Tag: Books

Get up close and personal with African animals in these stunning photos

See these creatures up close.

“Among the Living: Where You Belong” is one of the heaviest books I’ve ever picked up. This is not a vacation read — it’s a serious photo book you’ll want to display on your coffee table for years, thumbing through and sharing with wildlife-loving visitors. Photographer Guadalupe Laiz shares six years of traveling in Africa to capture intimate portraits of endangered animals.

Laiz is firmly allied with the elephants, lions, and rhinos. The book is dedicated to “the innumerable souls who have died at the hands of humans. And to all humans who fight with their lives to protect them.”

In the introduction, Laiz further explains what drives her to get close to her subjects. “Yes, I hope that one day we humans will finally see animals as our equals, and understand that they can experience joy and suffering just like us. But until then, I will dive deeper, get closer, and put light into those without a voice,” she writes.

A lion laying down and facing forward in black and white.
Photo by Guadalupe Laiz

What follows is a huge collection of African animal portraits. Most of the photos are up close, so you can see each animal’s face as an individual. Photos taken at a wider angle tend to show relationships — such as an image of an elephant herd where you can pick out individual family groupings. Readers see every fold in an elephant’s skin and the bristles around a hippopotamus’ wide-open mouth. Most photos are in black and white, though some are full-color. Others use limited color to highlight details like green leaves against an otherwise black-and-white composition. Many of the images have very dark or very light backgrounds, squarely keeping the focus on the faces of the animals in a way that gives them extra dignity and individuality.

African elephant herd in black and white.
Photo by Guadalupe Laiz

Laiz spent so much time in certain locales that she got to know some of the animals. One of these animals was a lion known as Bob, Jr., King of Serengeti, who had a fan following among guides and tourists. “There is no feeling like finding Bob Jr. in the morning and trying to understand what he went through the previous night. Sometimes I couldn’t believe the amount of ground he covered in one night. Some mornings there would be blood on his face, he’d look exhausted and be sporting a couple of new scars, but it was also clear that he was satisfied to have a full belly for a few days,” Laiz writes. She grew attached to the lion and often wondered what and how he was doing.

A gorilla amid greenery.
Photo by Guadalupe Laiz

The book is almost entirely photos, with a page of text introducing each section. The main animals Laiz features are gorillas, elephants, lions, giraffes, and rhinos — but some of my favorite photos are her portraits of leopards. Animals are so front and center that Laiz’s author photo shows her from behind, mostly giving readers a look at her ponytail.

A leopard sitting in a shady alcove.
Photo by Guadalupe Laiz

Laiz was born and raised in Argentina. German publisher Teneus published her book “Horses of Iceland” in 2019. Australian Images Publishing Group put out “Among the Living, Where You Belong.” If you’re in Aspen, Colorado, you can visit Laiz’s gallery space.

A lioness sleeping on a tree branch in black and white.
Photo by Guadalupe Laiz

Can cow hug therapy cure what ails you?

Take a break, hug a cow.

When I was asked to review a book on cow hug therapy, I thought it sounded cute but maybe a little hokey. I was surprised to find “Cow Hug Therapy: How the Animals at the Gentle Barn Taught Me about Life, Death, and Everything In Between” deeply moving and eye-opening.

I was already familiar with author Ellie Laks and her Gentle Barn animal sanctuaries. In 1999, Laks began rescuing and rehabilitating farmed animals, giving them lifelong homes on preserves in California, Tennessee, and Missouri. The Gentle Barn’s mission is “inspiring kindness and compassion towards animals, our planet, and each other.”

A book cover for "Cow Hug Therapy" by Ellie Laks, featuring multiple photos of people with farm animals.
Photo courtesy of New World Library

Laks’ first book, published in 2014, tells the story of founding and growing the Gentle Barn. Published by New World Library, “Cow Hug Therapy” is about how cows and other animals help people heal. My biggest revelation while reading the book was how individual cows are. I haven’t been around cows much. Before reading, I hadn’t fully considered their separate personalities, nor that some may actively want to help people emotionally.

