Once They Were Hats: In Search of the Mighty Beaver, by Frances Backhouse
It can be one of your early morning readings Once They Were Hats: In Search Of The Mighty Beaver, By Frances Backhouse This is a soft data publication that can be managed downloading from on the internet publication. As known, in this advanced age, modern technology will ease you in doing some tasks. Also it is simply checking out the visibility of book soft documents of Once They Were Hats: In Search Of The Mighty Beaver, By Frances Backhouse can be added attribute to open up. It is not only to open up and conserve in the gizmo. This time around in the early morning as well as various other leisure time are to read the book Once They Were Hats: In Search Of The Mighty Beaver, By Frances Backhouse
Once They Were Hats: In Search of the Mighty Beaver, by Frances Backhouse
Free PDF Ebook Once They Were Hats: In Search of the Mighty Beaver, by Frances Backhouse
Beavers, those icons of industriousness, have been gnawing down trees, building dams, shaping the land, and creating critical habitat in North America for at least a million years. Once one of the continent’s most ubiquitous mammals, they ranged from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Rio Grande to the edge of the northern tundra. Wherever there was wood and water, there were beavers — 60 million (or more) — and wherever there were beavers, there were intricate natural communities that depended on their activities. Then the European fur traders arrived.In Once They Were Hats, Frances Backhouse examines humanity’s 15,000-year relationship with Castor canadensis, and the beaver’s even older relationship with North American landscapes and ecosystems. From the waterlogged environs of the Beaver Capital of Canada to the wilderness cabin that controversial conservationist Grey Owl shared with pet beavers; from a bustling workshop where craftsmen make beaver-felt cowboy hats using century-old tools to a tidal marsh where an almost-lost link between beavers and salmon was recently found, Backhouse goes on a journey of discovery to find out what happened after we nearly wiped this essential animal off the map, and how we can learn to live with beavers now.
Once They Were Hats: In Search of the Mighty Beaver, by Frances Backhouse- Amazon Sales Rank: #99459 in Books
- Published on: 2015-10-13
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: .70" h x 5.20" w x 8.20" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 256 pages
Review “Fascinating and smartly written.” — Globe and Mail“Backhouse’s history of the web-footed mammals that have a historic tie to Canadian identity makes for unexpectedly delightful reading — there is much to learn from the buck-toothed rodents of yore.” — National Post“Backhouse is a skilled and personable narrator who guides us on a tour of the long, fond and sometimes lethal relationship we have entertained with this pudgy little rodent.” — Literary Review of Canada“With diligence and brio worthy of its subject, Backhouse restores the beaver to its iconic status as nature’s bucktoothed workaholic.” — Melissa Milgrom, author of Still Life: Adventures in Taxidermy“Cod, salt, whales, and water have all inspired terrific exploration narratives. Now the humble, much-maligned beaver stakes a claim to equal accomplishment. Author Frances Backhouse ranges through history, rambles the contemporary backwoods, and brings us all face to face with . . . wait for it . . . the Mighty Beaver!” — Ken McGoogan, author of Fatal Passage, Lady Franklin’s Revenge, and Celtic Lightning“Frances Backhouse has written a wise and wily book, effortlessly blending history, natural history, science and sense, she tells us much that we didn’t know about our national totem, and about the persistence of nature caught in the spotlight of civilization.” — Wayne Grady, author of The Natural History of the Great Lakes
About the Author Frances Backhouse is the author of five books, including Children of the Klondike, winner of the 2010 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize. She is also a veteran freelance magazine writer and teaches creative nonfiction at the University of Victoria. She lives in Victoria, B.C.
