The GOA Book Club is a collection of books that are used as reference material in our episodes, or that we find relevant and interesting to our topic matter. These books do not sponsor us, so therefore instead of providing links for you to buy online, we highly recommend you support your local bookstores by ordering from them.
Get Out Alive Book Club
In The Company of Bears
What Black Bears Have Taught Me about Intelligence and Intuition
Ben Kilham
“Kilham's dyslexia once barred him from getting an advanced academic degree, securing funding for his research, and publishing his observations in the scientific literature. After being shunned by the traditional scientific community, though, Kilham’s unique findings now interest bear researchers worldwide. His techniques even aid scientists working with pandas in China and bears in Russia. Moreover, the observation skills that fueled Kilham’s exceptional work turned out to be born of his dyslexia. His ability to think in pictures and decipher systems makes him a unique interpreter of the bear's world.”
Spooning a Bear
The Misadventure of a Wildlife Biologist and the unforgettable Life Lessons Learned
Daryl Ratajczak
“Daryl Ratajczak is an aspiring wildlife biologist who was thrown into the world of rescuing orphaned or injured wild black bear cubs. Working for a small non-profit black bear rehab center outside of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Daryl had an adventurous beginning to his career. As the first full-time manager of the soon-to-be Appalachian Bear Rescue, it turns out the bears taught him more about life than he ever could have imagined. These masterful short stories about bears and life as a wildlife biologist are not only true but end up teaching us valuable lessons about how we should live our everyday lives.”
Plants to the Rescue!
Dr. Vikram Baliga
“In the ongoing fight against climate change, plastic pollution, and diseases, scientists are turning to an unlikely ally―Plants to the Rescue!”
Of Time and Turtles
Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell
Sy Montgomery
"Montgomery's heart-tugging conversations with teammates and her commitment to helping an octogenarian named Fire Chief reveal turtles to be perfect conduits for meditations on aging, disability and chosen family.”
- Scientific American
Spell of the Tiger
The Man-eaters of Sundabans
Sy Montgomery
“Although they fear tiger attacks, the men and women of Sundarbans have turned the tiger into an object of veneration. Montgomery investigates the strange forms of tiger worship, itself a kind of earth worship. She comes to the conclusion that Sundarbans has been protected by the tigers who, watching over the mangrove wilderness, prevent humankind from destroying their own habitat. This book embodies a landscape; it also embodies a religion.”
How to Clone a Mammoth
The Science of De-Extinction
Beth Shapiro
“Looking at the very real and compelling science behind an idea once seen as science fiction, How to Clone a Mammoth demonstrates how de-extinction will redefine conservation’s future.”
Young Widower
John W. Evans
“Grief in all its nuanced complexity is explored in this devastatingly beautiful memoir of love and loss (Young Widower)…While the haunting account of the day Katie died is especially riveting, it is the unfolding and cathartic grieving process that underpins and elevates this heartbreaking tale.”
Beneath the Surface
Killer Whales, Seaworld, and the Truth beyond Blackfish
John Hargrove
“Beneath the Surface instantly grabs the reader's attention with a vivid description of an aggressive incident between a captive orca and former SeaWorld trainer John Hargrove. Clearly there is still much to reveal about the grim reality behind the 'glamorous' orca show. This firsthand account may be the final push that ends the inhumane practice of keeping the world's largest marine predator and one of the most intelligent and social mammals on the planet in concrete tanks.”
—Naomi A. Rose, Ph.D., Animal Welfare Institute
Mauled
Lessons Learned from a Grizzly Bear Attack
Crosbie Cotton & Jeremy Evans
“Reading Mauled is a journey through the darkest of human experiences, from the edge of life to survival. I cringed with Jeremy as he endured the horrible trauma, and was buoyed by the uplifting spirit of his resilience as he works to rescue himself and restore the life he nearly lost. I was afraid for him, and inspired to see him get out, keep going and persevere.”
— Alex Messenger, author of The Twenty-Ninth Day: Surviving a Grizzly Attack in the Canadian Tundra
Pests
How to Create Animal Villains
Bethany Brookshire
“A deeply thoughtful yet entertaining tour of our thorny and morally complicated relationships with the creatures we consider pests. Integrating first-rate storytelling with ecology, natural history, wildlife management, cultural anthropology, and ethics, Pests provides a compelling perspective on a misunderstood aspect of human-animal interactions.”
— Hal Herzog, author of Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It’s So Hard to Think Straight About Animals
Coyote America
A Natural and Supernatural History
Dan Flores
"Captivating... Dan Flores looks at a creature whose howl sent shivers down the spines of generations of farmers and ranchers. They responded by waging war on an animal that not only refused to disappear, but began showing up in places like Central Park. The coyote turns out to be the Road Runner in disguise, and is having the last laugh after all."
Fuzz
Mary Roach
“Roach excels in capturing science’s ‘foreign country’ aspect—roaming as a stranger in a strange land among its weird norms and novelties, grand monomaniacal passions, practitioners’ idiosyncrasies and obscure lexicon. . . . She writes exquisitely about the excruciating.”
— Stephen Phillips, Los Angeles Times
Bear Attacks
Their Causes and Avoidance
Stephen Herrero
“By far the most informed and comprehensive book I have read on bears' reactions to human intrusion and vice-versa. Stephen Herrero has given us both sides of the stories of many conflicts between men and bears with understanding and compassion for both. He is writing not just from the records of others but with vision and understanding attained through wide and varied study and personal experience in the field...a very valuable contribution in the interests of human survival, as well as the management of bears in their habitat.”
— Andy Russell, author of Grizzly Country