In a rare blend of scientific fact and poetic truth, the acclaimed author of A Natural History of the Senses explores the activities of whales, penguins, bats, and crocodilians, plunging headlong into nature and coming up with highly entertaining treasures.“One of our most thoughtful and imaginative writers on natural history… a stunning fit between science and art.”— Houston Chronicle“Informative… entertaining… Ms. Ackerman has a gift for sparkling, resonant language, and her descriptions of various animals and their habitats are alive with verbal energy and delight …fascinating.”— The New York Times“Once in a while you forget, when reading Diane Ackerman’s prose, that you’re reading ‘nature writing.’ One becomes immersed in an essay, cruising along with this woman’s unfolding adventure…. By mingling a narrative of her experience with the study of the lives of animals, she reminds us that not only she is connected, intimately, to the worlds of animals, we all are.”— Detroit Free Press