Encounters with Nature - Paul Shepard

This book is amazing. I will write more soon, I am on my way to work and don't want to stop reading. Paul Shepard was an amazing, intriguing soul. Through the first two chapters, he has touched on the way that nature and animals are taken for granted. They are a part of the world that contributes to our happiness, emotional wealth, and mental well-being. He says that "...animals and plants are essential to the emergence of the human mind as well as growth of the individual." I completely agree. He covers how we, as humans, subjectify animals, placing them as statues to present our homes and businesses, allowing them to be a part of our children's stories in idealized places and spaces. We think of them as magical and mysterious, and forget how real they actually are. We have taken over their environments and although we think we are being respectful, because of our subjectification towards them, we are not. We do not "know" them, but write stories about them as if we do. We eat them, some of them eat us. We are together, all a part of this life. The second chapter ends with a letter from a bear to humanity. I think this book will be life changing. I can't wait to keep reading...