Field biologists are a rare breed. If you have any
doubt about this, Jennifer Bové’s book, The Back Road to
Crazy, will change your mind. Field biologists find pleasure in
wading, chest-deep, against a fast current of sub-zero water before
the sun has even considered rising — all to net and count
tiny fish no one else seems to care about, let alone knows how to
identify. They revel in camping out in wilderness, only to wake at
1 o’clock in the morning to pry wily biting bats from an
invisible net, risking rabies and suffering sleep deprivation, just
to track how many long-eared myotis are in the area.
You
might not think that sounds like fun, but if you’d like to
understand the people who do, The Back Road to Crazy will take you
as close to nutty as you can get without setting foot in a desert
or a riverbed. And if you do share the desire to jeopardize your
skin and bones for the cause of protecting a species, this book
will make you long for the moment when you can get back into your
waders and drive the work truck into a world of uncertainty —
and mud.
Jennifer Bové — a seasoned field
biologist who has wagered her own life against slippery rocks,
idiotic field assistants and a territorial cougar in order to get
good data — has pulled together the accounts of more than 25
field biologists with a knack for storytelling. They recount often
grueling but always memorable field escapades, including marmot
chases, snake bites, sprained ankles and skin-searing temperatures.
These writers and poets may seem crazy, but if they didn’t
put their die-hard concern for animals over their own well-being,
the imperiled creatures that still roam the earth would be in far
worse shape than they already are.
The Back Road to
Crazy: Stories from the Field Edited by Jennifer Bové 232
pages, softcover $19.95: University of Utah Press,
2005.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Crazy like a fox, or a fish, or a bat….
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