We connect with animals on many levels, whether walking a dog, riding a horse, observing gorillas at the zoo, playing with a teddy bear as a child, or even simply watching them on TV and in movies. We call our sports teams Wolverines, Bobcats, Grizzlies, and Panthers. We can be gentle as a dove, fierce as a grizzly, or as agile as a cat. Some of us may even dream of being reborn as a different species. We typically accept these connections for what they are, taking for granted what is really a remarkable — and necessary — part of our existence.
In Ask Now the Beasts , acclaimed nature writer Ruth Rudner explores the eternal and complicated connections between humans and animals. In a series of true stories about her own interactions and observations of some of the many animals that have crossed her path, she writes about the powerful ways that animals interact with us spiritually, activate our imaginations, and tie us to the ancient past. Moving between domestic and wild, Rudner finds meaning and appreciation for the way in which each animal exists fully in its own world — and how that world relates to ours.
A meditation on the intimate connections between people and animals considers the powerful ways in which animals interact with people on a spiritual level, activate the imagination, and tie people to their origins, in a volume that calls for a greater recognition of the human kinship with wild and domestic animals as part of an ongoing quest to understand nature. By the author of A Chorus of Buffalo. Original.Ruth Rudner has written about the American West for many years for the Wall Street Journal's "Leisure & Arts" page. Her other books include Partings, Greetings from Wisdom, Montana, Windstone, and A Chorus of Buffalo. Her work has also appeared in the New York Times, USA Weekend, Field & Stream, GQ, Vogue, Self, Arizona Highways, and many other publications. She frequently travels to and writes about America's national parks and the wildlife, and people, that inhabit them. She lives in Corrales, New Mexico.
Journalist and animal lover Rudner (A Chorus of Buffalo ) draws on her newspaper and magazine articles to ruminate on our relationship with animals, showing a great deal of creativity in her astute observations about pets, wildlife, and zoo creatures. There is no narrative or chronological order to the issues addressed, which reinforces the literary tenor of her writing rather than making any sort of scientific or political animal rights statements. Readers who want more analysis and science should try Kinship with the Animals , an essay collection edited by Michael Tobias and Kate Solisti-Mattelon featuring such noted contributors as Jane Goodall and Michael Fox. Ask Now the Beasts is an enjoyable read that will appeal to general readers; recommended for public libraries.--John M. Kistler, Houston, PA
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The author of these heartwarming essays writes, "All my life I have wondered what it feels like to be a horse." Rudner (A Chorus of Buffalo ) has driven for hours to find a homeless dog, lost her heart to a pack mule and fallen in love with a baby gorilla because she believes that connecting with animals, whether domestic or wild, is as important as connecting with people. Rudner cites a passage in the book of Job: "But ask now the Beasts/ And they shall teach thee," and she demonstrates the wisdom of this by telling of the experiences she has had with dogs, cats, coyotes, wolves and other animals, showing how they have changed her life. For example, from her horse she learned to deal with an unfamiliar obstacle in the road--it's difficult at first but in the end "simply a step on a path." By watching a colony of penguins, she learned to accept that death is a fundamental part of life. Her compelling message is that because we share our planet with the animals, it's important to seek connections with them so that we may learn how to live in balance with the natural order of things. (June)
[Page 45]. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
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