Synopses & Reviews
With a love for adventure as great as his lifelong fascination with butterflies, America’s best-known lepidopterist set himself an irresistible challenge: how many of the 800 species of butterflies known in the United States could he track down in a single year? Packing little more than a butterfly net and favorite binoculars in his well-travelled 1982 Honda, Robert M. Pyle embarked on the first Butterfly Big Year — a 365-day, 88,000-mile sprint to every corner of America.
Mariposa Road is part road-trip tale, part travelogue, and part memoir of people and species Pyle encountered along the way. Most of all, the book is an unprecedented, intimate view of the entrancing world of butterflies, with new attention to their habitats in a time of environmental stress and climate change. From the California coastline in company with overwintering monarchs to the far northern tundra in pursuit of mysterious sulphurs and arctics, from the zebras of the Everglades to the leafwings and bluewings of the lower Rio Grande, Pyle completed an extraordinary journey, ruled always by surprise and discovery. With exuberance, humor, and honesty, he shares his adventures — and his amazing list of species, both identified and experienced.
Review
“Toss out any notion you might have had about butterfly watchers and meet Bob Pyle: scientist and daredevil, philosopher and magician, pioneer and rebel, and the finest of companions for a vagabond journey. Follow him down the rip-roaring Mariposa Road and you’ll never look at a butterfly, or the world, in the same way again.” Kenn Kaufman, author of Kingbird Highway
Review
“Lepidopterists will appreciate Bob’s sightings, chases, and captures, and natural history remarks on species both familiar and unknown. A reader with only a general interest in natural history can vicariously join Bob on his ‘rays,’ enjoying the adventures, learn much about regional biotas, and either elect to look up specific butterflies in a field guide or choose not to. There is much for anyone among a wide readership to consume and ponder.” Michael M. Collins, author of Moth Catcher
Review
“Mariposa Road is at one and the same time both a serious endeavor in consciousness-raising in conservation biology, and a set of deeply personal reflections based on a lifetime of commitment to the conservation of invertebrates and butterflies in particular.” Francie Chew, Tufts University
Review
“In Mariposa Road we’re invited along as Bob Pyle crisscrosses the country on a yearlong hunt for butterflies. He writes of the land and the creatures in it with such extraordinary vividness and grace — describes his adventures and unexpected challenges with such good humor — that we are borne aloft, we can see it all and love it, as he does. You’ll never have so much fun armchair traveling!” Molly Gloss, author of The Hearts of Horses
Review
“What Roger Tory Peterson was for birds, Bob Pyle is for butterflies — their most impassioned advocate and ceaseless popularizer. From the dusty heat of Texas and the tropical lushness of Hawaii to the legendary outhouse of the Midnight Sun in the Alaskan Arctic, Pyle is a traveling companion who never grows dull.” Scott Weidensaul, author of Of a Feather and Return to Wild America
Review
“Armchair travelers who love a good yarn will find Pyle’s exuberance catching.” Seattle Times
Review
“Robert Michael Pyle’s expansive knowledge of the natural history of North America shines through.” Orion
Review
“For the seemingly ever-growing number of Americans who are just beginning to watch, photograph, and keep life-lists of butterflies, this book will be a revelation of how deep this passion can run.” Wall Street Journal online
Synopsis
From Kauia to Key West, Alaska’s tundra to the Rio Grande, a rollicking year-long search for American butterflies.
Synopsis
With a love for adventure as great as his lifelong fascination with butterflies, a devoted lepidopterist accepts a challenge: how many of the 800 species of American butterflies could he track down in a year? This is the exuberant tale of his rollicking road trip.
Synopsis
From Kauia to Key West, Alaska's tundra to the Rio Grande, a rollicking year-long search for American butterflies With a love for adventure as great as his lifelong fascination with butterflies, America's best-known lepidopterist set himself an irresistible challenge: how many of the 800 species of butterflies known in the United States could he track down in a single year? Packing little more than a butterfly net and favorite binoculars in his well-travelled 1982 Honda, Robert M. Pyle embarked on the first Butterfly Big Year--a 365-day, 88,000-mile sprint to every corner of America. Mariposa Road is part road-trip tale, part travelogue, and part memoir of people and species Pyle encountered along the way. Most of all, the book is an unprecedented, intimate view of the entrancing world of butterflies, with new attention to their habitats in a time of environmental stress and climate change. From the California coastline in company with overwintering monarchs to the far northern tundra in pursuit of mysterious sulphurs and arctics, from the zebras of the Everglades to the leafwings and bluewings of the lower Rio Grande, Pyle completed an extraordinary journey, ruled always by surprise and discovery. With exuberance, humor, and honesty, he shares his adventures--and his amazing list of species, both identified and experienced.
About the Author
Robert Michael Pyle is the author of sixteen books, including Chasing Monarchs and Wintergreen, winner of the John Burroughs Medal. He has studied and written about natural history throughout his career, and as a butterfly conservation consultant, writer, and teacher he has worked in every state and many countries. He lives along a tributary of the Lower Columbia River in southwest Washington.