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Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter
Eager, environmental journalist Ben Goldfarb reveals that our modern idea of what a healthy landscape looks like and how it functions is wrong, distorted by the fur trade that once trapped out millions of beavers from North America’s lakes and rivers. The consequences of losing beavers were profound: streams eroded, wetlands dried up, and species from salmon to swans lost vital habitat. Today, a growing coalition of “Beaver Believers”—including scientists, ranchers, and passionate citizens—recognizes that ecosystems with beavers are far healthier, for humans and non-humans alike, than those without them. From the Nevada deserts to the Scottish highlands, Believers are now hard at work restoring these industrious rodents to their former haunts. Eager is a powerful story about one of the world’s most influential species, how North America was colonized, how our landscapes have changed over the centuries, and how beavers can help us fight drought, flooding, wildfire, extinction, and the ravages of climate change. Ultimately, it’s about how we can learn to coexist, harmoniously and even beneficially, with our fellow travelers on this planet.
WINNER of the 2019 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award
Washington Post “50 Notable Works of Nonfiction”
Science News “Favorite Science Books of 2018”
Booklist “Top Ten Science/Technology Book of 2018”
"A marvelously humor-laced page-turner about the science of semi-aquatic rodents…. A masterpiece of a treatise on the natural world.”—The Washington Post
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387 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 5, 2018
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February 27, 2019
Chapter 1: Beavers Rock
Chapter 2: Beavers rock
Chapter 3: There are a few potential concerns you might have about beavers
Chapter 4: But all those pale in comparison to how much they rock
Chapter 5: In conclusion, Beavers Rock.
Disclaimer: "chapters" in this review may not reflect actual structure of book.
Chapter 2: Beavers rock
Chapter 3: There are a few potential concerns you might have about beavers
Chapter 4: But all those pale in comparison to how much they rock
Chapter 5: In conclusion, Beavers Rock.
Disclaimer: "chapters" in this review may not reflect actual structure of book.
February 5, 2019
First, a caveat to this review: Ben Goldfarb is one of my best friends.
That said, I stand by the 5-star rating. Any good book has to change the way you see the world, and this book does so more concretely than most: as a person who spends a good deal of time outdoors, around streams, wetlands, in forests, etc, I now can't look at a stream without wondering wonder, "Should there be a beaver dam there? Should this be a wetland instead?"
When I talked to Ben over the course of writing this book, he often talked about how he had become a "Beaver Believer"--someone who thinks that the mass eradication of beavers from the American landscape had a profound effect on the bodies of water where they used to live. In fact, the iconic rivers and streams that we see in glorious vistas and photographs? Most of those "should" actually be much slower-flowing, ponded, and dammed, thereby providing habitat for the numerous wildlife species (amphibians, reptiles, fish, mammals) that used to depend on them.
I didn't believe Ben, not really. Could beavers really have been that important? But the thorough research in the first part of this book, which presents numerous quotations from early explorers of the west, leave no doubt that the number of beavers was profound and their impact widespread. And it's not just ecology that they influenced: the fur trade helped incite the American Revolution and the War of 1812, and dictated where explorers settled and founded some of the West's now-major cities.
On top of all that, Ben is a really engaging writer. Entertaining, fresh, and always ready with a turn of phrase or apt vocabulary choice (several times sending me to a digital dictionary).
If you care about beavers, you'll already have pre-ordered this. If you care about the natural world at all, then you owe it to yourself to read this book--because if you're like me, you've ignored the profound impacts that beavers have on the world around us, and that, it turns out, is a major oversight.
That said, I stand by the 5-star rating. Any good book has to change the way you see the world, and this book does so more concretely than most: as a person who spends a good deal of time outdoors, around streams, wetlands, in forests, etc, I now can't look at a stream without wondering wonder, "Should there be a beaver dam there? Should this be a wetland instead?"
When I talked to Ben over the course of writing this book, he often talked about how he had become a "Beaver Believer"--someone who thinks that the mass eradication of beavers from the American landscape had a profound effect on the bodies of water where they used to live. In fact, the iconic rivers and streams that we see in glorious vistas and photographs? Most of those "should" actually be much slower-flowing, ponded, and dammed, thereby providing habitat for the numerous wildlife species (amphibians, reptiles, fish, mammals) that used to depend on them.
I didn't believe Ben, not really. Could beavers really have been that important? But the thorough research in the first part of this book, which presents numerous quotations from early explorers of the west, leave no doubt that the number of beavers was profound and their impact widespread. And it's not just ecology that they influenced: the fur trade helped incite the American Revolution and the War of 1812, and dictated where explorers settled and founded some of the West's now-major cities.
On top of all that, Ben is a really engaging writer. Entertaining, fresh, and always ready with a turn of phrase or apt vocabulary choice (several times sending me to a digital dictionary).
If you care about beavers, you'll already have pre-ordered this. If you care about the natural world at all, then you owe it to yourself to read this book--because if you're like me, you've ignored the profound impacts that beavers have on the world around us, and that, it turns out, is a major oversight.
November 25, 2023
If you're like me and want facts when it comes to science and/or nature books, you'll do better reading the Wikipedia page for beavers than this book.
Most of it is boring. I did a hell of a lot of skimming. The majority of what I learned about beavers was in the first 40 pages.
The author praises the many ways in which beavers are crucial for ecosystems and that's all fine and good but it quickly became repetitive.
Much of the book is about various conservation efforts and the reintroduction of beavers to places in the US, with one chapter devoted to the UK.
There's also a significant amount of trapping and killing beavers and I had to skip ahead through pages and pages when it was that shit. It popped up in most chapters. Thankfully the author doesn't condone it but I did not want to read about it.
Because of these two things, there's a lot more about humans in this book than beavers [yawn].
Here is what I actually learned about beavers in this book:
•The American beaver first arose around a million years ago.
•Beavers are the 2nd largest living rodent, after the capybaras.
•They can hold their breath for up to 15 minutes.
•They have transparent eyelids and fur-lined lips.
