo;s edge of Delaware Bay, feasting on pin-sized horseshoe-crab eggs. Fueled by millions of eggs, the migrating red knots fly on. When they arrive at last in their arctic breeding grounds, they will have completed a near-miraculous 9,000-mile journey that began in Tierra del Fuego.
and#160;
Deborah Cramer followed these knots, whose numbers have declined by 75 percent, on their extraordinary odyssey from one end of the earth to the otherandmdash;from an isolated beach at the tip of South America all the way to the icy tundra. In her firsthand account, she explores how diminishing a single stopover can compromise the birdsand#39; entire journey, and how the loss of horseshoe crabsandmdash;ancient animals that come ashore but once a yearandmdash;threatens not only the survival of red knots but also human well-being: the unparalleled ability of horseshoe-crab blood to detect harmful bacteria in vaccines, medical devices, and intravenous drugs safeguards human health. Cramer offers unique insight into how, on an increasingly fragile and congested shore, the lives of red knots, horseshoe crabs, and humans are intertwined. She eloquently portrays the tenacity of small birds and the courage of many people who, bird by bird and beach by beach, keep red knots flying.
Review
andldquo;Deborah Cramer provides a unique, first-hand account of a little known and even less appreciated bird. Her adventures with researchers easily take the reader into the world of science and its complex and evolving findings.andrdquo;andmdash;John Marzluff, co-author of Gifts of the Crow and author ofandnbsp;Welcome to Subirdia
Review
andldquo;Deborah Cramer has crafted a remarkable tale of science, nature, and humanity. She takes us on a sweeping adventure as she paints the portrait of an unimaginably hardy yet threatened bird.andrdquo;andmdash;Susan Solomon, author of The Coldest March
Review
andldquo;The Narrow Edgeandnbsp;is at once an intimate portrait of the small red knot and a much larger exploration of our wondrous, imperiled world.andrdquo;andmdash;Elizabeth Kolbert, author ofandnbsp;The Sixth Extinction
Review
andldquo;In the face of global warming, is our big brain connected to a big enough heart that we might do something to preserve the beauty of the earth? Heart is no problem for the red knotandmdash;20,000 miles on the wing demonstrates that. The finely told story of this bird will, hopefully, help summon greater affection for our home planet.andrdquo;andmdash;Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth
Review
andldquo;Two great cycles intersect every May in Delaware Bay: the epic journeyandmdash;just shy of global circumnavigationandmdash;of red knots and the primordial migration of horseshoe crabs, whose eggs provide critical fuel for shorebirds.andnbsp;They intersect on the narrow edge of the bay, but Deborah Cramer provides a superbly written and gripping account of the full journey. Perilous under any conditions and fraught with additional danger from human impacts, this account is more thrilling than the Kentucky Derby. This book is for anyone who loves adventure: an interwoven tale of humanity and nature in which nature never fails to surprise and delight.andrdquo;andmdash;Thomas E. Lovejoy, University Professor of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University, and National Geographic Conservation Fellow
Review
andldquo;This book is for anyone who loves adventure: an interwoven tale of humanity and nature in which nature never fails to surprise and delight.andrdquo;andmdash;Thomas E. Lovejoy, University Professor of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University, and National Geographic Conservation Fellow
Review
andldquo;A plaintive cry from deep within, an elegy to epic lives lived at full burn, and a warning of the great unraveling that humans are inflicting on this planetandrsquo;s co-voyagers. A book so multidimensional, yet somehow so admirably succinct, I wish Iandrsquo;d written itandmdash;but itandrsquo;s written as only Deborah Cramer could. Thank goodness for that.andrdquo;andmdash;Carl Safina, author of Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel
Review
andldquo;Cramerandrsquo;s pole-to-pole pursuit of an elusive and threatened bird provides the vehicle for her eloquent exploration of our relationship to nature. The message is both sobering and inspirational.andrdquo;andmdash;Nancy Knowlton, author of Citizens of the Sea
Review
andldquo;Perhaps the red knot should replace the canary in the mine as the harbinger of impending changes that are good for neither birds nor people. Essential reading for anyone interested in conservation.andrdquo;andmdash;Joel Greenberg, author of A Feathered River Across the Sky
