Build Me an Ark: A Life With Animals [Hardcover]

Brenda Peterson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2001

This is the Story of a life and spirit guided by the animals. Brenda Peterson was raised in the High Sierras on a national forest lookout station, and wildlife had a daily, defining influence on her life. Beginning with her fascination with Smokey Bear, Peterson explores her deep connection with animals, from watching grizzlies in Montana's Rockies, to keeping Siberian huskies as pets in New York City and Colorado, to her work for the restoration of wild wolves in the West. Her lively storytelling bridges the worlds of human and animal, as she fascinates us with intimate stories of the wild dolphins, whales, and orcas whose lives she has studied for the past two decades. With each moving story, Peterson reveals a turning point in which animal bonds have enriched her life and led her toward a wider epiphany: As a species we cannot live without other animals.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In this unusual and captivating memoir, we find a woman who grew up in the wilderness as the daughter of a forest service ranger. From an early age Brenda Peterson built intimate relationships with wild animals, forest floors, and even old growth elder trees. As a result, she has adventures aplenty, but she does not follow the swashbuckling, high-risk male model of nature writing. Whether writing about looking into the eyes of a gray wolf or spying on a clan of dancing grizzly bears, readers see a new, more feminine model for living with and protecting animals--one that is built upon the connective tissue of wonderment and compassion.

The upshot is a nature writer who manages to present great spirit within great stories. She imagines animals having afterlives and speaks to the shape-shifting myths that link two endangered predators--the orca whale and the gray wolf. When Peterson finds herself in the most dangerous place possible--between a mother bear and her cubs--she survives the encounter by standing tall in her power as well as her reverence. "Ever so slowly, my heart pounding, I stood up to my tallest height," she writes. "Our eyes met. 'It's just me,' I said in a soft voice, not the bold declaration I'd been grilled to do by instinct whenever faced with a wild bear. 'And you.'" Like a solidly built ark, it is Peterson's respect for the animal kingdom that carries this hopeful and globally inspiring memoir. --Gail Hudson

From Publishers Weekly

A lifelong love of animals combined with a jeweler's eye for multifaceted philosophical meanings provide Peterson (Living by Water) with a wealth of fascinating anecdotes and insights in this engaging memoir. Moving easily back and forth in time and spaceAfrom the Florida Keys and Rocky Mountains to the great Northwest and the canyons of New York CityAPeterson defines her self, her joys and losses in part through the domestic and wild animals she meets and loves. The yarns about her own dogs and cats are no less intriguing than those about dolphins, wolves, bears and whales. In this easygoing narrative, Peterson also recounts experiences with other people at the nexus of their mutual interest in animals, including such mysterious moments as her encounter with a Navaho woman who, as if fulfilling a prophecy, presents the author with a power-laden necklace of wolves' teeth. Peterson's description of her mother's very different, more mundane attitude about the place of animals in the scale of things is affectionate, warm and humorous. The book is strongest in its clear portraits, which linger in the reader's mind. Its weakest aspect is the author's tendency to analyze and interpret her experiences in terms of syncretistic New Age truisms. Yet the latter is easily forgiven in this powerful vision about the essential importance of animals in the lives of human beings. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc; 1ST edition (January 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393050149
• ISBN-13: 978-0393050141
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,607,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

"TOP TEN BEST NON-FICTION BOOKS OF 2010" BY CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

AN INDIE NEXT "GREAT READ" BY INDEPENDENT BOOKSELLERS NATIONWIDE

WATCH Brenda's BOOK LUST "You Tube" excerpt on this page below or see the full interview with Nancy Pearl at this link: http://www.seattlechannel.org/schedule/programDetails.asp?title=3031103

Brenda's new website: www.IWantToBeLeftBehind.com and Brenda's Blog is at: http://www.iwanttobeleftbehind.blogspot.com/

LISTEN to an audio excerpt from the new book on National Public Radio read by the author at: http://kuow.org/program.php?id=19037

"Unusually affecting and radiant...Peterson seeks a meeting of church and earth in this witty, enrapturing account of a spiritual journey of great relevance to us all." BOOKLIST, starred review

"A tender, lyrical account, Peterson expresses genuine love for her family and gratitude for their gifts. Peterson always seeks common ground." LIBRARY JOURNAL

"Blends her unique autobiography with compassionate and level-headed observations about family, food, religion, life and our relationship with living things. Peterson has a gift for describing her life's many adventures with disarming understatement and narrative poise." KIRKUS REVIEWS

"Brenda Peterson's picaresque memoir is a mesmerizing treat, at turns inspiring and hilarious. Her keen-eyed descriptions of the natural world, and a delicious sense of fun, combine beautifully with tales of protecting seals, whales, hope, and other wild things."
Diane Ackerman, author THE ZOOKEEPER'S WIFE


"A loving, luminous portrait of an irresistibly intriguing family, told by the most fascinating member of all -- the one who doesn't fit in. It's alive with stars over the Grand Canyon, scents of the sea, menus at family gatherings, and singing a descant. The story is told with such truth and tenderness that you can't help loving the whole family."
Sy Montgomery, author of THE GOOD, GOOD PIG


"I've been a fan of Brenda Peterson's novels since the witty DUCK AND COVER. But I can't think of another book at all like this memoir -- it's so odd and wonderful. Peterson writes here of family and conflicting faiths with moving and poignant humor."
Diane Johnson, author of LE DIVORCE


"Brenda Peterson, one of the most eloquent nature writers of our time, takes on human nature. Read this book and share it widely. It is that important."
Marc Bekoff, author of of THE EMOTIONAL LIFE OF ANIMALS

Visit Brenda's website at: www.literati.net/Peterson


Brenda Peterson is the author of 15 books, including a New York Times "Notable Book of the Year," DUCK AND COVER. Her memoir, BUILD ME AN ARK: A Life with Animals was chosen as a "Best Spiritual Book of 2001" and translated into Chinese. Her non-fiction books include the classic LIVING BY WATER and the National Geographic Book SIGHTINGS. Peterson's most recent novel is ANIMAL HEART (Sierra Club Books).

For the past three decades Peterson has written about inter-species relationships and edited several bestselling anthologies, including INTIMATE NATURE and FACE TO FACE. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, Body/Soul magazine, Reader's Digest, Sierra, San Francisco Chronicle, Utne Reader, and Oprah magazine. Since 1993 she has contributed commentary for Seattle's NPR stations.

Peterson's new book, I WANT TO BE LEFT BEHIND: Finding Rapture Here on Earth is a spiritual memoir, widely acclaimed and award-winning. Hew new children's book, PUPS ON THE BEACH is due out from Henry Holt for Young Readers in 2010.Peterson is the founder of the grassroots citizen naturalists Seal Sitters [www.sealsitters.org] and she is also a devoted singer in a Seattle chorale. Peterson writes and teaches in Seattle, Washington by the Salish Sea.Contact her through her website: www.literati.net/Peterson

author photos by: Chris Stuvek and Deb Ching

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finding new meaning in Noah's Ark., February 26, 2001

By 

G. Merritt (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Build Me an Ark: A Life With Animals (Hardcover)

Animals "carried me all my life," Brenda Peterson writes in her new memoir. "I was a crossover--carried along in the generous and instructive slipstream of other species. And I always navigated my life with them in mind. Going between the human and animal worlds--a crossover myself--mine was was not simply a life with other animals, but a life because of animals" (p. 35). Born in 1950 in a forest lookout station in the High Sierras, as a child Peterson found herself "surrounded by millions of acres of wilderness and many more animals than humans" (pp. 35; 37). "There were more animal conversations in that lookout station than human talk," she recalls in "The Wild" (p. 40).

In fact, there are animals at every turn of Peterson's fascinating memoir. Her book revisits her life from that cabin in the Sierras to her home in Seattle, where she has lived since 1981. "To survive here," she writes about her life in "the rain shadow" of the Puget Sound, "one must have an inner life that is bright" (pp. 137; 139). Before her move to Seattle, when Peterson was commuting from her farmhouse near Boulder, Colorado, to teach classes three days a week at Arizona State University in the "102-degree weather" of Tempe (pp. 114; 129), I was a student in her creative writing class. Rattlesnakes, dolphins, bears, wolves, dogs, cats, whales and seals, "all my life animals have surrounded me," Peterson says, "from my forest birthplace to ocean shores, from desert to New York City, and now in my chosen watery world . . . animals have inspired my life's work and my sense of sacred" (pp. 250-51).

Organized into three parts, "Animal Apprentice" (pp. 17-134), "Return to the Wild" (pp. 135-230), and "The World as an Ark" (pp. 231-313), Peterson's not-so-typical memoir finds inspiration in both nature and animal nature. "Because animals seem to dwell in the present moment," Peterson writes, "because their own presence is so instinctive, their attention so unwavering, they offer us a different kind of compassion than humans do. Anyone is lucky to have both human and animal comfort in their lives" (p. 159). In her book's title section, "Build Me an Ark," Peterson finds new meaning in Noah's Ark. We find her at age 10, attending a Montana "garage-church" service, "obsessed with the question of animal afterlives" (p. 61). "Every venison steak and elk stew and mooseburger I ate begged the question, Where do animals go when they die?" (p. 61). She concludes that maybe these animals have souls that, like ours, are worth saving (p. 63).