So, what is cow hug therapy? It’s pretty much what it sounds like — lying down and hugging a cow. Laks writes that thousands of Gentle Barn visitors have greatly benefited from this experience, which calms them and frees their minds from thoughts and worries. She has found it especially helpful for abused and neglected teens who are too shut down and angry to participate in traditional talk therapy. Why does it work? The size and gentleness of the cows make many people feel tiny and safe.

“When we’re born, we’re held on our parent’s chest,” Laks writes. “We can hear their heartbeat, the rhythm of their breathing, and we feel safe even though we’re small, helpless and vulnerable. When we grow up, there is nothing that simulates that experience, except for hugging a cow.”

Ellie Laks, author of "Cow Hug Therapy," hugging a brown cow.
Ellie Laks and Lewis. / Photo courtesy of New World Library

Many of the book’s chapters focus on a single cow, their rescue story, and what they taught Laks and others. It’s amazing how much people can relate to cows, especially if they follow one on social media.

Laks and her husband Jay Weiner rescued Dudley, a small red and white cow, who lost a hoof after it got tangled in baling wire. The couple’s frequent social media updates about Dudley’s long recovery (including underwater therapy, acupuncture, and getting fit for a prosthetic) at the University of Tennessee Knoxville Large Animal Hospital garnered Dudley a large following. When he came home to the Gentle Barn, a group of amputees came to see him. Soon, even more visitors arrived.

“Word spread rapidly about Dudley, and the requests to meet him grew in number every week,” Laks writes. “Children in wheelchairs, kids born with differently formed limbs, people with terminal illnesses, war veterans, and teens in foster care, they all wanted to see this cow who was so full of joy despite his challenges. They needed to know they were not alone.”

Ellie Lake, author of "Cow Hug Therapy," kneeling next to a black and white cow.
Laks and Truth. / Photo courtesy of New World Library

Laks is intensely devoted to caring for and connecting with animals. She details her connection with cows and other creatures, her convictions about reincarnation, and the continued spiritual presence of the animals that love us. Whether or not readers relate to every spiritual detail of Laks’ story, I’m pretty sure most will put down this book with an urge to hug a cow. I know I did.

Writer received a free copy of the book for review.

Go on a 10-year sailing voyage with this thought-provoking memoir

Discover what life is like on the water.

Liz Clark logged 20,000 miles in 10 years sailing along the Central American coastline and around the Pacific Islands in the 40-foot sailboat Swell. In her book “Swell: A Sailing Surfer’s Voyage of Awakening,” she pours her heart out about her inner struggles as a lone female set on freedom and outer challenges like navigating the oceans and keeping her craft shipshape. The hardcover edition came out in 2018, but the new paperback (released this month) will expand the story’s audience.

Clark grew up in San Diego, the child of sailing parents. When she was nine, the family took a seven-month sailing trip along the coast of Mexico. She started surfing while earning her environmental studies degree at UC Santa Barbara. In 2001, after graduating, she met Barry Schuyler, who had founded the environmental studies program in 1969. Schuyler wanted to help her live her sailing dreams, so he offered her the use of Swell in exchange for vicariously accompanying her on her voyage.

A portrait of captain and author Liz Clark from the shoulders up.
Captain and author Liz Clark. / Photo by Jianca Lazarus, courtesy of Patagonia

“Swell” is the story of a young woman who prizes self-discovery and freedom above all else. She faces the ambivalence and inner contradictions that most people do, especially the young and those with a lot of time to think. While she is critical of the capitalist priorities of the U.S., she’s also extremely American. What other country so strongly emphasizes the right to the pursuit of happiness?

Clark stays determined to see the best in people despite plenty of brushes with creepy guys and a terrifying, drawn-out situation of being stuck on an island with a broken boat and an abusive boyfriend.  She is very earnest about her spiritual epiphanies and tries to put them into practice when dealing with other people. She loves ocean creatures and faithfully reports underwater encounters with those she meets while swimming and surfing. She sees up close the horrific human-generated plastic waste floating in the ocean and washed up on islands. And it scares her.

