Entwined

What can octopuses’ nine brains teach us about climate resilience? How can great horned owls’ keen hearing illuminate relationship dynamics? Does playing with kelp cultivate respect for the value of life? What can our 8.7 million “more-than-human” neighbors teach us about life? Entwined: Dispatches from the Intersection of Species explores these questions through a collection of sixteen original essays by Bridget A. Lyons, a wilderness guide, traveler, and explorer who has encountered countless animals and plants in their native environments. From Alaska to Honduras, Lyons’s stories are braided with careful observation, scientific research, and wonder to foster the connection between us and our nonhuman neighbors. By focusing on the Anthropocene—the era during which human activities have had substantial impacts on the functioning of our planet—Lyons highlights the need to protect the planet’s quickly diminishing diversity.

Each essay within Entwined seeks to keep nonhuman stories in the foreground, with Lyons’s personal experiences acting as a backdrop. Some of these moments include navigating icebergs in Alaska while researching the nesting strategies of common eiders, witnessing the apparent demise of a humpback whale on the Baja Peninsula while instructing a wilderness course, and observing ibex while trail running the Alps.

While each piece can stand on its own as a literary examination of a creature’s life and a facet of the human experience, collectively, the narrative invites readers to consider what they have in common with even the most seemingly foreign of species, such as sea stars and sponges. Entwined rests on the belief that when we take the time to know unfamiliar creatures, we are more likely to alter our choices and behaviors in ways that ensure their continued existence on the planet.