The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild
The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild book cover

The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild

Hardcover – December 12, 2007

by
Price
$31.47
Format
Hardcover
Pages
323
Publisher
Little, Brown and Company
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0316066327
Dimensions
6.25 x 1.25 x 9.5 inches
Weight
1.2 pounds

Description

From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. In these eloquent essays, naturalist and adventurer Childs ( House of Rain ) describes some of his extraordinary experiences with creatures—from wasps, red-spotted toads and hummingbirds to grizzly bears, coyotes and jaguars. Seeking entrée into animal societies, he interprets messages left in marks on the ground and in scents on leaves and trees, and communicates with animals directly using their own language of stares, gestures, postures, sounds, scents and gaits. He goes looking for animals alone in hazardous wilderness areas—tracking mountain goats in Colorado's Gore Range or surprising a secret society of ravens in a canyon in Utah. Always longing to be at one with animals, he is not afraid to climb an aspen to see the world from a porcupine's perspective, run with a herd of elk or wonder how it would feel to jump from a plane and fly with a bald eagle. Childs's captivating essays, rich in sensuous imagery (the porcupine looks like a mop, a bundle of ponderosa pine needles, a mobile hairstyle), are hauntingly beautiful and replete with evocative observations of animal life. 42 b&w illus. (Dec. 12) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Craig Childs -- naturalist, adventurer, desert ecologist, and frequent contributor to National Public Radio's Morning Edition -- lives in Crawford, Colorado. His previous books include House of Rain, The Way Out, The Secret Knowledge of Water and Soul of Nowhere.

Features & Highlights

  • 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

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(274)
★★★★
25%
(114)
★★★
15%
(68)
★★
7%
(32)
★
-7%
(-32)

Most Helpful Reviews

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My favorite book of the past few years. Moving!

Craig Childs writes in a way that allows you to see the things he's describing. When he lays on the sand, climbs up a rocky cliff or wades thru the snow, you feel the moisture, the temperature, the grit of his emotions. You hear his heart beating as he stands off with a predator, and sense his emotion as he encounters a tiny toad in a place where it doesn't seem to belong. I bought this for a casual read on an outback adventure, based greatly on the cover photo. I read it, and when I returned home, I bought several more copies to share with family and friends. I recommend it to anyone that has ever studied a bird landing or laughed at their dog running in his sleep. You'll appreciate his visions. Broken into chapters by the animals he's met, it is an easy read - pick it up and read about the Crane, put it down. Wait, grab it again and read about the Owls. Then read and re-read the Raven - its cool. Trout teaches us a little about ourselves and families. And that little Toad opens your mind to what's possible. Enjoy this nice book about life's important things! (Thanks to Craig Childs for providing a marvelous time!)
17 people found this helpful
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An Adventure

The Animal Dialogues
Uncommon Encounters in the Wild
Craig Childs
ISBN: 978-0-316-06632-7
Little, Brown and Company, 2007

Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for ReviewYourBook.com
5 Stars

Even as a child, Craig Childs was intrigued and felt an affinity with wild life. He took notes and recorded sounds as he walked the fields below the east side of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Childs is a naturalist and adventurer. In his recent book, The Animal Dialogues, he shares a few of his adventures with readers. One section of the book is dedicated to his encounters with bears. I find it fascinating that the bears seem to respect Childs and to see him as no threat. The raccoon was not so pleasant. Childs sought to help the starving animal. When deer mice became a problem, the wisest solution seemed to be a cat. The feline predator formed a "Zone of Death." Few creatures were safe, squirrels, chipmunks, birds and rabbits were his prey. Nothing was safe except the mice.

The Animal Dialogues is written with a unique understanding and respect for animals. Craig Childs has a talent for the retelling of his encounters, weaving in fascinating details to form a tapestry that few can experience. Those who care for wildlife will not want to miss The Animal Dialogues.
16 people found this helpful
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Animal Dialogues - great read

I purchased "The Secret Knowledge of Water" by Craig Childs, and picked up the "Animal Dialogues" at the same time. After reading both books, I will buy more by this author. Vivid descriptions of places and happenings make his experiences come alive. The short chapters on each species give his own story and some scientific information on the animal as the story unfolds. I have learned much, and enjoy his take on the face to face encounters with some of the animals. We can identify with the cat and mouse tales in the Tipi. The Mountain Lion encounters were incredibly intense. This will really make me be more aware of where I am and what is around me when walking up the slot canyons and in the river wash. The footprints we find will be a little more of a wake up call, then just 'Oh neat! A fresh Mountain Lion foot print!"
9 people found this helpful
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disappointing

This book is more about the author and not enough about animals. Very disappointing. Do not order!
6 people found this helpful
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Excellent personal account

I have greatly enjoyed reading this naturalist's account of personal encounters he has had with animals in the wild. He demonstrates a respect, as well as a healthy fear, of the big predators such as mountain lions, bears, and jaguars. Intertwined with the adventures, Craig Childs provides details and meaningful information on creatures as diverse as mosquitos and Blue Sharks. It is a personal account which is accurate and does not romanticize the animals he describes.
6 people found this helpful
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A forgotten world

I came across Craig Childs in the Sun magazine, where an excerpt from Animal Dialogues, The Ravens, was included. Glued to the short story of his experience with the ravens in a lone area in Utah, I was delighted to find an entire book of such encounters.

Most people, myself included, these days, learn about animals from television cameras on Nature on public television or on the Discovery channel. The author brings these encounters closer to home and reminds us, indirectly, and through the active engagement of reading, that not so long ago, most humans shared the world with animals, learned from them and understood that these earthly companions have important messages to relay, just by their being who they are.
5 people found this helpful
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Wonderful writer, amazing stories

Childs has created a beautifully written book about animals and journeys into their abodes. He lashes a poet's equipoise to an adventurer's rugged wagon and traverses stories that are breathtaking both in their raw facts and in their telling. A wonderful book.
4 people found this helpful
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Wild Encounters

This book was very well written from a naturist's point of view. At times you would feel as if you were right beside the writer as these encounters occur. After living in CO for 15 years I really could appreciate the stories. Great read for a cold winter night.
3 people found this helpful
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Poetic and Interesting

Craig Childs is a marvelous writer. His metaphors are extraordinary and his cadence is perfect. On top of that, he has a depth of knowledge of Western U.S. animals and their worlds that goes deeper than most other naturalist-writers I've read -- on a par with Doug Peacock. The combination makes for a compelling read. Each chapter is centered around an animal encounter, and in the process of telling the story, Childs adds information about the natural history of that species. The raven story was so incredible that I insisted on reading it aloud to my husband.

I find among environmentalists a slightly disproportionate number of inflated egos, and Childs does stray into this kind of wilderness machismo from time to time, usually by way of the too-casual tone he takes when mentioning his extended solos in the outback or the dire scrapes he's gotten himself out of in remote places. But it's not that bad; it's something I noticed but wasn't annoyed by, because his passion, understanding, concern, and intimacy with animals -- individuals, species, groupings -- is what dominates this wonderful book.
2 people found this helpful
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Grateful I picked it up

I just picked it up to thumb through because I liked the cover photo, I didn't think I'd read it let alone love it as much as I did.
2 people found this helpful

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