Amphibious Soul
Finding the Wild in a Tame World
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
“An important book that will transform how we think about being human. … that will inspire hope.”—Jane Goodall
How can we reclaim the soul-deepening wildness that grounds us and energizes us when so much of the modern world seems designed to tame us?
In this thrilling memoir of a life spent exploring the most incredible places on Earth—from the Great African Seaforest to the crocodile lairs of the Okavango Delta—Craig Foster reveals how we can attend to the earthly beauty around us and deepen our love for all living things, whether we make our homes in the country, the city, or anywhere in between.
Foster explores his struggles to remain present to life when a disconnection from nature and the demands of his professional life begin to deaden his senses. And his own reliance on nature’s rejuvenating spiritual power is put to the test when catastrophe strikes close to home.
Foster’s lyrical, riveting Amphibious Soul draws on his decades of daily ocean dives, wisdom from Indigenous teachers, and leading-edge science.
Includes a beautiful four-color tracking journal with Foster's photographs and a QR code leading to 27 films that captured key moments in the book.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"Though our souls crave communion with wildness, we are a species that has overwhelmingly embraced tameness and ‘comforts' that anesthetize rather than truly nurture," contends filmmaker Foster (Underwater Wild), star of the 2020 documentary My Octopus Teacher, in this pensive if unfocused meditation on humanity's relationship with the natural world. Reflecting on his own efforts to connect with nature, Foster describes diving with great white sharks, filming Nile crocodiles in underwater hideaways, and coming face-to-face with a jaguar. The book falls somewhat awkwardly between a memoir and personal essay collection, meandering through anecdotes organized loosely around such themes as connection, fear, and ancestry. For instance, a chapter on love ambles through accounts of how Foster met his wife at an English film festival, how one of his friends developed a rapport with a black musselcracker fish who would follow him on dives, and how a South African farmer Foster met through his documentary work raised an orphaned springbok antelope. Still, the author's deep reverence for nature buoys the proceedings, and the evocative descriptions of his expeditions will transport readers ("The air is thick with buzzing insects and birdsong, and the great flowing river is a giant silver serpent fringed with vast beds of papyrus reeds," he writes of Botswana's Okavango Delta. This is a potent source of wonder.
