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© 2004 David Baron
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[The book] raises powerful questions, and reminds even those of us who live in cities that we share our space with animals we see, and many that we do not.
MSNBC Baron's ability as a storyteller... contributes much to the success of The Beast in the Garden. He carefully mixes the contemporary storyline with whimsical and shocking historical material, linking it all back to an eerie, third-person account of an anonymous every-cougar that stalks the foothills above Boulder. Baron has organized anecdote, probable fact and interviews into a thought-provoking real-life mystery.
Colorado Daily In the tradition of John Krakauer and David Quammen, David Baron weaves a fascinating tale of the interaction between humans and mountain lions in Colorado. This book makes the connection between changing landscapes and human-wildlife interactions in such a dramatic and convincing way that it should be recommended reading to anyone with a stake in wildlife preservation.
Landscape Ecology While leaving the audience to draw their own conclusions, Baron subtly weaves extensive research and great story-telling with genuine sincerity to emphasize his thesis: humans have manipulated, slaughtered, destroyed, alienated and dominated large carnivores for centuries; now these predators are back to claim their territory.
Human Ecology Review Baron's book reads as easily as any best-selling mystery. But the questions it raises including how wild we really want our wilderness to be remain unanswered.
California Wild This book should be read by field biologists and administrators of natural resource agencies and by activists who promote the return of large carnivores in their native ranges. Restoring large carnivores is not as simple as just wanting them back. Baron reminds us of this in exquisite detail.
Conservation Biology A chilling account of what happens when two species cross paths....
Hooked on the Outdoors It captures the essence of a major environmental problem facing our society.... This balanced, cautionary tale would make good summer reading for any teacher of students at the middle level on up.
National Science Teachers Association This book is a riveting collection of cautionary tales for naive environmentalists, which is most of us.
Planning [Baron] crafts his tale artfully, drawing the reader in deeper and deeper with well-chosen details and rich, vivid language honed by his years as a National Public Radio reporter.... This book is stunningly real, but not sensationalistic, and never dry for a moment.
SEJournal (Society of Environmental
Journalists) A Science News new and notable book.
Science News [The Beast in the Garden] contains a narrative so potent and a plot so compelling that it makes the book nearly impossible to put down.
Good Times (Santa Cruz, California) Baron... perceptively dissect[s] both sides of the impassioned debate these terrifying confrontations engender, revealing how naive and unrealistic the live-and-let-live approach can be, and how easy it is to take the kill-the-miserable-beasts response to unreasonable extremes.
Booklist National Public Radio science reporter David Baron has crafted a gripping account of the developing relationship between humans and nature in the urban setting.
Conservation In Practice Boulder's lesson is a powerful one for the rapidly urbanizing West and the rewilding East, where mountain lions, following abundant deer populations, are known to have re-established themselves as far east as suburban Minneapolis (they are rumored also to be present in the Northeast and Southeast).
Orion The Beast in the Garden... re-creates a single killing with the pacing and detail of a murder mystery.
Yale Alumni Magazine There's lots of interesting stuff in Baron's book about ecological change, and the folly of seeking 'wilderness' without recognizing humanity's role in nature, but to me the most interesting behavior isn't the predatory nature of the cougars which are, after all, predators but the willful ignorance of human beings.
Glenn Reynolds, Tech Central Station The Beast in the Garden reads like a suspense novel.... Baron keeps the pace moving and tells actual events as though they were a classic whodunit.
Boulder Daily Camera In his engaging first book, Baron, a science correspondent for National Public Radio, describes the cougar sightings, habits, and encounters that surprised the town [of Boulder]. While the historical asides and interviews with attack victims are interesting, it is the philosophical differences between longtime Boulder residents and urban transplants that make this a 'modern parable.'
Library Journal Baron is not in favor of killing unwanted lions, but in this timely book he warns that as people continue to displace wild animals from their habitats, they have to change the way they interact with them and be more realistic about romantic notions of wilderness.
Publishers Weekly A thoughtful history from environmental reporter Baron elegantly forewarns of the mountain lion's return to human-populated landscapes.
Kirkus Reviews The Beast in the Garden is a compelling blend of stories, natural history, human values, and biological facts. It is a very important book. We are an invasive species that intrudes on other animals wherever and whenever we choose. If we step lightly with compassion and respect, and enjoy the challenge, thrill, mystery, and awe of living among other animals even those who pose a danger - by changing our ways to foster co-existence rather than expecting them to leave their homes for our convenience, the result will be a win-win situation for all. If we arrogantly expect them to leave when we move in, it's a lose-lose situation that results in their demise and ours. There are not only a tragic and regrettable losses of lives, but also irreparable losses of humility, wonder, and the magic and majesty of nature. Most significantly there is a loss of the sense of the integrated community in which all animals must co-exist, a one-ness that defines who we and they are in the single Earth community. The Beast in the Garden is not only about mountain lions. It is about life itself it is about those complex webs of life that go unnoticed, unappreciated, misunderstood, and unloved until we lose them. We are part of the rest, we are the story.
Marc Bekoff, Professor of Biology, University of
Colorado, Boulder; If you think the West was won, the frontier conquered, wilderness subdued and wildness lost, think again. David Baron's The Beast in the Garden betrays some of the most enduring myths of the American West, and the American environmental movement. Theres discomfort for all of us in its profound and spellbinding pages. Wildness and civilization clash all across the region, and the country, wherever wildfires burn, and grizzly bears, wolves and other wild creatures thrive anew. Baron focuses on the growing numbers and growing aggressiveness of mountain lions in and around the ecological haven of Boulder, Colorado. Its a gripping tale of human naοvete, misguided intentions and conventional wisdom gone awry. It reads like a novel but its all true. And its happening right on the edge of town. Howard Berkes, National Public Radio The Beast in the Garden tells a riveting story of human interactions with magnificent wild animals. But David Baron delivers more than a compelling narrative. He brings out the deep contradictions in our attitudes toward what we loosely call Nature. In a time when our debates about the environment so often come down to strident, simplistic claims on all sides, the intelligent complexity of Baron's book is refreshing and necessary. He's packed this book with honest emotion and good sense, and hes managed to portray all the animals involved, human and otherwise, with compassion. This is an extraordinary achievement.
Gordon Grice, author of You will be astonished, you will be gripped by a story begging to be told. A compelling not-to-be-put-down book about what happens when an immoveable object meets an unstoppable force.
Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson,
author of The Beast in the Garden is a fascinating read. Amidst all the bleakness of our environmental predicament, the return of wildlife big cats included to much of their original North American range is one of the few shreds of truly good news. As David Baron points out in this vivid account, that return, however, means that those of us belonging to the dominant species will need to change our habits in small but significant ways, so that we can once again share the landscape with the rest of creation.
Bill McKibben, author of The Beast in the Garden is about far more than mountain lions. It is about unpredictable tragedy, the self-searching that follows, and the conflicts that arise among humans when attempting to coexist with wildlife. Anyone who cares about large predators and their future survival should read this book.
Harley Shaw, wildlife biologist and author of
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