How Can I Help? Saving Nature with Your Yard
by Douglas W. Tallamy
My Rating: 5 stars
Genre: Nonfiction/ Ecology
Blurb:
From a New York Times bestselling author, a wildlife ecology expert and environmental advocate provides readers with the next step in their ecological journey.In How Can I Help?, Tallamy tackles the questions commonly asked at his popular lectures and shares compelling and actionable answers that will help gardeners and homeowners take the next step in their ecological journey. Topics range from ecology, evolution, biodiversity and conservation to restoration, native plants, invasive species, pest control, and supporting wildlife at home. Tallamy keenly understands that most people want to take part in conservation efforts but often feel powerless to do so as individuals. But one person can make a difference, and How Can I Help? details how.
Whether by reducing your lawn, planting a handful of native species, or allowing leaves to sit untouched, you will be inspired and empowered to join millions of other like-minded people to become the future of backyard conservation.
My Review
I received a free copy from the publisher through Netgalley and voluntarily reviewed it.
I am so glad I got this one through Netgalley. This book changed how I think about nature and ecology. It has expanded my knowledge so much and I loved learning so much in depth knowledge about a topic I am interested in, but knew little about. It was so engaging reading this book and learning more about how ecosystems work, the importance of pollinators, caterpillars, the way individual people can help and more.
I liked the positive tone of this book. While it shares a lot of sad reality about how nature isn’t doing well, the author very much focuses on what we can do to help. I liked realizing the impact even a single yard can have and how the author explains how to handle this. I also liked how he also understands people want some specific plants that might not be natives or still have lawn in their yard and how to incorporate those and still have your lawn help the ecosystem as well. It was obvious how much knowledge he has about the topic.
This is book is fully made up of questions the author got asked and his answers to those. These questions are sorted by theme in a chapter. I liked this way of organizing the book as there would be a lot of questions and thus information about a certain topic before moving on to the next. I liked how the question and answer format allowed me to easily pick it up and read for as long as I wanted. It was easy to pick it up and get back into it with a new question and I could set the book aside after reading one or more questions.
It took me a long time to get through this book as I wanted to take my time and allow for my brain to process the new information. Some days I didn’t read at all, some days I read one or a few questions and other days I could read whole pages in a row. I enjoyed being able to experience this book that way and to expand my knowledge. It inspired me and if a future house has a garden I definitely want to apply some of the things I learned from this book.
The focus of the book is on the United States and it names specific plants and flowers that are native to the USA or issues that currently play in the USA. Despite not living in the USA I thought this book was very helpful as a lot of the general principles apply across continents. It made me excited to look up what native plants are in the Netherlands and hopefully find some good sources for that.
To summarize: I really enjoyed this book. It was awesome learning so much new information about a topic I am interested in, but didn’t know a lot about. This book vastly expanded my knowledge of nature and ecology. It also inspired me to apply some of the ideas to my own garden if a future house has one. I liked the question and answer style of the book with the questions grouped per topic. It was easy to pick the book up and read as many questions with answers as I wanted. I also really liked the encouraging tone and the focus on how individual people can make a difference and help nature with their yard. All in all I had an awesome time reading this book and can recommend it to everyone wanting to know more about ecology and what they can do to help nature.
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