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Overview
The idea that there is some common cause in the workings of the human and animal mind is often ridiculed and dismissed as anthropomorphism. But, asks William Jordan, what if the intellectual establishment has it backwards? What if, instead of attributing human motives to animals, we paid more attention to the animal motives in humans? Divorce Among the Gulls is a startling exploration of this notion. Jordan combines a storyteller's imagination and wit with a scientist's uncompromising attention to fact. Whether in a meditation on the extraordinary lives of insects beneath a canopy of alfalfa or in an explanation of the battle between male and female seagulls over which will incubate their eggs, Jordan eagerly throws open the door to his topsy-turvy view of the universe. Throughout, he evokes a sense of the fundamental kinship that yokes us all, human and animal, to the natural world. Divorce Among the Gulls is a thought-provoking and gracefully written essay.Editorials
Noel Perrin
There's a major new talent to welcome to the ranks of nature writers. And simultaneously to the small legion-the cohort, really, maybe just the platoon-of good science writers. Move over, Stephen Jay Gould. Make way, Barry Lopez and Sally Carrighar. Here comes William Jordan to join you.— Chicago Sun-Times
Book Details
Published
February 1, 1997
Publisher
New York : North Point Press, 1997, c1991.
Pages
208
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780865475007