That's it. Four little things in 324 pages (the rest of the book are notes and photos).
If you like reading about conservationists and people who try to protect natural habitats and animals, you might like this book.
For me, it was a waste of time.
Most of it is boring. I did a hell of a lot of skimming. The majority of what I learned about beavers was in the first 40 pages.
The author praises the many ways in which beavers are crucial for ecosystems and that's all fine and good but it quickly became repetitive.
Much of the book is about various conservation efforts and the reintroduction of beavers to places in the US, with one chapter devoted to the UK.
There's also a significant amount of trapping and killing beavers and I had to skip ahead through pages and pages when it was that shit. It popped up in most chapters. Thankfully the author doesn't condone it but I did not want to read about it.
Because of these two things, there's a lot more about humans in this book than beavers [yawn].
Here is what I actually learned about beavers in this book:
•The American beaver first arose around a million years ago.
•Beavers are the 2nd largest living rodent, after the capybaras.
•They can hold their breath for up to 15 minutes.
•They have transparent eyelids and fur-lined lips.
That's it. Four little things in 324 pages (the rest of the book are notes and photos).
If you like reading about conservationists and people who try to protect natural habitats and animals, you might like this book.
For me, it was a waste of time.
July 14, 2018
The story of beavers is the story of water, and is also the story of trees. Here in Ireland I have just visited a restored mill pond and seen the healthiest, happiest aspen trees I've ever found; some trees flourish near standing water. I saw heron, duck of a few species, moorhen, small birds, dragonfly, and various water plants including bulrushes. I did not see any beaver, because we don't have any. This look at beavers mainly in North America, but also with a chapter on Scotland and Devon, explains the wider picture of how hydrology and geomorpology are affected by the eagerly working beaver. Where dams are, ponds form, and sediment is deposited, floods are contained and ground water is absorbed. Life flourishes.
The book goes into the paradisical, if messy, waterways that faced early trappers and settlers. North America ran fat with beaver, bear and moose; rivers ran silver with fish and were filled with fowl. Rivers were often not navigable due to snags and drowned trees, giant wood and beaver dams. (See 'Beyond Control' by James Barnett Jr.) But salmon and trout found their ways happily up and down, showing us how salmon developed the skill of leaping. We then get the disastrous tale of slaughter. I find this hard to read, but it's not the author's fault. The beaver underpelt was used to make hats. The climate was colder in those days, so men wore hats more in America, China and Europe, and the markets were served.
Rivers now eroded banks, dams rotted or were removed, silt was carried downstream, land and aquifers dried out and gullies were incised. We see the decline of habitat and of the creatures dependent on it. No coincidence that forest fires became more frequent and the continent warmed. The author tells us that ecology is a new science. Darn right. While at school we were visited by a gentleman trying to sell us girls on places at Trinity College. I said "I want to study ecology." He said "We don't have any courses in ecology." Nor did anywhere else. So I went out and became a working tree surgeon.
The next chapters are more cheerful as we look at the people working to restore beavers, famously in Yellowstone where along with reintroduced wolves (which ate elk that ate trees) they restored habitat. Where beavers collide with people, towns or cattle, advocates have to work harder, coming up with beaver baffling pipe guards and culvert clearers. Cattle wreck stream banks and eat trees and forbs that hold soil together, so banks had to be fenced off before beavers could return. But when they did, right away the land started ponding and soaking in more water, so in drought summers the cattle didn't need water fetched, there was plenty.
This book touches on the same points as 'Once They Were Hats', a history of beavers written by a Canadian, Frances Backhouse, even looking at the furs, though not for a whole chapter, and the look at beaver-related place names is here confined to California to confound a claim that western California didn't have beavers; it did, but they were trapped out by sailors before white settlers arrived across land. I found more emphasis on the people and the work of restoring habitat, and how beavers help us and wildlife. We read about many amphibians and fish enjoying beaver ponds and bank burrows within a year.
Technical terms such as rewilding, flow devices, sexual dimorphism, incised stream channels, hyporheic exchange (where water above ground percolates and mixes with subground water, in losing streams, some of the latter coming to the surface in gaining streams) are written in italics the first time they are mentioned, and well explained. Anyone with a little knowledge of nature can follow this book, it is so well written, with so many people interviewed to explain their points of view. You will be inclined to Google images - I Googled the devil's corkscrew, fossilised beaver burrows, and the Beaver Deceiver contraption. While this is not a scientific textbook it includes many studies and projects, from the early twentieth century to 2017, and will be a source of fascination and inspiration to ecologists.
Notes and references in my e-ARC P249 - 272. I found 104 names which I could be sure were female. My version does not have any photos (apart from an author photo) though it does have some beaver range maps.
We are told that the author holds a Masters in Environmental Management from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. The fact that he is an environmental journalist is probably a great assistance in presenting such a readable book.
I downloaded an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review.
The book goes into the paradisical, if messy, waterways that faced early trappers and settlers. North America ran fat with beaver, bear and moose; rivers ran silver with fish and were filled with fowl. Rivers were often not navigable due to snags and drowned trees, giant wood and beaver dams. (See 'Beyond Control' by James Barnett Jr.) But salmon and trout found their ways happily up and down, showing us how salmon developed the skill of leaping. We then get the disastrous tale of slaughter. I find this hard to read, but it's not the author's fault. The beaver underpelt was used to make hats. The climate was colder in those days, so men wore hats more in America, China and Europe, and the markets were served.
Rivers now eroded banks, dams rotted or were removed, silt was carried downstream, land and aquifers dried out and gullies were incised. We see the decline of habitat and of the creatures dependent on it. No coincidence that forest fires became more frequent and the continent warmed. The author tells us that ecology is a new science. Darn right. While at school we were visited by a gentleman trying to sell us girls on places at Trinity College. I said "I want to study ecology." He said "We don't have any courses in ecology." Nor did anywhere else. So I went out and became a working tree surgeon.
The next chapters are more cheerful as we look at the people working to restore beavers, famously in Yellowstone where along with reintroduced wolves (which ate elk that ate trees) they restored habitat. Where beavers collide with people, towns or cattle, advocates have to work harder, coming up with beaver baffling pipe guards and culvert clearers. Cattle wreck stream banks and eat trees and forbs that hold soil together, so banks had to be fenced off before beavers could return. But when they did, right away the land started ponding and soaking in more water, so in drought summers the cattle didn't need water fetched, there was plenty.
This book touches on the same points as 'Once They Were Hats', a history of beavers written by a Canadian, Frances Backhouse, even looking at the furs, though not for a whole chapter, and the look at beaver-related place names is here confined to California to confound a claim that western California didn't have beavers; it did, but they were trapped out by sailors before white settlers arrived across land. I found more emphasis on the people and the work of restoring habitat, and how beavers help us and wildlife. We read about many amphibians and fish enjoying beaver ponds and bank burrows within a year.
Technical terms such as rewilding, flow devices, sexual dimorphism, incised stream channels, hyporheic exchange (where water above ground percolates and mixes with subground water, in losing streams, some of the latter coming to the surface in gaining streams) are written in italics the first time they are mentioned, and well explained. Anyone with a little knowledge of nature can follow this book, it is so well written, with so many people interviewed to explain their points of view. You will be inclined to Google images - I Googled the devil's corkscrew, fossilised beaver burrows, and the Beaver Deceiver contraption. While this is not a scientific textbook it includes many studies and projects, from the early twentieth century to 2017, and will be a source of fascination and inspiration to ecologists.
Notes and references in my e-ARC P249 - 272. I found 104 names which I could be sure were female. My version does not have any photos (apart from an author photo) though it does have some beaver range maps.
We are told that the author holds a Masters in Environmental Management from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. The fact that he is an environmental journalist is probably a great assistance in presenting such a readable book.
I downloaded an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review.
July 7, 2018
Eager is an excellent natural history of beavers written for a general audience. The author is clearly a believer in the importance of healthy populations of beaver in the wild, and he makes a convincing argument that the mammal should be allowed to peacefully coexist with humans. He outlines ecosystem services provided by beavers including flood control, groundwater storage and retention, and habitat creation for other critters. He also describes how beavers provide natural adaptive strategies for dealing with climate change. This is an engaging read that also educates.
August 29, 2018
This book is not about beavers per se. It's really a book about visiting prominent people working with Beaver's and to reestablish populations. For instance, it may be in there, but I can't recall anything regarding the typical lifespan of a beaver.
At some point, the book becomes a tedious travelogue of visiting different sites etc...
At some point, the book becomes a tedious travelogue of visiting different sites etc...
July 6, 2022
This is a passionate non-fic about beavers and the advantages they bring to the environment, mainly based on North American data but also a bit of Europe. I read it as a part of monthly reading for June 2022 at Non Fiction Book Club group.
The book starts with a great destruction of beavers, whose fur was actively exported in the 1820s-1840s in the US, when so much of these animals were killed that the land where they lived changed drastically. Beavers are important, extremely important, to living in an arid environment. They created the watering holes to which game flocked and the oases in which plants flourished, enriching biosphere and leading to greater diversity. Beaver dams stop both seasonal flooding and droughts, lowering the speed of waterflow and covering larger area with water. They stimulate other animal species, from swans to salmon as well as trees and other living beings.
There is a well-known story about how the reintroduction of wolves helped to restore Yellowstone. However, according to the author, it is only partially true. “Incomplete” might capture it better. Wolves have undoubtedly changed Yellowstone’s ecosystems, and in some river valleys they’ve done extraordinary good. But there are other valleys the canids haven’t managed to save, places that remain as degraded as they were on that January day in 1995. Yellowstone’s wolves are landscape benefactors, but they’re not panaceas. More than a century ago, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem ranked among the finest capitals in all of Beaverland. Although mountain men pillaged the region, Yellowstone’s beavers survived the fur trade unvanquished. In 1863 Walter DeLacy complained about the “numerous beaver dams” that frustrated his travels through the Madison drainage. But by 1953 there was neither any activity nor was there any indication that beaver had inhabited those regions for several years. Old dams broke, banks were destroyed, elks eat young willows… from 1986 to 1999 (i.e. starting a decade before wolves), Dan Tyers, today a grizzly bear biologist for the US Forest Service, reintroduced beavers to the park – it remains one of the largest beaver relocations ever undertaken. By 2007, there were 127 beaver colonies. In the popular imagination, however, Tyers’s relocation tale lost out to a more compelling narrative: that, by allowing willows to regrow, wolves alone brought beavers back.
There are a lot of other interesting tidbits, from the fact that the cow is the aminal that replaced beavers in the US to the Greek tale by Aesop about a beaver pursued by castoreum hunters that would gnaw off its gonads and gift them to its tormentors, which leads to their species name - Castor that comes from castratum. Actually, beavers lack the external plug-and-socket genitalia as we know in human beings. Instead, they possess modified cloacas—fleshy vents, analogous to the anatomy of birds and reptiles, that do triple duty in the departments of urine disposal, scent secretion, and reproduction, making determining sex by eyes alone almost impossible (however, the smell may help).
The book is biased but in a good sense, it gives a lot of arguments for reintroducing beavers. At the same time, while I fully agree that their constructed swamp-like environments may be a paradise to a lot of life forms, they also expel other forms, less competitive is swamps and often slow water now is a fertile ground for (often introduced) algae.
The book starts with a great destruction of beavers, whose fur was actively exported in the 1820s-1840s in the US, when so much of these animals were killed that the land where they lived changed drastically. Beavers are important, extremely important, to living in an arid environment. They created the watering holes to which game flocked and the oases in which plants flourished, enriching biosphere and leading to greater diversity. Beaver dams stop both seasonal flooding and droughts, lowering the speed of waterflow and covering larger area with water. They stimulate other animal species, from swans to salmon as well as trees and other living beings.
There is a well-known story about how the reintroduction of wolves helped to restore Yellowstone. However, according to the author, it is only partially true. “Incomplete” might capture it better. Wolves have undoubtedly changed Yellowstone’s ecosystems, and in some river valleys they’ve done extraordinary good. But there are other valleys the canids haven’t managed to save, places that remain as degraded as they were on that January day in 1995. Yellowstone’s wolves are landscape benefactors, but they’re not panaceas. More than a century ago, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem ranked among the finest capitals in all of Beaverland. Although mountain men pillaged the region, Yellowstone’s beavers survived the fur trade unvanquished. In 1863 Walter DeLacy complained about the “numerous beaver dams” that frustrated his travels through the Madison drainage. But by 1953 there was neither any activity nor was there any indication that beaver had inhabited those regions for several years. Old dams broke, banks were destroyed, elks eat young willows… from 1986 to 1999 (i.e. starting a decade before wolves), Dan Tyers, today a grizzly bear biologist for the US Forest Service, reintroduced beavers to the park – it remains one of the largest beaver relocations ever undertaken. By 2007, there were 127 beaver colonies. In the popular imagination, however, Tyers’s relocation tale lost out to a more compelling narrative: that, by allowing willows to regrow, wolves alone brought beavers back.
There are a lot of other interesting tidbits, from the fact that the cow is the aminal that replaced beavers in the US to the Greek tale by Aesop about a beaver pursued by castoreum hunters that would gnaw off its gonads and gift them to its tormentors, which leads to their species name - Castor that comes from castratum. Actually, beavers lack the external plug-and-socket genitalia as we know in human beings. Instead, they possess modified cloacas—fleshy vents, analogous to the anatomy of birds and reptiles, that do triple duty in the departments of urine disposal, scent secretion, and reproduction, making determining sex by eyes alone almost impossible (however, the smell may help).
The book is biased but in a good sense, it gives a lot of arguments for reintroducing beavers. At the same time, while I fully agree that their constructed swamp-like environments may be a paradise to a lot of life forms, they also expel other forms, less competitive is swamps and often slow water now is a fertile ground for (often introduced) algae.
September 15, 2018
A five star book is a book that seriously makes you reevaluate your view of the world. It is one that makes you think, and has a lasting impact upon you. Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter may seem like a bit of an odd choice for a five star book. Nevertheless, here we are. Ben Goldfarb made me seriously reconsider what I knew about beavers, how they impact the landscape, and what views of rewilding I hold. I'm a staunch believer in the power of rewilding. Perhaps beavers are the proper 'gateway mammal' that will allow places to consider wolves, camels, horses, and big cats down the line. Perhaps there is a better way.
Eager does a wonderful job of highlighting the importance of this sweet mammal, the misconceptions that persist about them, and how much difficulty the Beaver Believers have encountered on their journey of greater beaver appreciation. He paints a picture of beavers as the solution to many of the world's ills, and backs that picture up with data that is difficult to contest. He doesn't hold back when it comes to the cons of having beavers around, but the cons are outweighed by the many benefits they offer. Beavers can help offset the troubles of climate change, can help us through droughts and floods, can provide habitat for endangered species, and even decrease the need for restocking ponds and farming fish. Beavers can revitalize dead landscapes, help combat erosion and even reverse it. In short, beavers can do all environmentalists are trying to do and for significantly less money. Restoring beaver habitat is doing much more than just helping beavers: it's healing the world. He also makes a significant case that beavers can even be more beneficial to combating the greenhouse effect than a forest of trees.
Eager will turn you into a Beaver Believer. It will make you roll your eyes at the number of Justin Beavers in the world, but after having rescued over six hedgehogs named Sonic I understand. I highly recommend this book to all my friends interested in environmental concerns and animals. Help a beaver, change the world!
Eager does a wonderful job of highlighting the importance of this sweet mammal, the misconceptions that persist about them, and how much difficulty the Beaver Believers have encountered on their journey of greater beaver appreciation. He paints a picture of beavers as the solution to many of the world's ills, and backs that picture up with data that is difficult to contest. He doesn't hold back when it comes to the cons of having beavers around, but the cons are outweighed by the many benefits they offer. Beavers can help offset the troubles of climate change, can help us through droughts and floods, can provide habitat for endangered species, and even decrease the need for restocking ponds and farming fish. Beavers can revitalize dead landscapes, help combat erosion and even reverse it. In short, beavers can do all environmentalists are trying to do and for significantly less money. Restoring beaver habitat is doing much more than just helping beavers: it's healing the world. He also makes a significant case that beavers can even be more beneficial to combating the greenhouse effect than a forest of trees.
Eager will turn you into a Beaver Believer. It will make you roll your eyes at the number of Justin Beavers in the world, but after having rescued over six hedgehogs named Sonic I understand. I highly recommend this book to all my friends interested in environmental concerns and animals. Help a beaver, change the world!
July 29, 2020
I think I'll start out by referring you to a good professional review, https://www.seattletimes.com/entertai...
It's a good pop-science book. Goldfarb has done his fieldwork and homework, and is likely to convince you that more beavers would make things better. He does go on a little longer than my interest held up, though. And kind of scants Canada. Overall, 3.5 stars, rounded up.
Some stuff from my notes.
● Castoroides, an extinct beaver the size of a small bear! Part of the Pleistocene megafauna, went extinct just about 10,000 years ago.
● Beavers were a significant force in shaping North American geomorphology before being largely hunted out, and could be again. "Guesstimates" of somewhere between 15 and 250 million beaver ponds! --before the European fur trade largely cleared them out. .
Here's author Jo Walton's take, which led me to read the book:
"This is an excellent popular science book about beavers, water, engineering, climate, biodiversity, and why we need beavers. Fascinating, nifty, easy to understand. Recommended."
https://www.tor.com/2019/07/05/jo-wal... (scroll down)
It's a good pop-science book. Goldfarb has done his fieldwork and homework, and is likely to convince you that more beavers would make things better. He does go on a little longer than my interest held up, though. And kind of scants Canada. Overall, 3.5 stars, rounded up.
Some stuff from my notes.
● Castoroides, an extinct beaver the size of a small bear! Part of the Pleistocene megafauna, went extinct just about 10,000 years ago.
● Beavers were a significant force in shaping North American geomorphology before being largely hunted out, and could be again. "Guesstimates" of somewhere between 15 and 250 million beaver ponds! --before the European fur trade largely cleared them out. .
Here's author Jo Walton's take, which led me to read the book:
"This is an excellent popular science book about beavers, water, engineering, climate, biodiversity, and why we need beavers. Fascinating, nifty, easy to understand. Recommended."
https://www.tor.com/2019/07/05/jo-wal... (scroll down)
November 14, 2019
I went from grades one to eight in a red brick schoolhouse in a tiny prairie town in Saskatchewan that had somewhere between forty and sixty students in total. One of my earliest memories was when they trooped the whole lot of us into the library to watch some documentary films. The one I remember best was about beavers. I also remember a bunch of Hinterland Who's Who one minute public service commercials put out by Environment Canada Wildlife Service and the National Film Board. Among the ones about loons, ravens, moose and snowy owls there was the one about the beaver. At school, they made sure we knew about the importance of the beaver to our history, about Rupert’s Land and the Hudson’s Bay Company and their intense competition with the North West Company. I was told that millions of beavers died in order to send pelts to Europe for hats. I wondered how many hats they needed over there.
Sometimes we saw beavers on the South Saskatchewan River or down at Gardner Dam. We found beaver dams in the little valleys that cut their way through the prairie. I rarely saw them. Usually, I just saw a V-shaped wake cutting through the water and, if I got too close, a loud splash. I didn’t need any more books to tell me how important beavers are to the ecology of this continent, but I enjoyed this one nonetheless.
This is a fine roundup of beaver lore. The natural history of beavers, the history of human interaction with them, our exploitation and near destruction of beavers, the misinformed suspicion and hatred of the busy little dam builders, the lack of understanding of their value to us. The behavior of those cattle ranchers in southern Utah is the closest thing to making me consider becoming a vegetarian that I’ve come across in a long time. I was heartened to learn about the other ways of dealing with them when we come into conflict, that doesn’t involve shooting them and dynamiting their dams.
It’s a long and mixed up history we have with these rodents, who have always been more friend than foe, despite the way we’ve treated them. This is a pretty good, if somewhat America-centric, history of that. I highly recommend it. I also highly recommend beavers. They may yet save the world for us just by being themselves. Long may they gnaw their way to our hearts. Of course, you know I mean that metaphorically because... well... that’s just gross, so don’t even go there.
Sometimes we saw beavers on the South Saskatchewan River or down at Gardner Dam. We found beaver dams in the little valleys that cut their way through the prairie. I rarely saw them. Usually, I just saw a V-shaped wake cutting through the water and, if I got too close, a loud splash. I didn’t need any more books to tell me how important beavers are to the ecology of this continent, but I enjoyed this one nonetheless.
This is a fine roundup of beaver lore. The natural history of beavers, the history of human interaction with them, our exploitation and near destruction of beavers, the misinformed suspicion and hatred of the busy little dam builders, the lack of understanding of their value to us. The behavior of those cattle ranchers in southern Utah is the closest thing to making me consider becoming a vegetarian that I’ve come across in a long time. I was heartened to learn about the other ways of dealing with them when we come into conflict, that doesn’t involve shooting them and dynamiting their dams.
It’s a long and mixed up history we have with these rodents, who have always been more friend than foe, despite the way we’ve treated them. This is a pretty good, if somewhat America-centric, history of that. I highly recommend it. I also highly recommend beavers. They may yet save the world for us just by being themselves. Long may they gnaw their way to our hearts. Of course, you know I mean that metaphorically because... well... that’s just gross, so don’t even go there.
April 25, 2019
🥇2019 PEN/E.O. Wilson Prize For Literary Science Writing
Wow! This book was so well written, and so interesting! There was a ton of research and a broad scope, but all presented in a way that was highly insightful, engaging, uplifting, and often humorous.
I was surprised to realize the degree to which humans had come to nearly eradicate beavers from our environment, but relieved to learn of recent trends to reintroduce Beavers into habitats throughout the midwest, California, and Europe, and the clear ecological benefits seen.
While it is widely known that beavers dam waterways, often in ways that frustrate human plans, it is rarely acknowledged that these nocturnal rodents can radically transform vast swathes of land, boosting biodiversity, recharging aquifers, purifying water, reducing pollution, and protecting against erosion and wildfires
I listened to this on audio, and the combination of Goldfarb's writing, and Will Damron's narration was excellent - I could not stop listening!
Wow! This book was so well written, and so interesting! There was a ton of research and a broad scope, but all presented in a way that was highly insightful, engaging, uplifting, and often humorous.
I was surprised to realize the degree to which humans had come to nearly eradicate beavers from our environment, but relieved to learn of recent trends to reintroduce Beavers into habitats throughout the midwest, California, and Europe, and the clear ecological benefits seen.
While it is widely known that beavers dam waterways, often in ways that frustrate human plans, it is rarely acknowledged that these nocturnal rodents can radically transform vast swathes of land, boosting biodiversity, recharging aquifers, purifying water, reducing pollution, and protecting against erosion and wildfires
I listened to this on audio, and the combination of Goldfarb's writing, and Will Damron's narration was excellent - I could not stop listening!
July 10, 2022
We know of the ecological value of predators. We know of the ecological value of insects. What we are learning is the ecological value of beavers.
My lifelong friend Jessica has retired fulltime to her family's land on the Frio River a minor river in Central Texas. There the river's water level continues to fall, the artesian water flow drops to a trickle. The creeks radiating from the river have dried up and cracked. She worries as owners of riverside land in Texas and perhaps elsewhere, her family is charged with the care of the river. She and other riverside landowners could benefit from learning about the benefits of coexisting with beavers.
Beaver dam and divert water, stomp water into the earth. When beaver are allowed to do what beaver do, we have mud bogs and artesian wells; we have diverted water and contained water, we have filled rivers and creeks which draw Life to themselves.
While beaver do not understand human property rights or how human technology works/how it should be left alone, the the ever-increasing desperate need for water indicates a reason to consider the ecological need for beavers.
I have told Jessica of this book. I hope she will read it, consider it, and talk of it to the farmers and raisers of livestock nearby. I hope.
My lifelong friend Jessica has retired fulltime to her family's land on the Frio River a minor river in Central Texas. There the river's water level continues to fall, the artesian water flow drops to a trickle. The creeks radiating from the river have dried up and cracked. She worries as owners of riverside land in Texas and perhaps elsewhere, her family is charged with the care of the river. She and other riverside landowners could benefit from learning about the benefits of coexisting with beavers.
Beaver dam and divert water, stomp water into the earth. When beaver are allowed to do what beaver do, we have mud bogs and artesian wells; we have diverted water and contained water, we have filled rivers and creeks which draw Life to themselves.
While beaver do not understand human property rights or how human technology works/how it should be left alone, the the ever-increasing desperate need for water indicates a reason to consider the ecological need for beavers.
I have told Jessica of this book. I hope she will read it, consider it, and talk of it to the farmers and raisers of livestock nearby. I hope.
October 29, 2025
What can I say but that animals are amazing and are capable of doing amazing things! We all know about the power of the dog's nose. We know about the incredible migrations of birds and monarch butterflies. And I'm simply amazed by the most amazing octopus. Now, about beavers, I've known that beavers are the great engineers of the animal world. After reading Ben Goldfarb's book, I did not know just how great they are as engineers. And I didn't fully realize just how important they are for the environment. When the European whites arrived in their "New World," they saw a multitude of beavers in the streams and rivers--and they began the terrible slaughter of these animals for their fur. They certainly did not know how much the beaver had shaped the landscape they were colonizing...And they almost completely exterminated them.
i felt heartened by reading the stories about people trying to save beavers and relocate them and even help them to establish themselves in new homes. Above all, there are people who are trying to help beaver-human coexistence happen. There is a lot of conflict as so many people see beavers as pests instead of what they are--a keystone animal that a lot of other animals depend upon...I just hope people's attitudes are changing...
i felt heartened by reading the stories about people trying to save beavers and relocate them and even help them to establish themselves in new homes. Above all, there are people who are trying to help beaver-human coexistence happen. There is a lot of conflict as so many people see beavers as pests instead of what they are--a keystone animal that a lot of other animals depend upon...I just hope people's attitudes are changing...
January 24, 2020
Colour me a Beaver Believer!
April 3, 2018
A mesmerizing and thorough examination on why beavers are a true keystone species, as they are often overlooked, vilified, and sorely misunderstood.
Many animals have their inherent value, to be sure, but Goldfarb issues his proof that the ability for so many species to thrive hinge upon the ability of beavers to do what they do best, even if their efforts seem to produce nothing less than chaos and less-than-aesthetically-pleasing views of nature (I suppose that also depends on who's looking).
Goldfarb writes of the beaver's integration within the history of many parts of the world (most notably North America), reminding us that the pelt trade was an important one in its time, and fueled so much of our conquest of any slab of untamed forest and stream. As the book progresses, you learn of many, many attempts to re-incorporate beavers into failing landscapes & watersheds, the installation of artificial dams meant to simulate the presence of the animals, and the struggles through which honorable proponents of beaver-kind have to navigate to simply get a fair consideration of data proving that the animal is definitely more help than hurt, which brings me to the next point...
If there's a hang-up for a reader in this book, it's around the middle where Goldfarb may seem to go in circles: He'll hang out with a conservationist/scientist/beaver enthusiast, you'll read of them restoring a habitat, the data will show some sort of improvement, and you'll be treated to at least some level of a conclusion. That happens several times, but please allow me to state that much of the frustration experienced by those who are pro-beaver must be the issuance of positive scientific results being met with sustained resistance against their cause; I imagine Goldfarb is doing his best to amass a most convincing stack of examples to help dispel as much doubt as he possibly can.
The passion for not just the co-existence but the full inclusion of beavers within our waterways is on prominent display here, and it's convincing, charming, logical, and so very worthy of your time. A super-fantastic read.
Many thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.
Many animals have their inherent value, to be sure, but Goldfarb issues his proof that the ability for so many species to thrive hinge upon the ability of beavers to do what they do best, even if their efforts seem to produce nothing less than chaos and less-than-aesthetically-pleasing views of nature (I suppose that also depends on who's looking).
Goldfarb writes of the beaver's integration within the history of many parts of the world (most notably North America), reminding us that the pelt trade was an important one in its time, and fueled so much of our conquest of any slab of untamed forest and stream. As the book progresses, you learn of many, many attempts to re-incorporate beavers into failing landscapes & watersheds, the installation of artificial dams meant to simulate the presence of the animals, and the struggles through which honorable proponents of beaver-kind have to navigate to simply get a fair consideration of data proving that the animal is definitely more help than hurt, which brings me to the next point...
If there's a hang-up for a reader in this book, it's around the middle where Goldfarb may seem to go in circles: He'll hang out with a conservationist/scientist/beaver enthusiast, you'll read of them restoring a habitat, the data will show some sort of improvement, and you'll be treated to at least some level of a conclusion. That happens several times, but please allow me to state that much of the frustration experienced by those who are pro-beaver must be the issuance of positive scientific results being met with sustained resistance against their cause; I imagine Goldfarb is doing his best to amass a most convincing stack of examples to help dispel as much doubt as he possibly can.
The passion for not just the co-existence but the full inclusion of beavers within our waterways is on prominent display here, and it's convincing, charming, logical, and so very worthy of your time. A super-fantastic read.
Many thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.