A woman surfing a wave.
Photo by Tahui Tufaimea, courtesy of Patagonia

Above all, “Swell” is about the quest for freedom. This lovely sample passage is typical of her life at sea when things are going well, and especially resonates for young women raised on the male gaze. “Out here, there is no one to compare myself with—there’s not even a full-length mirror to critique my appearance. I let my hair go wild. I laugh out loud, and break into dance without a second thought. I can fester in my filth or spend half an hour massaging shampoo into my scalp. I wear an odd ensemble from the clothing bin—or nothing at all. Some granny panties that Mom gave me have become my go-to sailing uniform. I can scream, cry, and sing all in one breath with no one to judge me. I want everyone to feel this deep liberation.”

A person on the shore with their arms outstretched and back to the viewer.
Photo by Tahui Tufaimea, courtesy of Patagonia

The book resembles her unstructured life at sea. But I would have liked a more practical backbone. I constantly found myself disoriented, asking, where is she? How much time has gone by? Who is this person who’s suddenly popped up on the boat and is sailing with her for some unspecified time?

I also wanted more information about her finances. Clark downplays anything to do with money, apparently as part of an anti-capitalist stance. She grumbles about having to do any work without meaning to her, even as she’s visiting places where people are poor and doing whatever they can to subsist. While sailing, she built up a blog popular enough to inspire strangers to send her money. Corporations sponsored her. At one point, she met up with filmmakers documenting her voyage. She’s asked to speak around the world, write articles for magazines, and eventually write this book. All these career accomplishments are mentioned offhandedly, almost as though they’re intrusions into her life at sea.

Patagonia, one of her sponsors, published the book. Photos show Clark sailing, surfing, doing yoga on beaches, and paddling a board with her darling ocean-going cat Amelia on the front. She also includes portraits of people she meets on the island and a fun photo of her and a friend singing backup for Jimmy Buffett when he did a surprise concert at an obscure Bora Bora Bar.

A woman and a cat on a surf board in the water.
Photo by Jianca Lazarus, courtesy of Patagonia

This thought-provoking book will make readers question their own lives. Are we free enough? Are we too materialistic? How can we be more spiritual and tread more lightly on the earth? Have we chosen the right path?

Near the end of the book, Clark sums it all up. “I am not the best sailor or the best surfer, or the most credentialed at anything, but chasing my dream has taught me that fulfillment and self-love don’t come from being ‘the best.’ They come from pursuing our passions and connecting to our own spirits, communities, and the world.”

Writer received a free copy of the book for review.

Climbing great Beth Rodden tells her story in new book

You won’t be able to put this book down.

In “A Light Through the Cracks,” Beth Rodden recounts her amazing climbing accomplishments. She also shares an underlying story of food and weight obsession, sometimes crippling self-doubts, and the traumatic legacy of being kidnapped while climbing in Kyrgyzstan. This book celebrates elite sports while demonstrating their physical and psychological toll.

Rock climbers have probably seen endless documentaries and magazine covers chronicling Rodden’s victories. Some may have even had her poster up in their teenage bedrooms. For those unfamiliar with the sport, Rodden specialized in free climbing, which means she used her gear only for fall protection, not to help her move up the rock. She was best known for her climbs in Yosemite, including establishing a new El Capitan route called Meltdown in 2008. At the time, Meltdown was considered the hardest traditional climb in the world. Nobody repeated it until 2018.

A book cover with a purple and yellow illustration of a person rock climbing. Overlay white text reads: "A Light Through The Cracks: A Climber's Story. Beth Rodden."
Photo courtesy of Little A

Published by Amazon imprint Little A, “A Light Through the Cracks” opens in Amsterdam in August 2000.  Rodden and her three fellow climbers have just escaped from their kidnappers. Her then-boyfriend/climbing partner Tommy Caldwell pushed their captor off a cliff, saving them all. And making Rodden feel extremely indebted. The story goes back and forth in time between several threads — her amazing rock climbing efforts and wins, her mental health struggles, and the kidnapping.

