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Life Everlasting: The Animal Way Of Death (2012)

by Bernd Heinrich(Favorite Author)

3.91 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0547752660 (ISBN13: 9780547752662)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

review 1: Admittedly, this is a good scientific book on scavengers, detritavores, and predation. I don't think anyone can realistically fault Heinrich for not having a mind sharp as a knife. I was looking for something more. I loved one of Heinrich's other books, The Mind Of The Raven, for the spiritual bend in which the book was presented. I was disappointed to see the real meat and bones about death sidestepped.Judging from other reviews, you either will love this book or hate it. I might have liked this book at another point in my life - before I had been so intimately aquainted with death. I saw this book at the library and thought it might be a nice open look at death. In fact it begins with a letter from a friend of Heinrich's - who is expecting death - requesting a burial pla... morece on his voluminous land for very spiritual, yet practical, reasons. I thought this would be a perfect grieving book for me. However, the book is mostly concerned with dead animals being eaten and broken down in various ways. I am a student of science, and these little details are interesting to me, but didn't seem to have anything to do with "The Animal Way of Death," which is the tagline for the book. Based on his introduction, I was expecting a look at things like elephant graveyards and grief responses among animals species.I will say quite honestly that I only got a little more than halfway through the book before skimming through the rest and putting it down. While at the end, he has a quick attempt at spirituality, it seems forced, and to have nothing to do with the rest of the book. It is not for me at this time in my life. No biggy, I only worry that should I read Mind Of The Raven again, I won't find it so special.
review 2: A dry, meandering read with some interesting facts, a naturalist message, and many, many random anecdotes.In summation:* Pumping the dead with anti-decay toxins and removing them from the ecosystem's recycling processes by burial = Bad.* Releasing toxins in the air & using up fossil fuels to remove the dead from the ecosystem's recycling processes by cremation = Bad.* Organ donation + air burial = Good.Basically, STOP whatever you're doing with your stupid burying of dead things & genetic modification of animals/plants that have spent millions+ years adapting with each other so that this blue planet could run like the green, 99.99% efficient natural engine that it is. In an attempt to "improve" things for your own benefit you are just MESSING. EVERYTHING. UP.Call in the vultures.Bring on the worms & fly larvae.Crush your bones to dust.Give back.Die with life everlasting.You can even still have a standard funeral with your worldly artifacts. :) less

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