Status
Available
Publication
Mariner Books (2018), Edition: Illustrated, 208 pages
Description
Biography & Autobiography. Nature. Nonfiction. Understanding someone who belongs to another species can be transformative. No one knows this better than author, naturalist, and adventurer Sy Montgomery. To research her books, Sy has traveled the world and encountered some of the planet's rarest and most beautiful animals. From tarantulas to tigers, Sy's life continually intersects with and is informed by the creatures she meets. This restorative memoir reflects on the personalities and quirks of thirteen animals-Sy's friends-and the truths revealed by their grace. It also explores vast themes: the otherness and sameness of people and animals; the various ways we learn to love and become empathetic; how we find our passion; how we create our families; coping with loss and despair; gratitude; forgiveness; and most of all, how to be a good creature in the world.… (more)
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User reviews
LibraryThing member Smiler69
I’m an unabashed animal lover/nutcase with three furkids of my own—of the kind that remains relatively unmoved at the sight of adorable babies, but goes absolutely nutters over dogs, cats, elephants, cows, horses, pigs, frogs, spiders, bears, beetles, bees, marsupials, octopuses, whales, mice,
This, her latest charmingly illustrated book, came about when an interviewer asked her what lessons animals taught Sy about herself, and her almost immediate answer came: “How to be a good creature”. Here she briefly talks about 13 different critters she has encountered in her lifetime who taught her important life lessons: from her first dog, Molly, a Scottish terrier adopted when she was 3 and which she strove to emulate in every way to her mother’s great despair; a threesome of emu siblings which she undertook to study to satisfy her own burning curiosity as to their habits in the Australian outback; Christopher Hogwood, a pig she adopted as a runt so sick and small he had few chances of survival and who grew to become a 750 lbs “Buddha master” and the subject of her bestselling book “The Good Good Pig” when he passed after a very contented life, aged 14; Clarabelle, an Avicularia, or large species of tarantula with distinguishable pink footpads and a friendly personality encountered on a trip in French Guiana; Tess, Sally and Thurber, border collies who became irreplaceable members of the family; an octopus named Octavia who was also the fascinating subject of an excellent standalone book, called “The Soul of an Octopus”, to name a few.
If you’ve never read a book by this author, this is a great way to get acquainted with her work. If you’ve already read and enjoyed some of Montgomery’s books, “How To Be a Good Creature” will get you better acquainted with Sy Montgomery and introduce you to several creatures you likely haven’t met before, or you’ll surely find some new anecdotes to smile at or sympathize with. Another part of the book I really liked was the For Further Reading section, where Montgomery lists ten books that inspired her to start studying and writing about the natural world. Highly recommend, naturally. 🙂
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and just about any non-human critter living on this planet (except for roaches and mosquitoes 😖). As such, I absolutely love Sy Montgomery’s books, who’s passion for animals is positively infectious. She has dedicated her life to researching them and travelled the world to encounter countless known and rare species to write about them. This, her latest charmingly illustrated book, came about when an interviewer asked her what lessons animals taught Sy about herself, and her almost immediate answer came: “How to be a good creature”. Here she briefly talks about 13 different critters she has encountered in her lifetime who taught her important life lessons: from her first dog, Molly, a Scottish terrier adopted when she was 3 and which she strove to emulate in every way to her mother’s great despair; a threesome of emu siblings which she undertook to study to satisfy her own burning curiosity as to their habits in the Australian outback; Christopher Hogwood, a pig she adopted as a runt so sick and small he had few chances of survival and who grew to become a 750 lbs “Buddha master” and the subject of her bestselling book “The Good Good Pig” when he passed after a very contented life, aged 14; Clarabelle, an Avicularia, or large species of tarantula with distinguishable pink footpads and a friendly personality encountered on a trip in French Guiana; Tess, Sally and Thurber, border collies who became irreplaceable members of the family; an octopus named Octavia who was also the fascinating subject of an excellent standalone book, called “The Soul of an Octopus”, to name a few.
