Matt Chambers reviewed Beaverland by Leila Philip
Great read!
5 stars
I just finished Beaverland and I really enjoyed it. It's a very well-written science book that includes fascinating discussions of the role beavers played in the history of North America, particularly the economic development by Europeans. It also does a great job explaining the effects beavers have on the natural landscape and why we probably need more beavers to protect our environment.
The author is a very good writer, but I had the unsettling feeling that the book could've used one more good edit. Periodically, the book would make a reference to something that I didn't understand (such as a pond leveler) and only a few pages or a few chapters later would the concept be explained. It seemed like the writer wrote this in separate chapters at separate times, but nobody checked the final assembly to make sure that all the pieces fit together perfectly. This is only a …
I just finished Beaverland and I really enjoyed it. It's a very well-written science book that includes fascinating discussions of the role beavers played in the history of North America, particularly the economic development by Europeans. It also does a great job explaining the effects beavers have on the natural landscape and why we probably need more beavers to protect our environment.
The author is a very good writer, but I had the unsettling feeling that the book could've used one more good edit. Periodically, the book would make a reference to something that I didn't understand (such as a pond leveler) and only a few pages or a few chapters later would the concept be explained. It seemed like the writer wrote this in separate chapters at separate times, but nobody checked the final assembly to make sure that all the pieces fit together perfectly. This is only a minor quibble – I really enjoyed this book.
