A review by caylinchronicles
Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction by Michelle Nijhuis

5.0

As someone who took a couple of wildlife biology classes the book felt like a solid review of much of what I learned in those classes. The more you read about it the more appreciation and understanding one has. This also helped remind me of my passions to continue to do better for myself and to push others to do better for our planet.

I loved that the timeline was set up to show how the thinking and progress of conservation biology has evolved over the last century. While I have been taught about the successes of each of these individuals before I didn’t know a lot of their personal background or how some of them were connected to each other’s progress. Very cool to see how their views on some things change after seeing ecological differences in their lifespans.
Each person that is discussed in this novel took steps to get us where we are today. Some of those steps were in selfishness but we have evolved our thinking by far even in the last decade.
Important questions: How can we do this properly without making others feel like they’re having their natural born rights taken away? What is going to make people feel like they are in control of their destiny’s without destroying the nature that sustains us? Can we save the planet before we destroy ourselves?
It’s crucial that we continue to make each other feel responsible for our planet while also keeping in mind people’s emotional connections to certain pastimes. We need to continue to find a healthy balance that works for every life form-big and small.