If you’ve never read a book by this author, this is a great way to get acquainted with her work. If you’ve already read and enjoyed some of Montgomery’s books, “How To Be a Good Creature” will get you better acquainted with Sy Montgomery and introduce you to several creatures you likely haven’t met before, or you’ll surely find some new anecdotes to smile at or sympathize with. Another part of the book I really liked was the For Further Reading section, where Montgomery lists ten books that inspired her to start studying and writing about the natural world. Highly recommend, naturally. 🙂
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LibraryThing member gypsysmom
What a delightful book this is. Not only does Ms Montgomery share her love of all creatures with us but it is beautifully illustrated by Rebecca Green. Even the illustration for each chapter heading is individual.
As a person who shared 16 years with a border collie I am, of course, bound to be
If you have ever had a pet you loved then this is a book that will speak to you.
As a person who shared 16 years with a border collie I am, of course, bound to be
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enchanted by a book that includes stories about not just one or two border collies but three. And I have to bow down in awe to a woman who manages to write twenty-six books while keeping a border collie fully amused and exercised. My Gypsy rode herd on my husband and I, a cat, another dog and still had energy to burn. However, this book doesn't just chronicle the author's experiences with dogs. She also had a pet pig and not one of those cute little pot-bellied pigs; this was a pig that grew to 750 pounds. She raised chickens but since she is a vegetarian they too were pets. And then there were the more exotic animals she formed friendships with: three emus in the outback of Australia, tree kangaroos in Papua New Guinea, a tarantula in South America that she called Clarabelle and on and on. From each animal the author learned important lessons and no doubt will continue to learn more.If you have ever had a pet you loved then this is a book that will speak to you.
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LibraryThing member gma2lana
Animals know and feel so much more the we can ever understand.
LibraryThing member MontzaleeW
How to be a Good Creature by Sy Montgomery and also narrated by the author is a book that just makes you feel so good! I am a but animal loved and I could relate to her stories much. It didn't sound like she had the best family life but her love for her dog was a saving grace. Later her love for
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animals spread to all kinds of creatures and she explains how they helped her and she loved them. I laughed, related, and cried throughout this book! I was a mess! I could do all of these in one chapter! Her love just shines through! I have listened to another of her books so I knew how wonderful, tender, and insightful she is in her books. I can't wait to read more! As a narrator, it was nice to hear her true emotions as she told her adventures. It really brought the story closer to the reader. Show Less
LibraryThing member grandpahobo
The book is very heatfelt and vivid in the descriptions of the animals and experiences in her life.
LibraryThing member splinfo
Not owned in ST but an interesting mostly gentle read. In the same family as All Things Bright and Beautiful, but an adult title. I appreciated reading it in bits and pieces as an escape from the real world. k
LibraryThing member BoundTogetherForGood
I didn't really enjoy this book. Probably 10% of the book focused on a spider, and I found that to be a big turnoff for me.
She also explained in depth how much she wanted to kill herself when two of her animals died in close succession. That was too much for me.
I enjoyed her book, "Soul of an
She also explained in depth how much she wanted to kill herself when two of her animals died in close succession. That was too much for me.
I enjoyed her book, "Soul of an
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Octopus," much more. Show Less
LibraryThing member bookworm12
This memoir explores the author's relationship with the animals that have shaped her life. From a huge pet pig, to emus in the wild, from a tarantula to border collies, she loves these animals deeply and they have impacted the way she she's the world.
LibraryThing member DrFuriosa
This is a lovely memoir about the lessons we can learn from the animals in our lives. This short but memorable book is peppered with gorgeous illustrations that make this book a feast for the eyes, too.
