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A review by readingpenguin
Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl by Stacey O'Brien
4.0
4.5
Wesley the Owl includes two things that I absolutely adore in a memoir; a person with an interesting job, and a person forming an interesting relationship with another individual.
In the first part of the narrative the author, Stacey, works as a trained biologist at Caltech, which among other things features a large collection of owls that the scientists study closely. This is how Wesley comes into her life--as a four day old orphan with a slightly damaged wing (meaning they know he could never be released into the wild). In addition to making her an owl Mommy, her job had her hosing down rodent guts, transporting octopuses, and assisting in delicate experiments and procedures in all sort of birds.
But if course the center of the narrative is Wesley and the bond that Stacey formed with him. I will say that although Stacey is a trained biologist, she's not overly concerned with hard science when it comes to her interactions with Wesley or her documentation of his life. She's too close to be objective. While Wesley is not a pet and not trained, he is tame, and this story keys into all of the emotional, intellectual, interpersonal, and even spiritual aspects of Stacey and Wesley's relationship. Stacey is careful to capture Wesley's unique personality and to argue, through this experience, owls and animals in general have a deeper consciousness than we give them credit for. (For my part, I'm sold on the idea. If I can believe an octopus has a soul, I can certainly believe the same of an owl).
This book did manage to teach me some things about owls, primarily because I went in knowing very little. I didn't know that barn owls are monogamous and mate for life. I certainly wouldn't have guessed that they could imprint on people. I had no idea their diet was so particular (that's a lot of dead mice, dude).
So while it's not an exhaustive scientific treaty, I did feel this book has both intellectual and emotional value and I would highly recommend it.
Wesley the Owl includes two things that I absolutely adore in a memoir; a person with an interesting job, and a person forming an interesting relationship with another individual.
In the first part of the narrative the author, Stacey, works as a trained biologist at Caltech, which among other things features a large collection of owls that the scientists study closely. This is how Wesley comes into her life--as a four day old orphan with a slightly damaged wing (meaning they know he could never be released into the wild). In addition to making her an owl Mommy, her job had her hosing down rodent guts, transporting octopuses, and assisting in delicate experiments and procedures in all sort of birds.
But if course the center of the narrative is Wesley and the bond that Stacey formed with him. I will say that although Stacey is a trained biologist, she's not overly concerned with hard science when it comes to her interactions with Wesley or her documentation of his life. She's too close to be objective. While Wesley is not a pet and not trained, he is tame, and this story keys into all of the emotional, intellectual, interpersonal, and even spiritual aspects of Stacey and Wesley's relationship. Stacey is careful to capture Wesley's unique personality and to argue, through this experience, owls and animals in general have a deeper consciousness than we give them credit for. (For my part, I'm sold on the idea. If I can believe an octopus has a soul, I can certainly believe the same of an owl).
This book did manage to teach me some things about owls, primarily because I went in knowing very little. I didn't know that barn owls are monogamous and mate for life. I certainly wouldn't have guessed that they could imprint on people. I had no idea their diet was so particular (that's a lot of dead mice, dude).
So while it's not an exhaustive scientific treaty, I did feel this book has both intellectual and emotional value and I would highly recommend it.