by Lydia Millet
First published 2024
Lydia Millet spent twenty-five years working at the Center for Biological Diversity, fighting to save endangered species. In her first work of nonfiction, she argues that human emotional and spiritual well-being depends entirely on the survival of nonhuman animals. Millet presents detailed portraits of "the others," the remarkable creatures that still inhabit our planet alongside those we have already lost forever. She weaves together stories of the animals she has worked to protect with memories of the people who shaped her life: globe-trotting parents, intriguing romantic partners, close friends, and eccentric family members ranging from diplomats to nut farmers. All these figures form part of the intricate web that connects each person to the natural world. The book offers readers a deeply personal meditation on humanity's troubled relationship with nature and our capacity to love what we simultaneously destroy.
Genres: nature, animals, environment, biography-memoir, conservation, activism
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: personal-journey, social-commentary
272 pages · Hardcover · W. W. Norton & Company