Synopses & Reviews
From one of the finest nature writers at work in America today — a lyrical, dramatic, illuminating tour of the hidden domain of wild animals.
Whether recalling the experience of being chased through the Grand Canyon by a bighorn sheep, swimming with sharks off the coast of British Columbia, watching a peregrine falcon perform acrobatic stunts at 200 miles per hour, or engaging in a tense face-off with a mountain lion near a desert waterhole, Craig Childs captures the moment so vividly that he puts the reader in his boots.
Each of the forty brief, compelling narratives in The Animal Dialogues focuses on the author's own encounter with a particular species and is replete with astonishing facts about the species' behavior, habitat, breeding, and lifespan. But the glory of each essay lies in Childs's ability to portray the sometimes brutal beauty of the wilderness, to capture the individual essence of wild creatures, to transport the reader beyond the human realm and deep inside the animal kingdom.
Review
"Childs leads readers down the same wild trails blazed by Barry Lopez, Edward Abbey, and John McPhee. Reading Childs' interpretations of encounters with bear, coyote, and jaguar, I realized I had found a writer capable of art."
Gary Presley, author of Seven Wheelchairs: A Life beyond Polio and reviewer for Internetreviewofbooks.com
Synopsis
The Animal Dialogues tells of Childs' experiences among the grizzlies of the Arctic, sharks off the coast of British Columbia, jaguars in the bush of northern Mexico, and others. These stories reveal an entire realm of languages and interactions that humans rarely get the chance to witness.
Exclusive Essay
Read an exclusive essay by Craig Childs