The Rarest of the Rare : Vanishing Animals, Timeless Worlds

Ackerman journeys in search of monarch butterflies and short-tailed albatrosses, monk seals and golden lion tamarin monkeys: the world's rarest creatures and their vanishing habitats. She delivers a rapturous celebration of other species that is also a warning to our own. Traveling from the Amazon rain forest to a forbidding island off the coast of Japan, enduring everything from broken ribs to a beating by an irate seal, Ackerman reveals her subjects in all their splendid particularity. She shows us how they feed, mate, and migrate. She eavesdrops on their class and courtship dances. She pays tribute to the men and women hwo have deoted their lives to saving them. The renowned author of A Natural History of the Senses takes readers in search of the "rarest of the rare, " species likely to disappear before most of us have ever seen them. From Brazil to the Pacific to Japan, Ackerman shares her concern at the animals' plight, rejoices at the chance to experience them, and cheers those who work to save these fantastic creatures.

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.

Publishers Weekly

With unfettered curiosity and a high degree of engagement, poet and naturalist Ackerman ( A Natural History of the Senses ) sported among penguins in subantarctic rookeries and herds of alligators on a Florida alligator farm, gathering experience with the creatures featured in these four lively, information-packed accounts. Whether writing of hunting bats in Texas caves or of swimming next to a mother whale and her calf in a Patagonian bay, Ackerman makes vivid the qualities and appeal of animals and the natural world they inhabit. Fueled primarily by her own response to the creatures, her reports also encompass hosts of facts (an alligator might grow as many as 3000 teeth in its lifespan; the testes of the male right whale weigh as much as 2200 lbs.), often related in a particularly revealing way, as in her observation that more people can be found in a football stadium on an autumn weekend afternoon than have ever seen the Antarctic in all of history. As commanding as the animals are the experts whose expeditions she joins--men and women, like whale expert Roger Payne, who possess extraordinary knowledge and passionate commitments to the creatures they study and work to save from extinction. Enthusiastic, free-ranging and accessible, this is popular natural-history writing at its most persuasive. (Oct.)

Following the triumphant success of her A Natural History of the Senses, Diane Ackerman has turned her formidable gifts to that greatest gift of all - the elusive, eternal, and endlessly interesting matter of love. The result is pure Ackerman: a splendid, serious, scientific, poetic, playful, and lyrical "tour d'horizon" of love's many forms and faces. Ackerman draws on a variety of sources, both classical and from her immediate experience. The historical, cultural, religious, and biological roots of love are all explored and illuminated. She gives a fresh new reading to Freud ("mapping the war zones of the heart"), Stendhal (love as fantasy), and Proust ("the erotics of waiting"), and draws lessons from lovers across time. Her attention then moves to the physical - the chemistry, biology, and neurophysiology associated with love in the brain, mind, and body. She discusses the "evolution of the face," the cuddle, both as caress and as chemical, and the customs of marriage. There are astonishments everywhere. Her distinctive touch, aided by her personal adventures and explorations, enriches our understanding of women and horses, men and mermaids, sex and flying, and other equally enticing subjects. The book begins: "Love is the great intangible." Diane Ackerman then proceeds to make it more tangible, traceable, breathable, and ... well, lovable.

the Bestselling Author Of A Natural History Of The Senses Now Explores The Allure Of Adultery, The Appeal Of Aphrodisiacs, And The Cult Of The Kiss. Enchantingly Written And Stunningly Informed, This "audaciously Brilliant Romp Through The World Of Romantic Love" (washington Post Book World) Is The Next Best Thing To Love Itself.

library Journal

in Her Long-anticipated Companion Volume To a Natural History Of The Senses, Ackerman Mines Deep Within The Caves Of Human Emotion For Artifacts Of 'the Great Intangible': Love. Proceeding With The Disdainful Understanding That Sociologists Prefer To Study Negative Behaviors And Emotions, Ackerman Sets Out On Her Exploration By Reviewing The Lessons Provided Across Time By Such Lovers As Antony And Cleopatra, Orpheus And Eurydice, Dido And Aeneas, Abelard And Eloise, And Romeo And Juliet. During This Journey, She Explores The Neurophysiology Of Love And Exposes The Components Of Modern-day Relationships, From The 'new Age Sensitive Guy'' To Sexual Chic. With Dazzling Poetic Charm And Insight, She Uses History, Literature, Science, Psychology, And Personal Experience As Tools To Illuminate The Vigor And Vehemence Of The Thrilling, Devastating, And Comforting Phenomenon Of Love. -- David R. Johnson, Louisiana State University Library

Diane Ackerman's lusciously written grand tour of the realm of the senses includes conversations with an iceberg in Antarctica and a professional nose in New York, along with dissertations on kisses and tattoos, sadistic cuisine and the music played by the planet Earth. "Delightful . . . gives the reader the richest possible feeling of the worlds the senses take in."—The New York Times. (Literature—Classics & Contemporary)

Publishers Weekly

Physiology and philosophy mesh in this poetic investigation of the five senses; essays explore synesthesia, food taboos, kissing and the power and diversity of music. ``Rooted in science, enlivened by her own convincing sense of wonder, Ackerman's essays awaken us to a fresh awareness,'' said PW. (Sept.)

In The Rarest of the Rare, Ackerman sets off on journeys that lead to, among other places, the habitats of the golden lion tamarind in the rain forests of Brazil, the monk seals of the Pacific's French Frigate Shoals, and the endearing short-tailed albatross on an almost inaccessible island off Japan, as well as the vital but threatened layover sites of the vastly traveled monarch butterfly. She weaves together her own poetic observations of such invaluable creatures and landscapes with the informed, entertaining, and sometimes quirky or compulsive voices of the men and women who know them best. The result is a book that broadens our horizons by carrying us across them. It sings to us in the voice of that uncommon bird herself, Diane Ackerman. A Natural History of the Senses is a vibrant celebration of our ability to smell, taste, hear, touch, and see. Poet, pilot, naturalist, journalist, essayist, and explorer, Diane Ackerman weaves together scientific fact with lore, history, and voluptuous description. The resulting work is a startling and enchanting account of how human beings experience and savor the world. A Natural History of the Senses is at once an ingenious exploration of the physical processes underlying our perceptions and an eloquent ode to life -- a rare combination of science and poetry. - Jacket flap. The renowned author of A Natural History of the Senses takes readers in search of the "rarest of the rare, " species likely to disappear before most of us have ever seen them. From Brazil to the Pacific to Japan, Ackerman shares her concern at the animals' plight, rejoices at the chance to experience them, and cheers those who work to save these fantastic creatures. From the Hardcover edition. Diane Ackerman's lusciously written grand tour of the realm of the senses includes conversations with an iceberg in Antarctica and a professional nose in New York, along with dissertations on kisses and tattoos, sadistic cuisine and the music played by the planet Earth. “Delightful... gives the reader the richest possible feeling of the worlds the senses take in.” —The New York Times Publisher's description: 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 In daydreams I have seen its face: a bulbous head covered in silvery fur, with black buttonhook-shaped eyes, a snout on which springy nostrils open full like quotation marks, tiny tab-shaped ears, a spray of cat's whiskers, and many doughy chins. Relates observations about the disappearance of rare, exotic, and endangered species and ecosystems. Discusses the habitats of monk seals, albatrosses, and migrating monarch butterflies Ackerman weaves together scientific fact with lore, history, and description to celebrate our ability to smell, taste, hear, touch, and see. An account of Ackerman's adventures observing rare and endangered animals in their native habitats A wide-ranging examination of human affection in history, literature, biology, and pop culture