It’s Been Two Decades Since I Read This Book, But I Think About It Every Day
Sometimes, you read a book that changes or regularly weaves its way into your life, but you don’t actually know that until years later. That’s the case for me with this work of natural nonfiction. It was a book club pick for a science book club I joined in college, and despite knowing how much I enjoyed the read at the time, I could never have imagined the ways this book has continued to show up in my life for decades to come.
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Scott Weidensaul is a naturalist and an author. Much of his work focuses on birds, and even though I knew this, I was surprised to see his name appear in a local news article. We’d been graced with a surprise visitor who, while not common, does periodically make its way into northern Illinois: a snowy owl. The bird garnered a lot of attention, as the incredible creature was spending time in a local farm field. I took my daughter to see it from the side of the road, where others stood in awe of the creature; we couldn’t see much since we, like the others, wanted to keep as much distance as possible, but one of the photographers there let us look through her zoomed-in view.
Unfortunately, the bird was hit by a car late one night, a few weeks into its stay. This was where Weidensaul came in. His expertise as a researcher with the nonprofit Project SNOWstorm, which studies the migration patterns of snowy owls, was tapped by a reporter covering the story of the bird’s death. His respect and awe of the bird was palpable. He called them “gorgeous, big, charismatic, sexy birds.”
But this isn’t about that snowy owl, nor is it about birds, really. It’s about Scott Weidensaul’s 2003 book The Ghost with Trembling Wings: Science, Wishful Thinking and the Search for Lost Species. This work of immersive science nonfiction is a story about longing and passion as it merges with the desire to be among those who rediscover natural species deemed extinct. Ghost grapples with the realities of a changing world and the impact humans have on the natural world that can and does lead to loss of habitat for so many other species.
Dozens of creatures disappear from our planet annually, and hundreds of thousands more find themselves on threatened species lists. We can immediately think of examples from history, including the dodo bird, saber-toothed cats, or the woolly mammoth. But the list doesn’t end in eras gone by. In the last several years, the planet has lost golden toads, the Chinese paddlefish, the Poʻouli bird, the cryptic treehugger bird, and the ivory-billed woodpecker–a species covered within Ghost–among others.
Most of these creatures, once declared extinct, will never be seen again. But in rare cases, sometimes they do come back. Sometimes, those creatures were never even really gone at all.
Weidensaul’s book is a look at the humans who have made it their mission to become the person or persons who help track down these lost species. While many of the creatures and humans featured in the book do not have the outcomes that are hoped for, in some cases, humans have successfully documented what were believed to be extinct creatures. Ghost also presents some of the newly-discovered species whose existence would likely never have been known were it not for those hoping to find something else.
The book grapples with questions about the nature of expending resources on finding these extinct creatures. Is it worth the time and effort, let alone funding, to do so? It’s not that Weidensaul doesn’t care deeply about the lost creatures, but rather, he asks readers to consider whether that same attention could be given to creatures who are still alive but whose futures depend upon similar investment right now.
While Weidensaul’s professional insight about the sexy snow owl certainly triggered my memory of how impactful this book was and still is, that was far from my first brush with the book showing up in my life. The Ghost With Trembling Wings launched my fascination with cryptozoology, as Weidensaul takes readers on a tour through the hunt for creatures like the Loch Ness Monster–culturally fascinating, but ultimately mythological, creatures that have captivated humans for as long as stories about them have been told. I am not embarrassed to admit having driven down Bray Road numerous times, hoping to catch a glimpse of the beast. I’m also not ashamed by how much I love the premise behind Annelise Ryan’s “Monster Hunters” mystery series, wherein our amateur sleuth uncovers the truth behind Wisconsin’s famous cryptids (including the hodag, Bigfoot, and more!). I don’t believe these creatures of legend exist.
I do believe there’s real magic in thinking about the possibility.
It was also Weidensaul’s book that helped me understand the award-winning YA novel Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley on a whole other level. The book, a story about brotherhood and loss, centers a small town’s obsession with the potential reappearance of an extinct woodpecker–the same woodpecker featured in Ghost. Where the main character in the book thinks his community has lost their collective minds, I didn’t. There is a psychological need, especially in difficult times, to hope that the impossible is anything but. Magical thinking isn’t bad, and Weidensaul’s book is a reminder that we as humans have such instincts for a reason.
The Ghost With Trembling Wings is a compelling series of adventure stories pitting human against nature in the pursuit of a planet that could forever and always provide the space for all forms of life to thrive . . . if only humans would be more conscious of the wheres and hows of our own contributions to the problem. Weidensaul’s subjects span the globe, bringing readers everywhere from Belize to Lake Erie to Madagascar and more. Keep in mind that because it was published in 2003, while the focus on climate change exists, it’s not necessarily described with that phrase. Some of the language in the book would look different today, even though the content and messages remain as relevant as ever. Those things aren’t accidental. They’re the result of human progress, human knowledge, and human dedication.
This is the book for readers who love nature books, as well as those who don’t think they do. I never thought this category of reading was for me, but 20-some years after this book, I come back to the lessons and impressions it left with me again and again. It’s made me appreciate the beauty of the world around me and how none of it can be taken for granted.
