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181 reviews for:
Bicycling with Butterflies: My 10,201-Mile Journey Following the Monarch Migration
Sara Dykman
3.73 AVERAGE
181 reviews for:
Bicycling with Butterflies: My 10,201-Mile Journey Following the Monarch Migration
Sara Dykman
3.73 AVERAGE
adventurous
informative
My feelings are pretty mixed for this book. So, I’m going to start with the positives. I enjoyed learning more about monarchs and their migration. I enjoyed reading about Sara’s journey, it was an inspiring idea and such a cool trip. I’m outdoorsy but cycling is one thing I haven’t done much of so this is one of only two books I’ve read about a cycling journey.
That being said, her tone was just not for me. I kept finding myself getting frustrated with her “glass half empty” attitude and that’s coming from someone who also isn’t the most positive. I also found I wasn’t feeling frustrated in a “Yeah, we have to save the monarchs!” Type way, but more I just wanted it to stop. I was bothered by the fact that she didn’t seem to take any advice from locals or heed to the rules. If she had actually seemed to have a plan, I maybe could’ve understood that but it felt like she was kind of winging it. Her map was even outdated. I was also bothered by her berating people about conservation, like these farmers are just trying to survive and make a living to support their family. Try educating, not just yelling. It just felt real counter intuitive to her mission.
Sara has done some amazing work since writing this book and obviously has passion for our planet, I give her full credit for that and understand it can be exhausting. I also understand that while I didn’t resonate with this book, there have been many others who felt differently after reading it.
Overall, I just don’t think this book was for me. I have found some additional books about butterfly migrations to add to my TBR that I’m hoping will give me additional information that I will personally enjoy more.
That being said, her tone was just not for me. I kept finding myself getting frustrated with her “glass half empty” attitude and that’s coming from someone who also isn’t the most positive. I also found I wasn’t feeling frustrated in a “Yeah, we have to save the monarchs!” Type way, but more I just wanted it to stop. I was bothered by the fact that she didn’t seem to take any advice from locals or heed to the rules. If she had actually seemed to have a plan, I maybe could’ve understood that but it felt like she was kind of winging it. Her map was even outdated. I was also bothered by her berating people about conservation, like these farmers are just trying to survive and make a living to support their family. Try educating, not just yelling. It just felt real counter intuitive to her mission.
Sara has done some amazing work since writing this book and obviously has passion for our planet, I give her full credit for that and understand it can be exhausting. I also understand that while I didn’t resonate with this book, there have been many others who felt differently after reading it.
Overall, I just don’t think this book was for me. I have found some additional books about butterfly migrations to add to my TBR that I’m hoping will give me additional information that I will personally enjoy more.
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
adventurous
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
fast-paced
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
This book came highly recommended, and I was eager to listen to it, but ultimately I just couldn't get into the writing. My favorite part of Steinbeck's travelogues are the conversations, but the author, by necessity, seemed to rarely meet people as she bicycled. Ramiro was intensely interesting to me, but then his storyline just dropped, she never received her argument with him. The suspicious Texan ranchers were terse, they sent her on her way, end of story. Even the people she stayed with at the conservancy in Mexico didn't get a lot of ink. I'm happy to read a nonfiction manifesto on climate challenges mixed with wry observations of human nature disguised as a travelogue, but at 30% in, I just hadn't found a hook that would keep me listening.
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
I gave this book 4 stars not necessarily for the way it was written but for the shear force of will it represents. A solo bike trip of over 10,000 miles is an amazing feat of not only physical strength but psychological toughness. The author is very candid about sharing not only the highs but the lows of this trip and she communicates both very well. We can only hope that the many people she took the time to educate along her way and the thousands more who have read this book find a way to save the migrating monarchs for future generations.
This deeply resonated on my own, somewhat less impressive, bike trip. She gets it. If you want to know why I ride my bike long distances alone for fun, read this. Absolutely beautiful.
I have rather mixed feelings on this book. I studied monarchs for two years in college, so I was immediately drawn to this book and what it stands for. Sara includes a number of facts about monarchs and their natural history, which I really appreciate, and I enjoyed reading about her travels, both the struggles and the triumphs.
While I appreciated her raw emotions in her story as they related to animal deaths or habitat, there was also a tone of hatred and condescension that really bothered me. Some excerpts talked as though cars are horrible things or the drivers are heartless because an animal is accidentally killed. Sie describes not being able to forgive those who destroyed pollinator habitat, even though she was describing farmers and general civilians who likely just didn't know.
Additionally, she goes on political rants about topics that, in my opinion, are a complete tangent to the story. Meanwhile, she feels entitled to break rules and camp where she pleases, even getting an attitude with those who call her out for camping where she shouldn't be.
While she often says her behavior or anger were unjustified, these rants and entitled moments made me want to stop reading. If I, a fellow scientist and monarch lover, wanted to stop reading because of Sara's behavior, how much more would a butterfly novice be inclined to not only put the book away, but to ignore Sara's greater message of conservation?
While I appreciated her raw emotions in her story as they related to animal deaths or habitat, there was also a tone of hatred and condescension that really bothered me. Some excerpts talked as though cars are horrible things or the drivers are heartless because an animal is accidentally killed. Sie describes not being able to forgive those who destroyed pollinator habitat, even though she was describing farmers and general civilians who likely just didn't know.
Additionally, she goes on political rants about topics that, in my opinion, are a complete tangent to the story. Meanwhile, she feels entitled to break rules and camp where she pleases, even getting an attitude with those who call her out for camping where she shouldn't be.
While she often says her behavior or anger were unjustified, these rants and entitled moments made me want to stop reading. If I, a fellow scientist and monarch lover, wanted to stop reading because of Sara's behavior, how much more would a butterfly novice be inclined to not only put the book away, but to ignore Sara's greater message of conservation?
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced