Thus far the reviews of Ben’s book have been mostly glowing and filled with praise, for the author (if not for the subject). Other than the Science blog’s Canada comment there hasn’t been much to make fun of or ardently mock. I confess, I’m out of practice. I suppose we should be grateful for this bright exception from Mr. Steve Donoghue in the Christian Science Monitor. The learned reviewer is very respected and publishes columns all over. He has come to take himself seriously enough that this is the image on his website.

But if you ask me, all I see in this review is a man who lives in Massachusetts.

‘Eager’ is a passionate, captivating love letter to the beaver

Even their fans will have to admit that beavers aren’t exactly the most charismatic of critters. They aren’t inquisitive or adaptable, like raccoons. They aren’t chatty and quarrelsome, like squirrels. They aren’t patient and friendly, like porcupines. They aren’t tolerant and affectionate, like skunks. And they aren’t awe-inspiringly terrifying, like bears.

One of my favorite political podcasts likes to play a game called “Okay, STOP!”. Where they roll some important clip from the weeks news that has plenty of BS in it and the panelists can call out OKAY STOP at any moment to halt the tape and comment on why it’s ridiculous, wrong or just plain stupid.

Um…OKAY STOP!

First of all beavers are charismatic. They are considered a charismatic species. That’s why they are all over children’s story books and cartoons.  Second of all – NOT ADAPTABLE? Are you kidding me? They’re so adaptable they were one of the first species back after Mt. St. Helen’s erupted, and one of the first to colonize Chernobyl after the nuclear explosion.  Beavers adapt. That’s what they do.

And not awe inspiring? Pul-eeze. I defy you to stand at a beaver dam some morning and watch them working for half an hour and tell me again they are not inspiring. Here’s just a glimpse.
Beaver building dam with two rocks:

It isn’t much to inspire deep-seated affection, but there are exceptions to every rule, and environmental journalist Ben Goldfarb is perhaps the world’s foremost exception when it comes to beavers. His entirely captivating new book, Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why It Matters, is surely the most passionate, most detailed, and most readable love-note these dour furry little workaholics will ever get.

OKAY STOP!

Look, Esteban. The book isn’t a love note to the beavers, you sardonic festering  librarian. It wasn’t written for the beavers in the sense of being “To the beavers”. Despite being patently inquisitive and truly awe-inspiring, they don’t, in fact, actually read and Ben knows that.

It was written for YOU. To YOU and all the unbelieving curmudgeons of the world. (Although in retrospect, why you merit a love-letter I cannot imagine.)

Although Goldfarb cautions against excessive optimism when it comes to beaver conservation, the animals have enjoyed not only a rebound in numbers but a change in widespread attitude among some segments of the population regarding animals that have for so long been considered troublesome vermin.

And through it all, Goldfarb maintains a level of fandom that’s downright charming. “Eager” is a fascinating snapshot of the beaver’s current conservational moment, and it’s a thought-provoking exploration of the benefits beavers bring to the land.

But it’s also very much a protracted love-letter to Castor canadensis. “Just as irradiated, elephant-sized cockroaches will someday scuttle through the ruins of downtown Los Angeles, so are we living in the world that beavers created,” Goldfarb writes, in the full swing of his spiel. “Christening a new era probably won’t win me any friends among geologists, who can’t even agree on when the Anthropocene began, but what the heck: Welcome to the Castrocene.”

I understand. You live in Boston and everyone you have ever met hates beavers and thinks they are ruining things. People in your state love to blame those crazy-bleeding-heart-voters that outlawed body gripping traps in 96 (even though the law continues to allow using them in NINE exceptional circumstances) You all like to think that beavers do nothing but cause problems and if the voters hadn’t ruined things you’d be rid of them by now.

I can see why Ben’s book is so confusing for you. Steve. It’s hard to learn new things when you’ve been set in your ways for so very long. Don’t worry, the beaver revolution will be gentle with folks like you.

We wouldn’t expect you to learn anything new at this late stage in the game.