December 11, 2019
Eager - I'm just not that into you. I feel like a loner on this, since 99% of my book club people LOVED this, but ... it was a struggle. It was incredibly dense, didn't draw me in, and ... I don't know. Just didn't do it for me. I read a couple other two-star reviews and people thought maybe the subject matter wasn't interesting, which is unfortunate; beavers are pretty interesting and complicated animals, and I think there was a lot of good info in the book. I just didn't like how it was laid out/presented.
February 13, 2019
I cannot recommend this book enough. I can't think of the last book where I learned (and laughed) this much. Ben Goldfarb has converted me to a beaver believer. Beavers are endlessly fascinating. You should get this book right away.
November 25, 2024
Easy non-fiction read! Highly recommend, especially enjoyed the perspective as a civil engineer and outdoor recreationist. Liked the mix of modern-day field interviews and history lessons.
August 9, 2018
I am going to start this by telling a brief story. When I was a young teen, my high school had a well-respected vocational agriculture program. A young boy in that program gave a talk in my science class. His focus was beavers, their loss in southern New England, and the attempts to bring them back. I was fascinated.
Of course, I'd longed to see a beaver from the time I was six, when our Dad read us "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe". I was about that age when our Dad's younger brother, a game warden, came by with a beaver in a cage. I remember the strong smell and heavy fur, and our Uncle warning us not to put our fingers near the mesh lest the beaver bite us.
And Dad used to take us for walks down the road to see the beaver dam in New Hampshire. Again, I longed to see a wild beaver, but, as a child, I never did. Only the one our Uncle brought by.
So it was thrilling when, ten years or so after my classmate's talk, we saw and heard a beaver slap the water in a local pond when we were hiking. A short time later, a beaver waddled across our path. There was the same strong smell I'd remembered from my childhood, and the same heavy, dark fur. I was amazed at how big the beaver was, and how fearless.
Later, hiking on the same trail, the path went by a shallow pond where water lilies were blooming. We saw a beaver swim to a lily, pull it down, and devour the blossom.
But isn't this supposed to be a book review? All these beaver stories are all well and good, but what about the book? Here's the thing: even though I'd been fascinated by beavers since I was a small child; even though I'd had these experiences, I had no idea just how important beavers were. I had no idea how they shaped our history, as well as our landscape, and I had no idea how much they did for other species--and that includes storing groundwater for humans and our companion species. If you read this book, you'll find out exactly how valuable and important beavers are. It's also clearly written and even funny in places. Recommended.
(If you're wondering why this long non-review is only four stars, there are two reasons. First, as with "Heart of A Lion" I find reading about human greed and cruelty and the near-extirpation of a species depressing. It's a necessary part of the story, but I didn't enjoy reading it. Second, the book does skip around a good bit. But it's still very readable.)
Of course, I'd longed to see a beaver from the time I was six, when our Dad read us "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe". I was about that age when our Dad's younger brother, a game warden, came by with a beaver in a cage. I remember the strong smell and heavy fur, and our Uncle warning us not to put our fingers near the mesh lest the beaver bite us.
And Dad used to take us for walks down the road to see the beaver dam in New Hampshire. Again, I longed to see a wild beaver, but, as a child, I never did. Only the one our Uncle brought by.
So it was thrilling when, ten years or so after my classmate's talk, we saw and heard a beaver slap the water in a local pond when we were hiking. A short time later, a beaver waddled across our path. There was the same strong smell I'd remembered from my childhood, and the same heavy, dark fur. I was amazed at how big the beaver was, and how fearless.
Later, hiking on the same trail, the path went by a shallow pond where water lilies were blooming. We saw a beaver swim to a lily, pull it down, and devour the blossom.
But isn't this supposed to be a book review? All these beaver stories are all well and good, but what about the book? Here's the thing: even though I'd been fascinated by beavers since I was a small child; even though I'd had these experiences, I had no idea just how important beavers were. I had no idea how they shaped our history, as well as our landscape, and I had no idea how much they did for other species--and that includes storing groundwater for humans and our companion species. If you read this book, you'll find out exactly how valuable and important beavers are. It's also clearly written and even funny in places. Recommended.
(If you're wondering why this long non-review is only four stars, there are two reasons. First, as with "Heart of A Lion" I find reading about human greed and cruelty and the near-extirpation of a species depressing. It's a necessary part of the story, but I didn't enjoy reading it. Second, the book does skip around a good bit. But it's still very readable.)
March 29, 2021
This is a revelation. A masterpiece. A real chef d’œuvre. I’ve always been a ~*Beaver Believer*~ but anyone who isn’t should read this book or at the very least educate themselves about why beavers are so important and why we need to be more proactive about being good stewards of the land for beavers but for ourselves too. This deep dive into the world of beavers is a fantastic example as to how interconnected everything is in nature. This book took me back to hiking around my family’s 80 acres of Michigan forest with my dad. He walked me around to post no trespassing/hunting signs and explained the importance of all the wildlife on our land, taking special care to explain it was our responsibility to ward off poachers because no one else would if we didn’t. Especially in backwoods hillbilly Michigan where the only good animal was a dead one. Assholes. My dad was particularly fond of beavers and I have a specific memory of him shedding more than a few tears after we saw beavers fixing their dam shortly after a massive forest fire broke out in 1998 and burned more than a few acres of the property. He explained, as this author did that the presence of beavers is the pinnacle of success when it comes to signs of healing and health of the land. Also another time a beaver got into our garage and started building a dam in the crawlspace and my dad spent a few days slowly coaxing it out instead of trapping or calling the DNR (who would have definitely killed beaver at the time). He spent weeks leading him back to the bog all the while paying a shit ton of money to fix the insulation damage and replacing support beams that had been gnawed on by this lil fucker. Anyway, sorry/not sorry for that trip down memory lane. I love beavers and you should too. This author did an amazing job summing up years of my dear old dad’s wilderness lessons and it was a special treat to listen to on audiobook walking around the wetlands near my house.
