Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter

If you're considering this book, you likely already have a curiosity about beavers. By the time you're done, Goldfarb will have convinced you that beavers can save the world!

Beavers are one of the world's most important keystone species. As Goldfarb points out, humans are the only other species who have played a larger role in shaping the geology and hydrology of our planet. Much of the erosion we see in landscapes across the American West isn't just because those landscapes are "naturally," that way—it is also because they've been denuded of beavers!

The story of beavers in many places is nothing short of genocide. Mirroring Colonial genocide of indigenous peoples, colonists have been a force for the eradication of beavers from the show more landscape. Beavers have made a stunning comeback in some landscapes, such as New England, but are still at a fraction of their historic populations across the globe.

There is a fun bit in the book where a beaver advocate teaches ranchers to install "analog" beaver dams. Once the ranchers get tired of maintaining the dams themselves, but fall in love with all the effects, the advocates tell them, "you know, there is someone who could be doing this for you..."

Goldfarb does a brilliant job documenting the countless humans who have dedicated their lives to beavers. It will take a massive movement to bring beavers back across our landscapes, and it seems as though that could actually happen! On the other hand though, there is still a lot of hatred against beavers, and this will need to shift if there is a possibility of their come back in some regions.

One of the tragic dynamics that becomes apparent in the book is that, once you lose a keystone species, entire ecosystem collapse, to the point that you can't simple reintroduce the species, as much of their context is no longer there.

This book talks a lot about the myriad ecosystem services that beavers provide, but it also gives a window into the livingness and animacy of beavers. This latter aspect is the one that I'm especially interested in exploring further.

I will note that Goldfarb could have given a more thorough treatment to the relationship between beavers and giardia. I grew up thinking that beavers were the reason that we can't drink water from upland streams in New England. Although Goldfarb spends a sentence explaining that you're more likely to get giardia from another human or a cow, it would have been nice if he had given this topic a more thorough treatment, since its impacts are so far-reaching.

The book spends a lot of time talking about the ways that "flow devices" can allow beavers and humans to co-exist. One omission from this section is the impacts of flow devices on the psychological and physical wellbeing of beavers (I can't assume that it is anything less than deleterious).

In conclusion, Golbfarb has written a glowing tribute to beavers, and anyone who cares about water, landscapes, and ecosystems would do well to read it! show less

Buffalo. Wolves. Cougars. And now beavers. Enter the world of re-wilding. To do this requires scientific and public support. The later is most important, politically, and that is where books come in for education and advocacy. Eager is a defense of the beaver and you will finish it convinced we need more beavers, lots more. It's not a threatened species, but the natural services it provides are immense and not widely known. Primarily because it is the dams and wetlands that restore rivers, fish, flood control and water aquifers. The beaver is a keystone species. They are so effective, people are selling fake beaver dams. Nevertheless, old biases still exist and many consider beavers a pest to be trapped and controlled. Thus there are show more beaver advocacy groups and beaver wars at county and state levels. One of the most backwards states is California because water is so limited they don't see a place for beavers at the table, even though beavers have a net positive effect. Other countries like Scotland are seeing beavers reintroduced for the first time in 400 years, while a German man has been replanting beavers in countries all over the world. None of this goes easily, and most places remain hostile to the beaver. One behind my house was trapped and disappeared not long ago. This book has made me into a beaver believer. show less

One of the best natural history books I've read in a while! Very entertaining. Goldfarb uses homely analogies to help us get into what's going on with beavers.
"Imagine briefly that you're a beaver--a dispersing two-year-old male, say. You've recently departed your lodge, supplanted by newborn siblings who have become the apples of your parents' beady black eyes. You're house hunting. You have to find deep water or build a dam soon--you can smell the funk of nearby black bears--but the best homes are taken..." (p.73)
"There was one spot, up by Cody, where it was like ringing the grizzly bear dinner bell...A beaver is just a fat, slow, smelly package of meat." (p.88)

Replete with accounts of tagging along with people who work with beavers, show more and learning with them: How do you tell what gender a beaver is, with no visible differences? You smell their anal secretions: "A hint of motor oil means a male... A whiff of old cheese indicated a female" (p.93)
References are packed into 20 pages of notes at the end, followed by an index. Both of which will help as you, inevitably, become converted and want to convince your local flooding stream control agency to start using beavers as the best control method around. show less

Beavers are important! That is the message that you will get repeatedly while reading this book, although author Ben Goldfarb does not skimp on providing detailed evidence behind his thesis. What we learn from reading this book is that the beaver's most identifiable trait, building dams on rivers and streams, has a profound effect on the landscape. When beavers were hunted for their pelts in colonial times it lead to the loss of beaver-facilitated habitats for numerous fauna and flora.

Daming also helps in preserving groundwater and preventing flooding and runoff as some farmers and ranchers have learned where managed beaver populations have been reintroduced. Unfortunately, the benefits on the macro level can be damaging on the micro show more level, causing local flooding and damage despite being better for the region overall. This contributes to the beaver being seen as a nuisance animals and extermination policies of many local governments. Goldfarb documents the efforts of ecologists and scientists to convince people to learn to live with beavers.

It's a very interesting and fact-filled book and definitely gave me new respect for the beaver! show less

A well-researched exploration of the history of human interactions with beavers, from their almost-eradication in the 1700s to current and future efforts to reestablish them in both North America and Europe and the benefits of doing so.

This book is much more about what beavers can do for humans and the environment than about the life or biology of beavers themselves. Which is fine! It takes all kinds of perspectives. I particularly appreciated that the book got into really specific details about current scientists and companies that are working on reintroducing beavers and reducing the negative impacts on humans. It’s great reporting.

Ben Goldfarb has done a tremendous job with this book, highlighting the important ecological role of beavers past, present, and future. Humorous and vivid, with excellent and deep research on display throughout.

Intriguing and worth reading. The author’s journalistic writing style doesn’t have enough range to support such a long book and becomes a bit wearying, otherwise this book would have earned my top rating of 4 stars. It did probably achieve its goal of making a “beaver believer “ out of me, though. [Edit to raise rating to 4 stars, since I've thought about this book so often in the last 5 years since I read it.]