LibraryThing member jtsolakos
A heartwarming, beautifully written memoir. Just what is needed in this chaotic time. Ms. Montgomery will convince you to feel compassion and heart for scary spiders and a huge octopus as well as pigs, chickens, and dogs. Each chapter is dedicated to a different animal the author has met in her
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life. Through these experiences, we learn interesting facts about the animal and the life of the author at the same time. A lovely, lovely read! Show Less
LibraryThing member forsanolim
I was given The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness a while ago but don't have it with me right now, so I chose this one of Sy Montgomery's works for my October animals read. As the title suggests, it's a charming memoir about the author's work and
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experiences with animals over her lifetime, from her childhood dog to the rescue pig who she and her husband adopted, almost like their child, to their rescue border collies and the New England Aquarium octopuses. This book was really lovely, and I did also appreciate Montgomery's candor in describing both her strained relationships with some of her family members and in her own mental-health challenges. Show Less
LibraryThing member JReynolds1959
Sy Montgomery really makes you think about the personalities of creatures, whether they be dogs, spiders, kangaroos, octopi, etc. This woman has a real feel for trying to get the thoughts and feelings of all kinds of creatures. This book was so interesting and solidifies some of my own thoughts
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about living things. Show Less
LibraryThing member JulieStielstra
Charming, sweet, fun. If you have read Montgomery's "The Good, Good Pig," "Birdology,"or "The Soul of the Octopus," you will have met some of these beings already, and in more depth. I was attracted by the intent of the book to tell these stories of her animal friends and acquaintances and what
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they have taught her about being a "good creature." It doesn't quite work in that regard. She is a gifted, vivid writer, and the animal characters are brought delightfully to life with a full-hearted respect for who they are in their own selves. She does acknowledge how she came to learn to see them that way (in the chapter on the tropical spider named Clarabelle, she astutely recognizes the moment when she suddenly saw Clarabelle not as a "giant spider!" but as a small animal, which feels completely different). As housemate to half a border collie (she's not saying what the other half is), I enjoyed the portraits of Montgomery's sequence of three border collies and how three dogs of the same breed can still be such different personalities. But that's pretty much what this very readable book amounts to: interesting, enjoyable, well-told animal tales. Show Less
LibraryThing member Charon07
Sy Montgomery reveals some alarming facts about her mother and her childhood—though I don’t think that she intended them to be alarming or that she herself considers them alarming—that make her empathy and openness toward animals all the more poignant.
LibraryThing member sriddell
A delightful book!
The author tells autobiographical stories of pets and animals she's researched. Each animal has made an impact in the author's life.
I loved her stories about her pets: dogs, chickens, a pig. But what was unexpected is how she brought tarantulas and octopi to life in such a warm
There were some stories of her childhood and her family woven into the fabric of the book. She brushes over these incidents, but clearly didn't have a warm and fuzzy mother! And animals seemed to take a place where family might otherwise go.
This was 100% a feel good book and a wonderful read.
The author tells autobiographical stories of pets and animals she's researched. Each animal has made an impact in the author's life.
I loved her stories about her pets: dogs, chickens, a pig. But what was unexpected is how she brought tarantulas and octopi to life in such a warm
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and loving way. Got to admit, I still wouldn't want to handle those creatures, but I appreciate that she appreciates those animals.There were some stories of her childhood and her family woven into the fabric of the book. She brushes over these incidents, but clearly didn't have a warm and fuzzy mother! And animals seemed to take a place where family might otherwise go.
This was 100% a feel good book and a wonderful read.
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LibraryThing member WellReadSoutherner
Cute heartwarming stories with a little sadness thrown in about how animals help heal us. Illustrations and especially the cover were what drew me into it as they are wonderful.
LibraryThing member AR_bookbird
I LOVE this book!!!!! Sy is such a beautiful writer and captures the “soul” of animals so perfectly in all her books!
LibraryThing member nyiper
Perfectly delightful, as usual, it serves as a reminder of some of Sy's other wonderful books as she relates stories of some of the creatures in her books along with the wonderful stories of Molly, Tess, and Thurber.
LibraryThing member laytonwoman3rd
This brief and touching "memoir in thirteen animals" shares the author's relationships with several dogs, a pig, a flock of chickens (the Ladies), assorted wilder creatures, and Octavia, the octopus in the New England Aquariaum who inspired Montgomery's book, Soul of an Octopus. Each chapter is a
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vignette of Ms. Montgomery's interaction with one of the animals who affected her emotional life in significant ways. Light reading, lovely illustrations. Show Less
Awards
CCBC Choices (2019)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2018
Physical description
208 p.; 8 inches
ISBN
0544938321 / 9780544938328