Customer Reviews

Chasing Monarchs: Migrating with the Butterflies of Passage

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm amazed no one else wrote about this book. Lepidopterists know it, and Pyle, well. My friends at the New York Butterfly Club put me on to this book and Kurt Johnson's Nabokov's Blues. They are both great books. Pyle's book takes you on a journey from the Pacific Northwest all the way to Mexico, following the annual fall migration of these magnificent orange butterflies. You not only learn about butterflies but a historical travelog of much of the old west, tidbits of local history, fantastic scenery and lots of scientific adventure and daring. Conservation issues are the internal lesson, so you have a worthwhile message along with a great story. The other book, about Nabokov's science is similar-- a great adventure story with butterflies, and a great novelist/writer as central character. Someone told me butterflies are about as popular now as dinosaurs. Its easy to see why. I live and work in the city, so reading about the great outdoors is a great break and fascination. Its wonderful that respected scientists are telling fascinating stories about the creatures they study. You can't go wrong with either of these books.

Bob Pyle has given us an insightful look into the butterfly lover's life and inspirations. This a nice way to review your own feelings about conservation, the natural world, and how you spend your time. Traveling will never be the same again for me. Now I can boldly ask any convenience store clerk, "Have you seen any Monarchs lately?" This book is a travel log, a natural history lesson, and an expansive look at the world around us.

This is an ok book - it was a bit hard to get into/get through and a bit repetitive. I wish it had more science (written in lay terms) woven in. It was more about driving, spotting a butterfly, driving again to the next spot. (Its more about the journey than about butterflies, they're just the excuse for the drive it seems) Did't really capture me like I hoped it would and I didn't learn much. I was looking for a story more based on the butterfly's experiece and what it goes through than that of the author. Monarchs are actually quite incredible in that its not the same butterfly that makes the whole journey from the east coast all the way to Mexico - it lays eggs and the offspring carry out the journey, knowing which direction to go in innately. Then the process reverses in the spring. I was hoping to learn more about all that in this book but didn't.

This book is excellent; if you loved Anne Dillard's you will love this one. Nuff said.

Very neat book. A friend borrowed it, and I have yet to get it back!!

This is a great book detailing a threatened bio-phenomenon. As always, you can't go wrong with one of Bob Pyle's books!