July 2, 2019
There was a lot that I didn't know about beavers before reading this book, like the fact that they are vegetarians! Just like a bunch of other people in this book, I thought they ate fish or something, even though a few years ago some coworkers and I ran across a picture book that said they ate wood and we were all like, no way! But we looked it up and sure enough, they do! Even after that I still thought they ALSO probably eat fish. Where did that come from? Are we all getting them confused with otters, or what?
Anyway, I also learned how beneficial they are for the control of water--easing drought, easing flooding, building up the water table. IF they are in an area that has not been overgrazed and are allowed to build dams unimpeded. And there are lots of ways to somewhat control their dam building with flow devices to keep them from flooding things you don't want flooded.
The main thing I learned from this book is that now I want there to just be beavers EVERYWHERE!
I can see this book not being quite enough to win over the majority of cattle ranchers (if any would read this book in the first place), but it definitely won me over and made me hopeful that eventually we can all get to a place where we think more critically about how interconnected nature is and how attempting to just eradicate species can lead to some nasty unintended problems down the line.
I'm glad beavers are doing just fine despite our past efforts, and I'll be interested to see how things go if they do end up being reintroduced to areas in need of them. California, eyes on you!
Anyway, I also learned how beneficial they are for the control of water--easing drought, easing flooding, building up the water table. IF they are in an area that has not been overgrazed and are allowed to build dams unimpeded. And there are lots of ways to somewhat control their dam building with flow devices to keep them from flooding things you don't want flooded.
The main thing I learned from this book is that now I want there to just be beavers EVERYWHERE!
I can see this book not being quite enough to win over the majority of cattle ranchers (if any would read this book in the first place), but it definitely won me over and made me hopeful that eventually we can all get to a place where we think more critically about how interconnected nature is and how attempting to just eradicate species can lead to some nasty unintended problems down the line.
I'm glad beavers are doing just fine despite our past efforts, and I'll be interested to see how things go if they do end up being reintroduced to areas in need of them. California, eyes on you!
September 11, 2019
The most enjoyable book I've read this year! I had no opinion one way or another about beavers when I started this after an intriguing excerpt in The Sierra Club magazine, but by the halfway mark I was ready to join the ranks of Beaver Believers.
Who knew that these critters are in fact a "keystone species," absolutely essential to a healthy ecology. Their dams may strike us as messy or inconvenient, but these ingenious pieces of engineering are the key to flood control, drought mitigation, and the health of many other species, including birds, frogs, and fish (no, they don't eat fish). Beavers were the prize driving much of the exploration and colonization of the US because their pelts were extremely valuable in Europe during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. So naturally they were hunted and trapped till their numbers became negligible, and formerly lush grazing lands in the West became barren and flood prone.
But that is starting to change as the need for water conservation and flood control become urgent.
The author, thank God, has an irrepressible sense of humor. His tales of the exploits of Beaver Believers in the Western US, Scotland, and elsewhere are often hopeful and hilarious, including the use of surplus WWII parachutes to relocate beavers in a remote section of Idaho. Mitigating climate change takes centuries, but--given half a chance--beavers get very quick results.
I LOVED this book.
Who knew that these critters are in fact a "keystone species," absolutely essential to a healthy ecology. Their dams may strike us as messy or inconvenient, but these ingenious pieces of engineering are the key to flood control, drought mitigation, and the health of many other species, including birds, frogs, and fish (no, they don't eat fish). Beavers were the prize driving much of the exploration and colonization of the US because their pelts were extremely valuable in Europe during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. So naturally they were hunted and trapped till their numbers became negligible, and formerly lush grazing lands in the West became barren and flood prone.
But that is starting to change as the need for water conservation and flood control become urgent.
The author, thank God, has an irrepressible sense of humor. His tales of the exploits of Beaver Believers in the Western US, Scotland, and elsewhere are often hopeful and hilarious, including the use of surplus WWII parachutes to relocate beavers in a remote section of Idaho. Mitigating climate change takes centuries, but--given half a chance--beavers get very quick results.
I LOVED this book.
August 10, 2020
This book is a prime example of why I love Goodreads! I would probably never have heard of this book, much less read it, if my friend Kay had not written a beautiful review of it. Thanks, Kay! All I can do is second her sentiments. It is fascinating information presented in a very entertaining way!
Here is Kay's review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Here is Kay's review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
September 28, 2019
I wanted so badly to be into this book but I stopped around page 50... couldn't hold my attention, just because of my own lack of interest in the subject.
August 28, 2024
I was most interested in the parts of this book that talk about the ecological effects of beavers, "to store and clean water, to rebuild flood defenses, to repair degraded rivers, to revive biodiversity." Also interested in conflicts, and possible resolutions, between human and beaver ways of using land. Would rather not read so much about trapping and attempts to eliminate beavers, but I guess that was part of the story Goldfarb wanted to tell.
I recommend this book to everyone who wants to know more about beavers, especially if, like me, your strongest impression of beavers came from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. No, Jack, they don't eat fish. No, they are vegetarian. No, fish don't count as vegetables.
I recommend this book to everyone who wants to know more about beavers, especially if, like me, your strongest impression of beavers came from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. No, Jack, they don't eat fish. No, they are vegetarian. No, fish don't count as vegetables.
August 19, 2020
Seeing this on my list I hope will make many "Eager" to read this fascinating tale of the amazing beaver. From anatomy, to history to impact, to potential, readers will be filled with wonder at this hair-lipped, living drill bit that might just resolve many of our ecological challenges if we would simply stop deterring and let it do its work. Equally entertaining as interesting, it would be hard to not be somewhat of a "beaver believer" when done reading this book!
August 18, 2021
Fantastic book!
March 1, 2024
Ben Goldfarb is a compelling author and inspirational journalist. Both Eager and Crossings provide insight and information on incredibly important (and overlooked) species and ecological concepts. This book is about more than beavers, if you are an ecologist, conservationist, nature lover, or casual admirer, this book is a must read.
September 25, 2024
Fascinating topic supported by excellent, engaging writing.
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