{"product_id":"our-wild-familiars-how-animals-are-adapting-to-cities-and-reshaping-the-natural-world","title":"Our Wild Familiars: How Animals Are Adapting to Cities and Reshaping the Natural World","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBiographical Note\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eDan Werb, PhD\u003c\/b\u003e is an award-winning writer and social epidemiologist whose work--which primarily investigates the link between big events and human society--has appeared in \n\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times, TIME, Believer Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e, and many other outlets. He is an associate professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at the University of California San Diego and in the School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Werb is the author of two previous books, \n\u003ci\u003eCity of Omens\u003c\/i\u003e and the award-winning \n\u003ci\u003eThe Invisible Siege\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"In \n\u003ci\u003eOur Wild Familiars\u003c\/i\u003e, Dan Werb invites us to explore the challenging new world of synanthropes, the plants and animals that now share our urban spaces with us. And explore it you should, if not to learn about these fascinating new relationships with nature, then simply to enjoy spectacular writing and thorough research. Highly recommended!\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Douglass Tallamy, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eBringing Nature Home\u003c\/i\u003e and\u003ci\u003e Nature's Best Hope\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\" \n\u003ci\u003eOur Wild Familiars\u003c\/i\u003e delivers a revealing tour of civilization's hidden corners--the untamed niches in our human-dominated landscapes. The book is dazzling, astute, and desperately needed. At a time when the global environment hangs in the balance, Dan Werb offers a welcome message of hope. Look closely at our broken world and you'll find resilience amid the wreckage.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--David Baron, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Beast in the Garden\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"In a wide-ranging, delightfully surprising, and often counterintuitive survey, journalist and epidemiologist Werb examines the question of how cities change and are changed by the behavior of the undomesticated animals that make their homes in them . . . Dazzling insights into the cohabitants of our daily lives.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"[A] buoyant overview of how animals adapt to urban spaces, framing cities as sites of biodiversity and evolutionary change . . . Enlightening and entertaining, this is a winning snapshot of wildlife that thrives in not-so-wild spaces.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eA dazzling journey into the hidden lives of synanthropes, the wild animals who've found ingenious ways to survive and thrive in human communities--from award-winning writer and scientist Dan Werb\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSynanthropes have always been an immutable part of the tapestry of our lives. They are the reason we hear birdsong in the morning and skittering throughout the day, and why we take such pains to fix lids to our garbage cans. But they are so much more than that, too: epidemic vectors, churners of soil, ecosystem evolvers, spiritual lodestars, and, sometimes, sharp-toothed marauders making their way through our most intimate spaces with cruel intent. But beyond their quotidian impact on our lives, synanthropes have a critical part to play in how our communities are shaped and how sustainably they function. These creatures are ambassadors from nature, arbiters of our planet's future, and a key influence on our species' ongoing evolution; and recently, something essential has shifted with them. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWe are in a fraught era of environmental disruption, habitat destruction, and human population expansion that is ravaging formerly wild and untouched habitats. That's caused us to become ever more inundated with synanthropes, which are bringing delight, chaos and danger to our doorstep. These species, so long dismissed, are forcing us to reckon with them--from the hundreds of thousands of raccoons in urban spaces that spread our refuse no matter how many \"raccoon-proof\" bags and bins we invent, to the invasive kudzu plants that grow a foot a day, enveloping houses, telephone poles, trees, and any other structures into their green abyss. Now, as urban spaces increasingly become wild spaces, we have a choice: continue to resist them by any means necessary, or take the opportunity to promote a more harmonious coexistence. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThrough vivid storytelling, \n\u003ci\u003eOur Wild Familiars\u003c\/i\u003e brings to spectacular life the world's most successful synanthropes, from bats, raccoons, and crows, to some of its weirdest, including the Giant Pacific Octopus. Acting as a guide to the curious, Werb reveals how the cracks in our millennia-long efforts to shield ourselves against the outside world might just lead us to a new and necessary balance with nature--or to an ever more savage future.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e 05\/04\/2026 (EAN 9780593799635, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/span\u003e 05\/08\/2026 pg. 1 (EAN 9780593799635, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e 07\/01\/2026 (EAN 9780593799635, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"Crown Publishing Group (NY)","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496223998230,"sku":"9780593799635","price":36.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9780593799635.jpg?v=1783057722","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/our-wild-familiars-how-animals-are-adapting-to-cities-and-reshaping-the-natural-world","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}