ANIMAL, MINERAL, RADICAL: A FLOCK OF ESSAYS ON WILDLIFE, FAMILY, AND FOOD

"Radical, before it meant a person who advocates strong political reform, meant getting to the root of things, the origin. It comes from the Latin radix, radicis, meaning radish, a root vegetable."--BK Loren

These meditative essays range in subjects from a transcendental encounter with a pack of coyotes ironically juxtaposed with her neighbor's claim that nature "has gone out of vogue," to Loren's mother's slow yet all-encompassing deterioration from Parkinson's, and the unexpected way the Loma Prieta earthquake eroded her depression by offering the author a sense of her small place in a wild and worthwhile world.

Loren has an empathetic and gentle approach to the world. In detailing the intricacies of human relationships and consciousness--fear of death and time, cooperation born of clashing viewpoints, tradition's beauty even when destructive, a love of language, a sense of loss amid the fast-paced materialistic world--she peels back the film of popular thinking in order to expose herself to the secrets so few of us ever see.