Seeing the world with all its varied peoples and animals through the observant eyes of literary naturalist Elizabeth Marshall Thomas is both mind-altering and deeply satisfying. This memoir includes many phases of Thomas’s life, from her fascination with wildlife as a young girl, through her child-rearing years in far flung and sometimes dangerous locations, to her writing career which continues today, but for me the book really took off in chapter four where she wrote about her experiences as a college-age woman in the Kalahari Desert living among the Bushmen, about whom very little was known at the time. Since Thomas’s life has been long and varied, I enjoyed some sections of her book more than others, but her wit, candor, embrace of experience, and open-minded explorations made all of it worth reading.

There is a whole chapter near the end of the book on her writing process--including her personal rules, one of which I just broke with these dashes--and it’s just as absorbing as her global adventures. I haven’t yet read anything else by Thomas, but based on the quality of writing and thought in this memoir I plan to. She’s authored books about animals, including The Social Life of Dogs and The Tribe of the Tiger, books about the Bushmen, including The Old Way and The Harmless People, and two novels set in stone age Siberia that some Amazon reviewers, disappointed with the Clan of the Cave Bear series, have loved. Not interested in retiring just yet, Thomas reports that a third stone age novel will be her next writing project. ( )

She is my first love but except for reading much of her output her life for 60 years was unknown to me. So it was a revelation to see it all come together and learn what might have hardened another.
The events are enthralling, her love of family captivating, her technique and description fulfilling. Her strength fulfilled me.
I want more of her soul than her private self released. ( )