Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter

New info. Areas I was familiar with. Thorough.

The bottom line of this book is do not fool with nature. Man has undone in a few years, what nature accomplished in a thousand. Great read for those who appreciate the outdoors.

This book is ALL GOOD! Inspiring and uplifting. He has a very plesant writing style also.

Beavers are wonderful for the environment. This book explains why and gives examples. The paperback edition has extremely small print making it difficult to read. I give up on the small print and bought the kindle edition.

Great knowledge and detailed research on a rodent that has yet to be fully appreciated for its contribution to aquatic reclamation and drought prevention!

Purchased for my mother’s 80th birthday. She loves watching the beavers in her small lake and has learned/ enjoyed their behaviors. This book added so much information to her observations and now she tells her friends all about the beavers. Great book for learning how this creature gives so much to our lives if we allow it to.

You would be hard pressed to find a better book about a fascinating and controversial story of the beaver. This author could probably write about grass growing that would be equally compelling.

Count me among the newly minted Beaver Believers, thanks to this surprisingly accessible book about a much-misunderstood rodent. Goldfarb, in Eager, tells us relatable stories about the paddle-tailed aquatic engineers, their foes, and friends. Leave it to us humans to come to a new land, claim dominion over its flora and fauna, drive much of it to the brink of extinction, and only later recognize the impact of those brutal acts and seek to rectify them. Although Eager deals primarily with the history, contributions, plight, and attempted restoration of the Castor canadensis (and European cousin Castor fiber), the reader will be reminded of what happens when an invading species (in this case, Man) eradicates a perceived foe then is forced to live with unforeseen consequences that are far greater than the imagined threat.The author, through the use of lively storytelling based on exhaustive research, introduces us to Castor canadensis, its history here in the US and across the pond, its overhunting for English and European hats and coats, which become unfashionable after the beaver population has already been decimated, its attempts to survive only to be regarded as a varmint whose value to rivers, streams, and water is not understood well enough to shield it from farmers' and ranchers' bullets and traps. As with any good story, this one has conflict, desire, greed, altruism, sex, love, death, politics, interesting characters, and a good measure of humor. Not what you'd expect from a book about beavers, is it?I agree with environmentalist and author Bill McKibben who said of Eager, "This witty, engrossing book will be a classic from the day it is published." Eager is timely and timeless - an especially important read today as much of the world deals with drought and seeks solutions to dwindling natural resources, for which the beaver, a keystone species that supports entire biological communities, embodies tremendous potential to aid those who would vanquish it.

I used to drag my canoe over beaver dams and curse the little rodents that laid those impediments. I hated them for making me stick my feet in the squishy and probably leech infested mud of the stream. I had a habit of slapping my paddle hard on the water as I left, hoping the beavers translated it as a full-throated F U to their inconvenient domicile.Now I've read this book by Ben Goldfarb and instead, when I'm on a hike or a trial run, I'm looking at pristine swift rivers skipping over rocks and thinking "shouldn't a beaver be there?"Ben Goldfarb wrote such a well researched tribute to the rodent engineers of North America and Europe. He peeled back the fog separating us from remembering the wet, swampy glory of a North American teeming with beavers in every river on our landmass. Then he showed us a future we can build together, beavers and "beaver believers", by noting all the good work that beavers do when beavers do as beavers do.As I read about climate change in a reading club I put together. I realise this book choice by a friend to read together with her was such a timely one for that group. Beavers seem to have answers we need for weathering droughts better, for managing flood conditions that are more likely year by year, and for keeping our agriculture and game animals abundant as warmer conditions stress them more and more.This book was a fun book. It's full of humor, including the obvious inuendos about peoples beavers, and matches that humor equally with new and interesting facts to fill a persons head with. If you care even slightly about nature, you'll want to read about beavers. And if you want to read about beavers, this is definitely the book I think you'll want to read.

Uno de los mejores libros que he leído, definitivamente no es para todo el mundo pero si te gusta aprender sobre algo muy importante, de lo que probablemente no sabes casi nada. Cómpralo. Ben Goldfarb escribe el mejor libro de porque encontró la mejor de la historias.

As a UK resident enjoying the rise of beaver reintroductions here, I cannot praise this book enough. The anecdotes and politics of modern US beaver conservation (and eradication !) was a fantastic read. Can't wait for the author's upcoming book on roads/highways impact on wildlife.

imagine what North America looked like before the fur trade.

I absolutely love this book. If you are at all interested in beavers, it is a must. Even if you are not, the descriptions of the environmental advantages of a ‘beavered’ landscape will convince you. Beautifully written with lots of useful references.