Winter World

Wow. It has been quite some time that I have read a book that is this compelling and well-written. Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival by Bernd Heinrich is not just a science book - it's an experience. 


The book focuses on adaptations animals make in the winter to cope with extreme cold. Heinrich explains this through a style that feels at times like poetry and at others like a long personal narrative. He walks you through his experiences, his adventures, his careful and meticulous studies while making you feel as if you were a part of his journeys. 


Winter World is not an exhaustive informational book. You won't find yourself using this to find specific information. However, sitting down and reading this book is nearly as fulfilling as going outside and doing the work yourself. Heinrich is able to convey information through his storytelling. You can read this book and understand it without an extensive science/biology/environmental background.


As Heinrich walked me through his winter wonderland, looking at everything from kinglets to bears to snapping turtles to bees to deer mice to badgers and so on, I found myself enthralled and compelled to continue flipping through the pages. He draws you in with a story and then slowly delivers more specific information.


I learned quite a lot about the winter life of wild animals through reading this book. I was also quite well entertained. This will likely be one of the top ten books I read this year. I particularly enjoyed the author's focus on birds (about half of the book was devoted to the case study of the kinglet). Some parts are a bit weird, but it's all part of the fun. The author is quite the naturalist - he counts feathers in a nest, searches for bird droppings, examines the stomach contents of roadkill, and more - but it's all part of his passion for inquiry. A passion that finds itself rubbing off on the reader.


Rating: 5 (out of 5) - you won't be seeing this very often!
In a sentence: Enthralling presentation of the winter life of animals for scientists and lay people alike.




11 days, 2 books...at this rate I'll read 66 books.