The Ghost with Trembling Wings - by Scott Weidensaul (Paperback)

About the Book

Three or four times an hour a unique species of plant or animal vanishes forever. And yet, every so often one of these lost species resurfaces. "Having adventures most of us can only dream about" ("The Times-Picayune"), Weidensaul pursues stories of loss and recovery, of endurance against the odds, and of surprising resurrections.

Book Synopsis

"A thoughtful examination of the machinery of extinction . . . By turns harrowing and elegiac, thrilling and informative." --Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

Three or four times an hour, eighty or more times a day, a unique species of plant or animal vanishes forever. And yet, every so often one of these lost species resurfaces. "Having adventures most of us can only dream about" (The Times-Picayune), Scott Weidensaul pursues stories of loss and recovery, of endurance against the odds, and of surprising resurrections.

Review Quotes

"Part natural history, part adventure story (starring Mr. Weidensaul as a kind of ecological-minded Indiana Jones, roaming the world in search of missing species)." --Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"At the core of Weidensaul's book are fundamental questions about who we are, the state of our planet, and the faltering health of our ecosystems . . . [It] is as much about people as the animals they search for." --Anthony Doerr, The Boston Globe

"Scott Weidensaul ranks among an elite group of writer-naturalists--Bruce Chatwin, John McPhee and David Quammen come to mind--whose straightforward eloquence elevates ecology to the level of philosophy." --Janice P. Nimura, Los Angeles Times

About the Author

Scott Weidensaul is the author of Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds, which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and Mountains of the Heart. He lives in the Pennsylvania Appalachians.