Fox and I: An Uncommon Friendship
Categories: Books, Travel, Specialty Travel



Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.6 x 9.3 inches
ISBN-13: 978-1954118003
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1954118007
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Print length: 304 pages
Publication date: July 6, 2021
subtitle: Hardcover – July 6, 2021
author: Visit Amazon's Catherine Raven Page search results Catherine Raven
review: Editorial Reviews Review "Mysterious and magical." — Wall Street Journal " The book everyone will be talking about … [A] real-life friendship that mirrors the one between Saint-Exupéry’s Little Prince and his fox, full of tenderness and understanding." — The New York Times "Entrancing…. Raven’s gorgeous account of her bond with a fox while living in a remote cabin will open readers’ eyes to the ways humans connect to the natural world and vice versa. … If there’s one book you pick up this summer, make it this one." —Bethanne Patrick, Washington Post "What emotional vocabulary can express both the joy and the doubts [Raven] experienced devoting copious time and love to a wild creature? This fanciful, literate, unsentimental and yet deeply felt memoir is her answer. … [Raven is] a superb nature writer. … [T]he experience of journeying alongside her as she lives with Fox and meditates about him is extremely rewarding… Fox and I will appeal to those who despair about human depredation of the natural world and sense climate change as the looming, existential threat to life. But Raven’s book isn’t a treatise, it isn’t a call to arms, it isn’t political. Perhaps it is best understood as a plea for understanding. Raven needed Fox: He changed her, made her more comfortable in the world. He showed her that even when padding along under the glorious full moon’s light, it’s better to have someone at your side." —Clare McHugh, Washington Post "In this quiet, charming memoir, Raven recounts her journey to accepting this unusual companion.... Throughout, Raven writes about her environment with wonder and reverence but never formality—it’s the easy affection of someone who’s long made family of the natural world." — BuzzFeed News "Raven’s extraordinary memoir is a love song to the animal who miraculously arrives in the front yard of her remote cabin every afternoon to be read passages from The Little Prince . A poetic, revelatory portrait of a biologist’s solitary sojourn." — Oprah Daily "It’s a familiar story arc: human becomes best friends with a wild animal and life lessons are learned. Yet in biologist and former Glacier National Park ranger Catherine Raven’s hands, the story—of isolation and tender friendship with a wild fox—feels new. …Her memoir reminds us that connection to the natural world comes in many forms." — Time Magazine "[Raven’s] reflections shine a spotlight on the path out of loneliness, reminding us all that nature itself will ensure none of us are ever truly alone." —Zibby Owens, Good Morning America "A soulful and indelible exploration of an interspecies friendship." — Booklist "A heartfelt meditation on the power of nature and a touching homage to a beloved wild friend." — Kirkus "[An] offbeat and charming memoir. .... Along with reverently describing her furry friend—who had a ‘face so innocent that you would have concluded that he never stalked a bluebird, let alone dismembered one’—Raven writes poetically about the flora (“my sun-worshipping tenants”) and fauna around her. Rich and meditative, Raven’s musings on nature and solitude are delightful company." — Publishers Weekly " Fox and I will make you feel deeply about our relationship with animals and nature. After you read this book, you will experience animals in a new and marvelous way." —Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation "The observations of high-desert nature—of wildlife, plants, landscapes, weather—in this book are some of the best you will ever read. The story of Catherine Raven and the fox's friendship charmed me and drew me in completely." —Ian Frazier, author of Great Plains "If Thoreau had read The Little Prince , he would have written Fox and I ." —Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi "Intimate and poetic …. By paying ecstatic attention to grasses, insects, birds, and animals, Catherine Raven allows us to hear what nature is saying to us. Fox and I is essential reading for anyone concerned about the catastrophe human beings are inflicting on the environment from which they and all other creatures sprang." —Stephen Batchelor, author of The Art of Solitude "This tale of wilderness, in the tradition of Thoreau and Steinbeck, is distinguished by a narrator who sees herself as one of the many creatures she lives among …. Catherine Raven has achieved something unique in the literature of nature-writing: genuine love for the wild within the rigor of scientific observation. The voice of this story-teller is startlingly original. I read it breathlessly." —Andrei Codrescu "Both beautiful and moving, as well as philosophically stimulating regarding the approach to anthropomorphism. I have never read this discourse so well explored before. Normally anthropomorphism is used as a criticism and here it is also played as a defense against reductionist science seeking to `other’ creatures from the fellowship of feelings for emotional intelligence. A Thoreau for the new Green Enlightenment." —Sir Tim Smit, co-founder of The Eden Project " Fox and I is a mesmerizing, beautifully written, and entirely unsentimental book about the connection among all things: the author and her fox friend, but also magpies, brown dogs, fawns, voles, and junipers. I learned as much about the meaning of friendship from this book as I have from any work of nonfiction that I’ve ever read." —Will Schwalbe, author of The End of Your Life Book Club "Utterly Captivating... Beautiful and wise without ever being sappy or manipulative." —Christian Science Monitor About the Author Catherine Raven is a former national park ranger at Glacier, Mount Rainier, North Cascades, Voyageurs, and Yellowstone national parks. She earned a PhD in biology from Montana State University, holds degrees in zoology and botany from the University of Montana, and is a member of American Mensa and Sigma Xi. Her natural history essays have appeared in American Scientist , Journal of American Mensa , and Montana Magazine . You can find her in Fox’s valley tugging tumbleweeds from the sloughs.