Les nostres recomanacions i propostes

 

Lilly on Dolphins by John Lilly. The author was one of the first scientists to attempt to formally study communication with another species. Today, his book would be dismissed as too “woo-woo” to be considered science writing; the author became known as a proponent for mind-altering drugs, an enthusiasm I don’t share. But when I read the book just out of college, I was deeply moved by his connection with these intelligent individuals he came to know. Though some of his ideas have been disproved, tools that were not available to Lilly at the time of his work have revealed that dolphins do possess a complex language, including personal names, known as “signature whistles,” for each individual in a given pod.      

 
The Edge of the Sea by Rachel Carson. This title introduced me to the work of an author whose work helped found the modern environmental movement. I bought this, her third book, as a discard at a library sale the first year I began work as a newspaper reporter. I wasn’t yet an environmental reporter, but I wanted to learn about seaweeds and snails. I became a devotee of Carson’s sharp eye and lyrical voice and sought out her later works, including Silent Spring, her sweeping expose of the chemical poisoning of the natural world.   

 
Never Cry Wolf  by Farley Mowat. One of my favorite books as a child was Farley Mowat’s The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be, about his adventures with his beloved pet, ignominiously named Mutt. Later I would read the author’s most famous adult title, and it affected me deeply. The book is a portrait of a scientist whose findings turn him into an activist on behalf of the animals he studied. Though Never Cry Wolf was published as a factual account, it was later decried as fiction. Yet even as he departed from the facts on the ground, Farley’s text remains true to matters of the heart. “Never let the facts get in the way of the truth,” he later told me, as he generously welcomed me to his home and helped me while I researched my own first book. And while I’ve remained a stickler for facts in my own writing, Farley showed me that a book must have emotional resonance as well if its author is to successfully move others to action."    


Sy Montgomery és una de les naturalistes més importants d'avui dia. Ha escrit nombrosos guions per a documentals i més d'una vintena de llibres, sempre centrats en el tema de la natura i la vida salvatge. El fruit de totes les seves experiències ha quedat plasmat en diversos documentals de National Geographic i en la seva pròpia literatura, que ha sigut àmpliament reconeguda per la crítica. Entre els seus principals llibres destaquem, El embrujo del tigre, The Soul of an Octopus (finalista de los National Book Awards en 2015) o Journey of the Pink Dolphins