Suburban Safari

By Hannah Holmes

Book Overview

The suburban lawn sprouts a crop of contradictory myths. To some, it's a green oasis; to others, it's eco-purgatory. Science writer Hannah Holmes spent a year appraising the lawn through the eyes of the squirrels, crows, worms, and spiders who think of her backyard as their own. Suburban Safari is a fascinating and often hilarious record of her discoveries: that many animals adore the suburban environment, including bears and cougars venturing in from the woods; how plants, in their struggle for dominance, communicate with their own kind and battle other species; and that ways already exist for us to grow healthier, livelier lawns.
Hannah Holmes is the author of The Secret Life of Dust. Her science and travel writing has appeared in publications including the New York Times Magazine, Outside, Sierra, and the Los Angeles Times Magazine. She lives in South Portland, Maine. "Witty environmentalists are as rare as shy politicians. But in Suburban Safari, Hannah Holmes laughs at herself while celebrating the wild kingdom she explores...Holmes is a science writer who doesn't lecture. She shares the joy of discovery about the secret lives of ants, spiders and crows."-USA Today
"Holmes' backyard assumes strange, oversize proportions in the course of this fascinating book: the Bamboo Wilderness, the Insect Nation, the Freedom Lawn-who needs Mongolia?"-Los Angeles Times
"The writing is punchy and chock-full of strange and wonderful facts...Holmes makes it seem utterly commonplace to invite a chipmunk into one's home or spend the afternoon observing slugs."-Oregonian
"Holmes sends even the most jaded urbanite out into the yard with a magnifying glass and a newly forged sense of awe...One of the most unusual, entertaining, effortlessly educational homages to nature since Euell Gibbons ate a pine tree."-Mary Roach, author of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1596910917
• ISBN13: 9781596910911
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Not like new condition as advertised and purchased!

Water damaged copy with mold inside.

great trivia

I really enjoyed the gentle and thoughtful tone of the author and the research regarding our animal neighbors was very interesting

I Thoroughly Enjoyed This FUN, Backyard Ecology Book!

Ms. Holmes conveys the spirit and joy of the true scientist in writing about her backyard biosphere. Carefully researched and referenced, this fascinating story is sure to inspire the reader to examine and appreciate their own surroundings. I would highly recommend this book for anyone even slightly interested in ecology, the environment or science. K. Reed

Don't be scared by the subject matter--this is a fast-paced and fun book!

Even though this book was so highly recommended, I had trouble picking it up. A year examining the backyard? What? As soon as I started the book, through, I was hooked on the intense social lives of Holmes's crows, the eating and gathering habits of her local chipmunk, her people-wary squirrel clan (many of whom lost parts of their tails), the oh-so-important bugs, and more. I'm not generally a reader of biology and nature books, so trust me when I say this book reaches across genres to the armchair reader. In fact, Holmes supports her thrilling narrative with citations from many biology books. I can only imagine how dry these texts are, and I thank her for giving us the "best parts" in narrative form. I learned about the navigational skills of robins and the extensive scientific studies conducted on the species, as well as the fact that hummingbirds have to learn to love the color red for its sugar, and many a baby hummingbird can be found picking at dry brown leaves and stems. Holmes also discusses experiments that were conducted to learn how squirrels know to eat white oak acorns (which germinate before winter) and save red oak acorns (which can be stored through winter without germination). Holmes manages to pack all this scientific information and more into a terrific narrative about a woman and her backyard. This book is highly recommended. I can think of nothing else that compares, and the story of Hannah and her backyard is anything but mundane.

Great writing, great science

This is a must-have for any household: a serious-minded, witty, often hilarious, gorgeously written account of the teeming natural world just outside the back door. The writing alone merits five stars. For her last book, Holmes was a finalist for an award that Stephen Hawking won, so she's no slouch in the science department, either.

Who Knew Sitting on a Lawn Could Mean Life in the Fast Lane?

Battling crickets. Tailless squirrels. Weeds as our friends. Crow antics. A Cheeky chipmunk. Drama, comedy, and huge life and death decisions compete for writer Hannah Holmes's attention out on her two tenths of an acre back lawn. This is a wonderful book in so many ways. Number one - it's beautifully written. Passionate, funny, informative, and engrossing, Holmes's prose has been honed as fine as one blade of feral grass on the Freedom Lawn she so treasures in her back yard. Number two - it's chock full of details regarding some of the common, yet extraordinary, things we see every day. The reader may laugh over the antics of Holmes's crows, but at the same time, she is teaching us about crow ecology - what they contribute to our environment and why they're important. She does this with each carefully considered topic - from why weeds are good to how many threads make up Babbette the spider's web in her study. Number three - A Year on the Lawn is an important educational and ecological tool that would be a great asset to high school science classes. Number four - things we idly wonder about while sipping iced tea in our own backyards are honored here in spades. This is a great read, no matter the season, whether you're on a summer-kissed deck or looking out at the piles of snow covering the backyard grill. Move it to the top of your pile.