Erica Berry on the meaning of wolves
10/20/23 • 64 min
1 Listener
The wolf carries an almost unbearable amount of symbolism in western culture, encapsulating the predatory, the carnal, the supernatural and the ravenous. But in her book Wolfish, Erica Berry suggests that it’s time to understand wolves differently: as tender, as hunted, as guardians of the landscape.
What’s more, those evil qualities may be better attributed to ourselves than to wolves. Berry weaves memoir with natural history, cultural critique, folklore and conservation to show that wolves have too often been a cypher for all our fears, and that this has left them under threat of extinction.
In this fascinating and wide-ranging conversation, recorded as part of Katherine’s True Stories Book Club, Erica discusses her experiences with wolves real and imagined.
Katherine's new book, Enchantment, is available now: US/CAN and UK
Links from the episode:
- Erica’s website
- Erica’s book, Wolfish
- Join Katherine's Substack to receive episodes ad-free, extended intros and immersive, bonus mini-episdes
- Find show notes and transcripts for every episode by visiting Katherine's website.
- Follow Katherine on Instagram
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The wolf carries an almost unbearable amount of symbolism in western culture, encapsulating the predatory, the carnal, the supernatural and the ravenous. But in her book Wolfish, Erica Berry suggests that it’s time to understand wolves differently: as tender, as hunted, as guardians of the landscape.
What’s more, those evil qualities may be better attributed to ourselves than to wolves. Berry weaves memoir with natural history, cultural critique, folklore and conservation to show that wolves have too often been a cypher for all our fears, and that this has left them under threat of extinction.
In this fascinating and wide-ranging conversation, recorded as part of Katherine’s True Stories Book Club, Erica discusses her experiences with wolves real and imagined.
Katherine's new book, Enchantment, is available now: US/CAN and UK
Links from the episode:
- Erica’s website
- Erica’s book, Wolfish
- Join Katherine's Substack to receive episodes ad-free, extended intros and immersive, bonus mini-episdes
- Find show notes and transcripts for every episode by visiting Katherine's website.
- Follow Katherine on Instagram
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Previous Episode
Dacher Keltner on awe, humility and purpose
1 RecommendationsI stumbled across Dacher Keltner’s work when I was first researching Enchantment, and now - for the final episode in this season - I’m honoured to speak to him about Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life.
Dacher’s research attempts to understand this very fleeting, ineffable emotion. He and his colleagues have shown that awe induces a feeling of being small within a vast universe - a radical shift into context. What’s more, by absorbing ourselves in awe, we become better people, more motivated to go out and do good. In this episode, we explore how it feels to experience awe, how we can seek it out in the everyday, and we share the personal experiences of awe that have inspired both of our books.
Dacher Keltner is a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and the director of the Greater Good Science Center. He has over 200 scientific publications and six books, including Born to Be Good, The Compassionate Instinct, and The Power Paradox. He has written for many popular outlets, from The New York Times to Slate. He was also the scientific advisor behind Pixar’s Inside Out.
Katherine's new book, Enchantment, is available now: US/CAN and UK
Links from the episode:
- Dacher’s website
- Dacher’s book, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life
- Join Katherine's Substack to receive episodes ad-free, extended intros and immersive, bonus mini-episdes
- Find show notes and transcripts for every episode by visiting Katherine's website.
- Follow Katherine on Instagram
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Next Episode
Kaitlin Curtice on resisting with integrity
In the past few years, resistance has been a live issue for many of us, whether we’re wondering for the first time how to bring about social change, or realising that we need to find new ways to be activists.
For Kaitlin Curtice, this resistance is an ongoing practice, informed by her perspective as an Indigenous American, and imbued with gentleness, integrity and personal sustainability. In this episode, we talk about her book, Living Resistance, how her own perspective developed over time, and - appropriately for this podcast - how we can live in this unsettling moment.
Katherine's new book, Enchantment, is available now: US/CAN and UK
Links from the episode:
- Kaitlin’s website
- Kaitlin’s book, Living Resistance
- Kaitlin's Instagram
- Join Katherine's Substack to receive episodes ad-free, extended intros and immersive, bonus mini-episdes
- Find show notes and transcripts for every episode by visiting Katherine's website.
- Follow Katherine on Instagram
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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