Coyote at the Kitchen Door: Living with Wildlife in Suburbia
Coyote at the Kitchen Door: Living with Wildlife in Suburbia
A moose frustrates commuters by wandering onto the highway; a cougar stalks his prey through suburban backyards; an alligator suns himself in a strip mall parking lot. Such stories, which regularly make headline news, highlight the blurred divide that now exists between civilization and wilderness. In Coyote at the Kitchen Door, Stephen DeStefano draws on decades of experience as a biologist and conservationist to examine the interplay between urban sprawl and wayward wildlife. As he expl
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Coyote is a great story, worth the read….,
Stephen weaves tales of his life’s work as a wildlife biologist and brings it home to our own backyard. From Polar Bears in Churchill, Condors in Peru to the Coyote down the block. This is a well written and interesting perspective on our place on the planet, our wild neighbors, and our continued relationship with them.
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|Excellent, balanced book,
This is wonderful. So balanced, so insightful on the state of our wild and urbanized world meshing together. Well written. Highly recommended.
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|Maybe I got the wrong copy,
Everyone else here so far has given this book five stars, so maybe I received the wrong copy. The editorial reviews suggested a book about wildlife in the suburbs, but the space in this book devoted to that topic could barely fill a pamphlet. A larger percentage of the book is dedicated to the author’s autobiographical info but the bulk of the book consists of an environmentalist screed. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for environmentalism as my avocation is native botany, but that’s not how the book is presented or marketed.
Granted, as an environmentalist screed this is well written and far less harsh than most and only occasionally turns accusatory, such as blaming the reader for environmental misdeeds of previous centuries (the “you and I did it” argument), or dictatorial (paraphrasing here–”I don’t want to trample on anyone’s rights but the world would be better off if they all did it my way” argument; which is apparently the mantra of anyone who managed to finagle more than a bachelor’s degree from an institution of higher learning).
In my opinion there is a serious downside to the current trend of padding literature with an author’s ideological viewpoints, no matter how benign and well presented they are or how much they will impress the author’s peers.
More than one young man or woman will pick up this book, begin to read it and rather than become fascinated with wildlife and be more involved in its preservation (the supposed intention of the book), they will be presented with what they perceive as just another lecture by just another gray-hair, will put the book down and return to their video games.
But I can see why the editorial reviewers love it, because they write this way too.
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