Where to Download Once They Were Hats: In Search of the Mighty Beaver, by Frances Backhouse
Most helpful customer reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. Once they were hats By Clare O'Beara I thoroughly enjoyed this book - except one part - in which the author went here, there and everywhere connected with beavers past and present, from a British museum to Canadian network of dams and lodges visible from space. She investigated history - beavers lived at the headwater of just about every river on the North American continent and their ancestors spread across Beringia to Asia and to Europe.We find out about four million year old gnaw marks on wood, and how beaver lakes created a good environment for early peoples. This changed with the 1700s influx of European fur traders; beavers were almost wiped out over 200 years.Now the part I disliked; the author visited a fur auction warehouse and even learnt about skinning in person. But it's all research and she didn't enjoy it either. She also found out how hats are and were made from felted fur.And of course the 20th century conservation movement which has led to today's return of beavers, amazingly even to New York city. We learn that the landscape engineering of beavers - as they forced rivers to spread and slow - changed the face of the continent and the loss of beaver dams may be a reason why aquifers are dropping, rivers are flooding and droughts are spreading. This is a fascinating read and will appeal to many people for different reasons.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. “an unwitting faunal philanthropist” By Julee Rudolf During the past year, I’ve become obsessed with beavers, so when I noticed Once They Were Hats at the local bookstore, I bought it on the spot, brought it home and raced through it in a couple of days. A week later, I learned that the creatures are living it up in nearby Deception Pass State Park. With the help of a park ranger’s intel, I had the opportunity to watch these neat, obsessed with construction creatures several times, which was a complete treat.Author Frances Backhouse teaches creative nonfiction at the University of Victoria – and it shows. Her writing is as engaging and entertaining as it is informative. Each chapter in Once They Were Hats covers a unique topic about the largest rodent in North America. Here’s a completely inadequate attempt to provide a glimpse of each.1. Into the Heart of BeaverlandThe author visits “the Pasquia Hills in east-central Saskatchewan,” dubbed as “the Beaver Capital of Canada,” discusses dams and notes the many locations in North America named for these creatures.2. Ancient AntecedentsDr. Natalia Rybczynski, “one of the world’s experts on the beaver family tree,” shares her findings on beaver biting behavior and other topics of interest about the North American beaver, Castor canadensis, the Eurasian Cator fiber and “Dipoides, an animal that died out two and a half million years ago.”3. The Hunter and the HuntedBackstory behind her statement that, “Homo sapiens and Castor Canadensis originally met at least 15,000 years ago…and have a long and intimate history as predator and prey.”4. Back from the BrinkIn the early 1900s, an eccentric Brit named Archibald Belaney arrived in Canada, began going by the name Grey Owl (because he self-identified as a member of the First Nations) and became a beaver conservationist.5. HatsShe visits a modern day beaver hat-making facility in Calgary, “It’s common knowledge that the nearly terminal decline of the beaver’s North American empire was precipitated by a mania for beaver hats,” to learn how beaver hats are made today.6. Fur Trading on Skyway AvenueThe tricks of the trade in animal pelts that the author learns about during the period of several days at a fur trading facility in Toronto.7. One Made BeaverMs. Backhouse takes a hands-on approach to beaver trapping, skinning and preparing pelts to be sent to auction.8. The Mighty BeaverThe beaver, a “quintessential keystone species,” meaning its “effect on other animals and plants is disproportionately large, relative to its own abundance,” specifically, in the Skagit River Delta, it creates “low-tide refuge for [several species of] fish.”9. Détente“Castor Canadensis is one of the world’s most extraordinary animals: dam builder, landscape shaper, habitat creator and history maker.”In summary, anyone with even the slightest interest in beavers will love this engaging, entertaining, informative book. Also excellent: The Mushroom Hunters by Langdon Cook, Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer and Crow Planet by Lyanda Lynn Haupt.
See all 2 customer reviews... Once They Were Hats: In Search of the Mighty Beaver, by Frances BackhouseOnce They Were Hats: In Search of the Mighty Beaver, by Frances Backhouse PDF
Once They Were Hats: In Search of the Mighty Beaver, by Frances Backhouse iBooks
Once They Were Hats: In Search of the Mighty Beaver, by Frances Backhouse ePub
Once They Were Hats: In Search of the Mighty Beaver, by Frances Backhouse rtf
Once They Were Hats: In Search of the Mighty Beaver, by Frances Backhouse AZW
Once They Were Hats: In Search of the Mighty Beaver, by Frances Backhouse Kindle
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar