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A review by amyotheramy
A California Bestiary by Rebecca Solnit, Mona Caron
3.0
Toads can't counteract poison, but bluebelly lizards, it is now known, have a mysterious property in their blood that eliminates Lyme disease from the infected ticks, in their nymph stages, that bite them. They may be why the West Coast is so much less infested with this pernicious disease than the East. The bluebelly's blood now is as marvelous as the toadstone then.
If this book had focused more tightly on the facts of each of the twelve chosen subjects and on delivering more facts like the above, it would have been really brilliant. As it is, though, it is clear Solnit chafed a bit against the constraints of the form. She wanders widely, dragging in species not under discussion, returning again and again to California's slow motion ecological collapse and only incidentally performing the 'bestiary' part of the bargain. Which, naturally, is the part I showed up for. But the disappointment is not too terrible. If anything, the main failing of the book is that it isn't much longer and embracing both more context (as a place for Solnit to delve into the research) and many more animals (for more facts and more art). As it stands, it is a depressing but enjoyable and all too short read. (Good companions are [b:The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History|17910054|The Sixth Extinction An Unnatural History|Elizabeth Kolbert|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1372677697s/17910054.jpg|25095506] and a nice history of the development of the Western United States - [b:River Notes: A Natural and Human History of the Colorado|15954297|River Notes A Natural and Human History of the Colorado|Wade Davis|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1379900575s/15954297.jpg|21705822] is not really a good book, but it served some purpose here for me.) I am terribly partial to anything that has bluebelly lizards in it, but I think there is probably a little something for most people in this tiny work.
If this book had focused more tightly on the facts of each of the twelve chosen subjects and on delivering more facts like the above, it would have been really brilliant. As it is, though, it is clear Solnit chafed a bit against the constraints of the form. She wanders widely, dragging in species not under discussion, returning again and again to California's slow motion ecological collapse and only incidentally performing the 'bestiary' part of the bargain. Which, naturally, is the part I showed up for. But the disappointment is not too terrible. If anything, the main failing of the book is that it isn't much longer and embracing both more context (as a place for Solnit to delve into the research) and many more animals (for more facts and more art). As it stands, it is a depressing but enjoyable and all too short read. (Good companions are [b:The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History|17910054|The Sixth Extinction An Unnatural History|Elizabeth Kolbert|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1372677697s/17910054.jpg|25095506] and a nice history of the development of the Western United States - [b:River Notes: A Natural and Human History of the Colorado|15954297|River Notes A Natural and Human History of the Colorado|Wade Davis|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1379900575s/15954297.jpg|21705822] is not really a good book, but it served some purpose here for me.) I am terribly partial to anything that has bluebelly lizards in it, but I think there is probably a little something for most people in this tiny work.