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Notes of an Abject Reptile
by Verlyn Klinkenborg
Book Reviewed by:Timothy explores the natural history of a particular animal by adopting the animal’s own sensibility and his deeply empathetic relation to the world around him.
Few writers have attempted to explore the natural history of a particular animal by adopting the animal’s own sensibility. But Verlyn Klinkenborg—with his deeply empathetic relation to the world around him—has done just that, and done it brilliantly, in Timothy.
This is the story of a tortoise whose real life was observed by the eighteenth-century English curate Gilbert White, author of The Natural History of Selborne. For thirteen years, Timothy lived in White’s garden—making an occasional appearance in his journals. Now Klinkenborg gives the tortoise an unforgettable voice and powers of observation as keen as those of any bipedal naturalist. The happy result: Timothy regales us with an account of a gracefully paced (no unseemly hurry!) eight-day adventure outside the gate (“How do I escape from that nimble-tongued, fleet-footed race? . . . Walk through the holes in their attention”) and entertains us with shrewd observations about the curious habits and habitations of humanity. “To humans,” Timothy says with doleful understanding, “in and out are matters of life and death. Not to me. Warm earth waits just beneath me. . . . The humans’ own heat keeps them from sensing it.”
Wry and wise, unexpectedly moving, and enchanting at every—careful—turn, Timothy will surprise and delight readers of all ages.
This is a small volume that cannot be hurried, and at the moment my life is too frenetic to enjoy something that needs to be read at tortoise-speed. However, I will certainly be keeping it on the shelf to look forward to in calmer days when I can appreciate Timothy's wisdom more fully...continued
Full Review
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(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
The Natural History & Antiquities of Selborne was first published in 1789 and has gone through many editions since, remaining a favorite amongst nature lovers. As for Timothy himself, he lived with White from 1780 until White died in 1793. Timothy died sometime the following year but his shell has been preserved and can be found somewhere in the Natural History Museum in London (a gloriously cavernous Victorian building which is a "must see" for anyone visiting London,...
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If you liked Timothy, try these:
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In a work that beautifully demonstrates the rewards of closely observing nature, Elisabeth Bailey shares an inspiring and intimate story of her uncommon encounter with a Neohelix albolabris —a common woodland snail.
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This fascinating scientific foray into the animal kingdom examines how the world's creatures - weird, wonderful, and everything in between - are inextricably linked.
The moment we persuade a child, any child, to cross that threshold into a library, we've changed their lives ...
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Barry Lopez, author of Arctic Dreams
Timothy is a luminous act of imagination and perspective. In reframing Gilbert White's A Natural History of Selbourne, Klinkenborg dramatizes a set of human values and prejudices as portentous as those Orwell addressed in Animal Farm. A clarion call to reconsider our place, our tack, in the modern world.
