iguazelcz's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

4.5

longstorysteph's review against another edition

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hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

chrissi_lange's review against another edition

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funny informative reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

4.25

josieevans789's review against another edition

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informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.5

j0s's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

3.0

Beautiful illustrations and cool facts about plants, parasites, slime moulds and other organisms. I would have liked deeper dives instead of the quick hopping between stories. Like in many popular science books, sometimes numbers were mentioned without much context. 

raychillstorm's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

4.0

cat_queen005's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

3.0

saraq's review against another edition

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informative

4.75

pinkiejecca's review against another edition

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informative sad slow-paced

3.25

ashcomb's review against another edition

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5.0

Here we are on this planet of ours, entangled with its nature. But here we are, having ignored it, feeling superior for decades minus the few dissident voices throughout centuries. Now we are at the point we have to take seriously issues like what if whales are gone and their excrement and urine won't fertilize the deep sea where other nutriments rarely land. Yet, we still ignore the issue and think of ourselves as superior and technology as our salvation. But the truth is, as Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson shows, our ecosystem is complex and dependent on so many parts that we humans have yet to master it even in our sealed environment experiments. So we need to respect our nature and cultivate what remains.

This is a beautiful book that shows what we can learn from nature, how it can heal (you know, the antibiotics resistance issue we will face in the future), sustain, and advance us; it shows how tiny minuscule critters/plants play an essential part in our ecosystem and how we cannot afford to lose them. And the tone of the book isn't moralizing. Instead, it's all about the love and care for nature. Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson writes that through details, through information, we learn how to appreciate the creatures we live with and respect their right to exist and do our part so they will. And I agree with her. The idea that a whale pee is such an integral part of the health and life of an ocean makes me appreciate the giants even more. It makes me understand their disappearance means the disappearance of us as well if we want to be all egocentric about the issue. And we are the cause for their disappearance, not so mysterious force. Luckily, as Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson points out, the conservation of this magnificent creature has yielded results, but we are far from a celebration.

Incredible book which deepened my love for the entanglement of it all, my love for the whales, for the termites that keep the moisture in our lands, for it all. 

Have a beautiful day and thank you for reading <3