Depending on your interests, one thread will be more gripping than another. Lots of climbing details and lingo went over my head. For example, she frequently uses the verb “sending,” which means to get to the top of the rock in one go without falling. It’s not too hard to pick up the meaning, but non-climbers will feel like they’re peeking into an unfamiliar and very intense world.

Climber Beth Rodden smiling and standing in a blue jacket.
Photo by Ryan Moon

Many people will relate to Rodden’s desperate need for control. This was related both to her sport — the heavier you are, the harder it is to pull your body up the rock (plus, many companies didn’t want to sponsor fat girl climbers) — and wanting to prove she had not been broken by the kidnapping. She and Caldwell got married, stayed climbing partners, and helped each other tamp down any mental health issues. 

Rodden was only 20 years old and already a professional climber when she was kidnapped. It was a bitter pill to become more famous for surviving a kidnapping than for sending the hardest routes. Throughout the book, she circles back to Kyrgyzstan, revealing more details each time, touching the experience here and there as though it still burns.

Her group’s captors were guerilla soldiers of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Rodden, Caldwell, John Dickey, and Jason Smith endured six days of being held hostage while dodging fire from Kyrgyz soldiers. Her writing expresses the terror that all four felt, but with her added fear of rape. 

Climber Beth Rodden climbing a rock face.
Photo courtesy of Little A

She describes hiding under a boulder with her captors and fellow climbers. “I was scared to sleep and desperate not to be awake. I needed to be both alert and inured. What if another firefight broke out? What if they killed the boys and I woke up alone? I didn’t even know where I was. I could never get home.”

That’s the kind of experience you don’t get over by sucking it up and continuing to exercise, as Rodden tried for years. Many readers will relate to trying to find ways to overcome trauma and take control in a world that is so beyond our control that our efforts are laughable. This book is a well-written page-turner, even if you’ve never climbed more than a flight of stairs.

Writer received a free copy of the book for review.

Never too old — Caroline Paul’s new book talks adventuring as you age

There’s always time for adventure.

Caroline Paul wrote “Tough Broad: From Boogie Boarding to Wing Walking — How Outdoor Adventure Improves Our Lives as We Age” because she was 55 and wondering about her future. 

“I had always been an outdoor adventurer, from my youth as a whitewater guide to my many wilderness expeditions on mountain bikes and sea kayaks in midlife, to skateboarding and surfing and flying experimental planes into my fifties,” the bestselling author and former firefighter said in an interview released by her publisher, Bloomsbury Publishing. “But I looked around and there really were hardly any women my age out there with me.” 

While she saw plenty of men her age and older, she realized that her peers were dialing back their adventure. “So I began to look at the research and also to talk to women who were still doing things outside. And what I found was surprising even to me.”

A book cover showing a person standing on the wing of a plane with overlay text reading "Tough Broad."
Photo courtesy of Bloomsbury Publishing

Paul takes readers around the country to meet women ages 50 to 90 who are still getting outside to challenge themselves, learn new things, take risks, and chase awe. These women include 80-year-old scuba diver Louise Wholey, who braves the chilly waters of Monterey, California; Kittie Weston-Knauer, a 74-year-old BMX racer and instructor in Des Moine, Iowa; and the Wave Chasers, a group of boogie boarding senior women in San Diego. “Tough Broad” shares Paul’s interviews, research about aging, and experiences joining these women — her role models — in their chosen outdoor adventures.

“We need templates in our life,” Paul writes. “We need to see our possible selves in someone else’s grand exploits.”

Author Caroline Paul in a helmet while riding a one wheel.
Caroline Paul riding her one wheel. / Photo courtesy of Caroline Paul

My favorite chapter was about wing-walking. Seventy-one-year-old Cynthia Hicks likes to Google “something fun to do here” when she travels. That’s how she discovered Mason Wing Walking Academy in Sequim, Washington. In the 1920s, when there were lots of surplus planes left over from World War I, this daredevil activity became popular as part of aerial shows. Today, people can still learn how to climb out of their seats in a red biplane, attach themselves to a cable on the wing, and stay there while the plane does loop-de-loops.

