Are you feeling dismay, despair, disillusion? It may be that animals can shed light on the problem and offer solutions, suggests the author of Things That Are. This collection of 23 wildly inventive essays are filled with praise songs, poetry, ingenious critique, soul-lifting philosophy, music theory, and whimsical but scientific trips into nature. Along the way, you will meet platypuses, barnacle goslings, medieval mystics, photosynthetic bacteria, Tycho Brahe's moose, and a wholly fresh representation of the biblical Job.

"Short, pithy, humor-laden essays…. Nice work from a wise, welcoming observer of the beauteous nature all around us."—Kirkus Reviews