Richard Louv

Our Wild Calling by Richard Louv is a book that gave me hope. These days, in this political and environmental climate, it's easy to begin to lose hope. Every day we hear how the earth herself is dying due to our carelessness and it seems no one cares. We hear every week about another animal species that are on the brink of extinction. Worse, we see wealthy, soulless humans grinning beside a kill they have made where a wild, sometimes an endangered animal is trapped for them to kill.

But show more there is hope. Studies show that humans are becoming more and more attuned to the needs of our animal relatives. In a very few places, bridges and tunnels are being created to allow animals to safely cross and recross urban danger zones, like highways.

Believe it or not, this is sometimes helped by videos and photos posted on the internet, where animals are showing compassion to each other in times of need. We are becoming more educated in how animals, including birds, behave in their own communities.

This book is a collection of information about some of the people who have made it their life work, whose passion, is protecting, understanding and educating others on the lives of our animal relatives. It gave me a little hope. From Zeelander to Bob Shemak, a Native American chaplain, and all of thee individuals, sanctuaries and refuges in between, we see hopee. show less

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. I am submitted this honest review in exchange.

I love Richard Louv's earlier book "Last Child In the Woods," so I was very excited to get my hands on this book. "Our Wild Calling" focuses on the relationship between humans and animals, from chance encounters with wildlife to therapy animals and domestic pets. My favorite portions of this book were the accounts from various people who have gotten show more lost in time and space while observing another animal or insect in the wild. Richard Louv clearly has a love of the outdoors and nature and explains why it is important for all humans to be exposed to nature, especially those who may not think they have any desire to do so. Humans evolved alongside nature and our very bodies and spirits yearn for that connection. While this book did not top "Last Child in the Woods," in my opinion, it is an enjoyable read and reinvigorated my desire to get outdoors myself, to get my kids outdoors, and to encourage more opportunities for members of my community. show less

Okay, actually I read most of this book last year, but then it disappeared mysteriously -- until I finally discovered it behind the couch! It took a while to get back into the train of thought I'd left weeks (months?) ago, but I was very glad to finally finish it.

This was a life-changing book in many ways. It was one of those perfect books just two steps ahead of the reader's brain -- I was more than ready to agree with nearly everything contained within. And that covers a lot of ground! show more From research suggesting that exposure to nature is essential to a child's development to how sprawl and lawsuit-paranoid land-use policies have restricted this access to groups working to bring exposure to nature into the schools and into neighborhoods to play quality in "traditional" playgrounds vs natural areas to the effect of teaching environmentalism with an exclusively global focus while neglecting local flora & fauna and a sense of connection to place... It's exhaustive! But never exhausting. Each chapter spawned new ideas and grew new connections in my brain. The author made a deliberate effort to focus on causes for hope and suggestions for action, which I well appreciated.

I would recommend this book to anyone. Anyone with kids or who knows kids. Anyone interested in nature or the environment. Anyone interested in education. Anyone interested in changing the world and who dares to hope. show less

Richard Louv's previous work made me quite excited to get an early review copy of Our Wild Calling. However, I was consistently disappointed throughout the book. Organizationally, as others have mentioned, it seemed very unfocused. Instead of each chapter clearly addressing a specific argument, it seemed like a collection of anecdotal ramblings about random human encounters with animals. Overall, in contrast to his previous work, I felt that this book was entirely too metaphysical. While he show more certainly mentioned scientific research it seemed to me as if it was only included after his more metaphysical positions were established.
With that said, the most glaring problems I noticed throughout the text were his references to indigenous knowledges. As an anthropologist who works with American Indians, it was hard for me to get over his stereotypical, "noble savage" perspective of indigenous groups worldwide. While I appreciated his inclusion of a Native perspective in chapter 19, it was overshadowed by inaccuracies (his claim that Lakota people believe storks are associated with babies ignoring that there are no storks living in any region remotely close to Lakota homelands) and his exploitative perspective (culturally appropriative vision quests, an actual Lakota practice, are admissible when the experience is had by a white scientist). Overall, he seems much too romantic in his understanding of indigenous perspectives on the environment and much too quick to exploit them for his own personal gain. show less