The author beautifully describes the day that Marilyn Mason taught her to wing walk. “The plane rockets skyward. As it climbs, my mind shuffles around in a state of bewilderment. It ransacks neurons and old memories for a pattern to latch on to. Too late. The horizon curdles, falls away. Spinning earth, buffeting air, iceberg clouds flashing by.”

In the wing walking chapter, Paul talks about how research on the state of awe has exploded recently. “I recognize how perfectly wing walking primes us for awe: there is the majestic view at thirty-five hundred feet that feels almost religious; there is the total disequilibrium of doing something so antithetical to every survival instinct; there is the exhilaration of twirling and ricocheting and falling in a vast sky.”

While less active people often see adventure activities as thrill-seeking, Paul wonders at her underlying drivers, especially as she ages. “Could this be what has really been motivating my outdoor quests these past few years? Instead of adrenaline, have I unwittingly been seeking awe?”

An older woman in a wheelchair holding binoculars on a bridge near forest.
Virginia Rose, avid birdwatcher and one of the women interviewed in Paul’s book. / Photo courtesy of Bloomsbury Publishing

“Tough Broad” is an entertaining read. It’s sure to inspire women to continue to enjoy the outdoors, create new neural pathways as they try new things, and enjoy the camaraderie of their sisters in adventure into their later years.

Writer received a free advance copy of the book for review.

Intimate owl life stories revealed in Carl Safina’s new book, ‘Alfie & Me”

Meet adorable owl Alfie.

On the surface, “Alfie & Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe“ is about a Long Island couple’s experiences trying to help an abandoned baby screech owl during the COVID-19 pandemic. But it’s really an exhaustively researched book about the myriad ways philosophers and religious folks have looked at humans’ relationships with the rest of nature over millennia.

Author Carl Safina and his wife Patricia named the abandoned owlet Alfie. They guessed Alfie was a she, but only time and behavior would tell. They expected to care for her only briefly. But complications such as failing to develop crucial flight feathers kept Alfie around longer than anticipated. She grew attached to her human family. Even when she could fly and live a normal owl life, she continued hanging around the Safinas’ three-quarter-acre property. This allowed Carl Safina to view her behavior — including courting, mating, and mothering — much more closely than most owl-loving humans could ever dream of.

Book cover reading "Alfie & Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe, by Carl Safina" featuring a photo of a brown and white owl.
Photo courtesy of W.W. Norton

The text alternates between Alfie updates and ponderous looks at humans. Carl Safina obviously spent a lot of time researching and thinking about how humans view nature. Some of the conclusions aren’t surprising. The book discusses Indigenous people considering themselves part of nature. Meanwhile, Christianity brings in ideas of a division between the spiritual and corporeal, disgust with the body, and a belief in having rightful dominion over the earth. This is a great read for people who like to contemplate these topics. Those with shorter attention spans may find themselves skipping ahead to see what happens with the owl.

A hand holding a baby owl.
Alfie in pitiful condition when first rescued. / Photo courtesy of W.W. Norton

Carl Safina is a very accomplished writer. Readers can picture tiny Alfie through descriptions like, “From where Alfie’s feet rested on a perch, she stood only about five inches tall. Adding perhaps three inches for her tail, she was roughly the length and color of a sweet potato, but in shape so oval as to be almost cylindrical, a bit like a beverage can.”

Like the pandemic, the book moves slowly. Spliced between philosophical passages, readers get the story of how Alfie begins to explore the world. She meets a male owl, whom Carl Safina dubs Plus One. The author is such a close observer of nature that the book can occasionally veer into owl porn, with a dose of critiquing how Alfie should be having sex. “Alfie was not moving her tail aside to accomplish the good, firm touch that’s necessary,” he writes. But like many of us, Alfie improves with practice. She becomes a mother.

Three owls in a tree.
Photo courtesy of W.W. Norton

“Alfie & Me” continues in the same vein. Deep dives into spirituality and philosophy supplement updates about Alfie and her family. Fans of Carl Safina’s books (“Becoming Wild” and “Beyond Words“) and his articles in Time, the Guardian, and the New York Times will savor this new 300+ page work.

Writer received a free copy of the book for review.

‘All In!’ chronicles a 93-day SUP voyage across the ocean

Cross the ocean with Chris Bertish.

The evocative title of Chris Bertish’s books says a lot. When I read the title “All In!: The Atlantic Standup Paddle Crossing – 93 Days Alone at Sea,” I got an inkling of what I was in for. There would be weather, loneliness, waves, problems, and probably sharks. And, since Bertish obviously survived to write the book, inspiration. I was right! But it’s still worth reading the book for the stories and motivational tidbits.

The journey Bertish chronicles in “All In!” took place from December 2016 to March 2017, when he paddled more than 4,000 miles alone from Morocco to Antigua. He became the first person to ever stand-up paddleboard across an ocean. But Bertish was no stranger to firsts and awards. He was already a big wave surfing champ with multiple world records. When he’s not in the water, Bertish is addressing giant companies like Google, Coke, and Salesforce as a motivational speaker.

A man crossing the ocean on a SUP.
Photo by Brian Overfeld

While Bertish clearly has superhuman strength and a need to embrace challenges most of us would pay everything to avoid, he’s also driven by philanthropy. His grueling 93-day paddle raised over half a million dollars for Operation Smile. This global nonprofit provides free cleft palate surgery for children. Bertish also raised money to support ocean conservation initiatives.

Of course, the first question a reader probably has is, “How does a person cross an ocean on a SUP?” I can barely paddle my inflatable SUP across a small lake on a slightly windy day. But Bertish’s 20-foot craft, the Impifish, was named for Zulu warriors called Impis. This extra-long SUP had a tiny cabin that Bertish could curl up in to escape the elements. The SUP was tricked out with a ton of high-tech communication gear, including GPS, VHF radio, Echomax, an emergency position indicating radio beacon, and a satellite phone, to name just a few. Gearheads will love this book for the tech alone.

Bertish sitting on the side of his SUP with his legs in the ocean.
Photo by Alan van Gysen

While the book is full of exciting tales, it’s also a bit repetitive — just like 93 days of paddling would be. There’s a pattern of disaster followed by motivational insight, and repeat. Storm! Ah, survived. Great white shark! Ah, survived it. Crucial equipment malfunction! Survived again. You can see why all the big companies want Bertish to speak to them. The man doesn’t give up or take no for an answer. 

As he says at one point early in the book, “People will make up every possible excuse not to do something, or give you a whole laundry list of the reasons why they ‘can’t.’ You can always find plenty of reasons if you look for them, but instead you should be finding reasons why you ‘can.’ Focus on that and then find a way to accomplish it. If you believe you can’t you won’t, but if you believe you can, and you want it badly enough, you will always find a way. It’s that simple, period.”

The thing that irked me most about the book was an unsolved mystery. Before Bertish set out on the Impifish, some unidentified entity tried to prevent his SUP journey. Somebody sabotaged his car, messed with arrangements for his gear and food, and, most horribly of all, killed his cat. This still makes me sick to contemplate, especially since the mystery angle of the story was dropped. The reader never finds out who did these horrible things or why.

The paperback version of “All In” debuted in July. In line with Bertish’s conservation ideals, the book is printed on Forest Steward Certified paper. He also released a super limited edition eco series of only 13 copies. These 100% sustainable books are printed on 40% post-consumer recycled paper with soy and water-based inks. The binding features eco-cotton thread and non-toxic water-based glues. The book’s cover is, fittingly, made using recycled ocean plastics.

A man standing on a SUP with a flare in hand.
The victorious finish! / Photo by Brian Overfeld

Writer received a free copy of the book for review.