Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald **** (of 4)

This is an excellent bedtime book. It contains a compilation of short essays about human nature, the nature of animals, the myriad interaction of humans and animals in domestic and wild spaces, and simply nature. You can read one story at a time, be fully transported to a new location, be introduced to a bird, birder, goat, boyfriend, parent, flock, or sunset and you will see each one with new eyes, because in addition to being an exceptional writer, Helen Macdonald is also an extraordinary seer.  What she makes clear to us is the visceral loss accompanying the Sixth Extinction, the rapid, on-going, seemingly unstoppable disappearance of species diminished by human planetary dominance. Yes, depressing, but also a crystal-clear, heart pounding view of the world around us that so few of us take the time to observe, carefully.

Even within a few pages Macdonald can make you think about the connection between migraine headaches and climate change, the power, for better and worse, of rehabilitating abandoned swifts, and the explosive freedom that can come from sneaking up on and surprising resting bulls. Every essay is about two or three things at once and while short enough to read just one before falling asleep, there is an embedded risk of continuing to ponder whilst you'd prefer to slumber.