Review
andldquo;The long journey of a tiny bird is powered by the energy-rich eggs of horseshoe crabs, ancient creatures of sea and coast whose blood plays a critical but little-known role protecting human health. Cramer brilliantly presents us with an ecosystem of many parts.andrdquo;andmdash;Donald Kennedy, President Emeritus, Stanford University
Review
andquot;[Cramer] writes . . . and#39;By the end of this journey I am more in awe than when I began.and#39; Follow her graceful writing for the full 9,500 miles and you will share in that awe.andquot;andmdash;Laurence A. Marschall, Natural History
Review
andldquo;A scientific page-turner, full of intricacies and astonishment. Exhaustively researched and elegantly written, The Narrow Edge is a must for anyone interested in the natural world, our relationship to it, and our stewardship of it.andrdquo;andmdash;Philadelphia Inquirer
Review
andldquo;Her writing is vivid, novelisticandhellip;The resulting book is everything a natural history should be.andrdquo;andmdash;Living Bird
Review
andquot;The Narrow Edge is not just another lament for a world wrecked by human shortsightedness, though. It is, first and foremost, a deeply moving declaration of love for one particular bird, a love for which the author will spare no effort . . . When Cramer pays tribute to the people who give a voice to the birds and crabs that cannot speak for themselves, her book soars. andquot;andmdash;Christopher Irmscher, Weekly Standard
Synopsis
In a volume as urgent and eloquent as Rachel Carsonandrsquo;s Silent Spring, the author reveals how the welfare of coastal creatures is linked in vital ways to our own
Synopsis
In a volume as urgent and eloquent as Rachel Carson s Silent Spring, this book--winner of the Southern Environmental Law Center's 2016 Reed Environmental Writing Award in the book category--reveals how the health and well-being of a tiny bird and an ancient crab mirrors our own
Each year, red knots, sandpipers weighing no more than a coffee cup, fly a near-miraculous 19,000 miles from the tip of South America to their nesting grounds in the Arctic and back. Along the way, they double their weight by gorging on millions of tiny horseshoe crab eggs. Horseshoe crabs, ancient animals that come ashore but once a year, are vital to humans, too: their blue blood safeguards our health. Now, the rufa red knot, newly listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, will likely face extinction in the foreseeable future across its entire range, 40 states and 27 countries. The first United States bird listed because global warming imperils its existence, it will not be the last: the red knot is the twenty-first century s canary in the coal mine. Logging thousands of miles following the knots, shivering with the birds out on the snowy tundra, tracking them down in bug-infested marshes, Cramer vividly portrays what s at stake for millions of shorebirds and hundreds of millions of people living at the sea edge. The Narrow Edge offers an uplifting portrait of the tenacity of tiny birds and of the many people who, on the sea edge we all share, keep knots flying and offer them safe harbor."
Synopsis
Each year, red knots, sandpipers weighing no more than a coffee cup, fly a near-miraculous 19,000 miles from the tip of South America to their nesting grounds in the Arctic and back. Along the way, they double their weight by gorging on millions of tiny horseshoe crab eggs. Horseshoe crabs, ancient animals that come ashore but once a year, are vital to humans, too: their blue blood safeguards our health. Now, the rufa red knot, newly listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, will likely face extinction in the foreseeable future across its entire range, 40 states and 27 countries. The first United States bird listed because global warming imperils its existence, it will not be the last: the red knot is the twenty-first centuryandrsquo;s andldquo;canary in the coal mine.andrdquo; Logging thousands of miles following the knots, shivering with the birds out on the snowy tundra, tracking them down in bug-infested marshes, Cramer vividly portrays whatandrsquo;s at stake for millions of shorebirds and hundreds of millions of people living at the sea edge. The Narrow Edge offers an uplifting portrait of the tenacity of tiny birds and of the many people who, on the sea edge we all share, keep knots flying and offer them safe harbor..
About the Author
Deborah Cramer is the author of Great Waters: An Atlantic Passage and Smithsonian Ocean: Our Water, Our World. She lives in Gloucester, MA.