Upon meeting "the real Smokey Bear" in another section, Peterson writes, "shaggy and antisocial after years alone in a cramped, concrete zoo exhibit . . . his tragedy took my breath away" (pp. 76; 77). This childhood experience, we learn, left her feeling "uneasy in zoos" (p. 161) as an adult. "My years with animals in the wild have taught me that most zoo creatures are a sad shadow of their wild relatives" (p. 163). Upon discovering a dead seal in "Silkie," the victim of a fisherman's bullet, we find Peterson praying "not only for all the sea creatures who share this sound with me, but also with my own dead--those I have lost and still love. Sailing in my little kayak and clinging to another dead animal killed by my own kind, I despaired" (p. 295).

It is hard to imagine life without animals, which is precisely the point of Peterson's memoir. This is an ARK that moves through sacred waters. Although I prefered Peterson's SINGING TO THE SOUND slightly more, I couldn't put this book down until I finished it in a single weekend. My recommendation: don't wait forty days and forty nights to read it.

G. Merritt

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a good read which lacks accuracy, May 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Build Me an Ark: A Life With Animals (Hardcover)

Although I did enjoy this book, little niggling errors cropped up here and there to irk. Poor editing (numerous misspellings) and bad information here and there result in a 4 star rating rather than a 5. For example, the author 'tried out' Siberian Huskies at one point and even produced a mixed breed litter (gasp), but some of her assumptions were patently untrue. For example, the author claims that "Siberian huskies (sic) were the last canine breed to be domesticated". In fact, the Siberian Husky originated over 2000 years ago with the Siberian Chukchi tribe (see Demidoff/Jennings "The Complete Siberian Husky"). The author dabbles in various wild critter commitments:Tursiops in Florida, belugas in Tacoma and eastern Canada, wolves across the US, humpback whales and spinner dolphins in Hawaii but I kept wondering how much more she could have understood if she had taken the path of biology rather than journalism. She claims to have taken up the mantle of wild critter advocacy but to be honest, I think she falls into the category of 'talk is cheap'-type advocacy. But then, we have real biologists like Ken Balcomb to fight against Navy sonar experiments etc. All in all, an interesting read....but remember the salt shaker (take with a grain of salt).

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Important Work of Prose from a Modern Day St. Francis, February 28, 2001

By 

Timothy Ryan (Santa Fe, NM) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Build Me an Ark: A Life With Animals (Hardcover)

I sit here quietly at my desk having just completed Brenda Peterson's "Build Me an Ark". My fingers fan the pages repeatedly as if refusing to believe that the last and final chapter of this book is over. I am rendered speechless and my thoughts turn inward as I hear the voice of the author over and over again in my head unlocking those childhood mysteries that I long ago safeguarded in the back recesses of my mind.

I have been instantly reminded that at my entry into this world some forty years ago I was born remembering a universal responsibility to protect those kindred spirits whose voices cannot be heard or understood. In this book, Peterson acutely finds that place in the reader's heart that unlocks those forgotten memories and reminds us of our contract with the earth to serve and protect, with uncompromising compassion, all of its noble creatures that walk on this planet. If the planet earth is in fact a classroom - "Build Me an Ark" should be required reading for the human race.

Peterson writes from two distinct places: She is first and foremost a visionary healer connecting our souls and our memories with the rest of the animal kingdom and in the same moment she is an incredible writer - every paragraph, every page each in its own right beautiful prose and lilting poetry. From whales and dolphins to cats and dogs, through her eyes, we find the connection to God in all living creatures and are reminded that our souls are all connected by this same source. Peterson asks us to remember, realize and understand our connection to other species, through compassion. "This is the best of all possible worlds," she writes. "This is embracing more than our own kind and assuring that more than we alone survive. For if humans only survive without the company of other animals, then we will be more alone than any of our ancestors could ever have imagined. To one day find ourselves on this ocean planet alone with only our own kind would be perhaps the beginning of the end of our species."

With a soft voice and deft hand, she takes the reader down the path of transformation from sympathetic observer to fierce protector. I would have to caution anyone wanting to read this book to be prepared to face your failure at not having done enough for our animal planet. Be prepared to endure incredible rage at the abject carelessness by the hand of man and be prepared to have your life changed as your own memories are unlocked and as that quiet voice in your throat rises now to a load roar. We finish the book and we know in an instant that we have not done enough to protect nature. We know that there is much more work to do for the conservation of the planet. The author dares you to remember that contract you made with self and God and the planet upon birth and reach out now to make a difference.

Brenda Peterson is a modern-day Moses and the St. Francis of our times. Thank you for reaching out to my hand and bringing me back to the path I was meant to walk on. Maybe life does start at 40. I hope to see you out there on the front line, sleeves rolled up, check book in hand, ready to work at building an ark, saving our planet-ourselves.