This is a very unusual book. It is a nature book that is actually about nature. Most nature books are about the author's soul, turbulent childhood, and tortured relationships—about his or her hope of redemption by leaving the ad agency for a hut in the woods, by looking at ponds, and by noting, more or less inaccurately, that eagles are free. But Chundawat has written instead about tigers.
Scientifically, his book is a triumph. It is far and away the most complete account of tiger ecology and conservation to be found between two covers. But it deserves to be read much more widely than that unappetizing description suggests. For, better than anything else I know, it demonstrates the poetry of its many graphs, charts, and statistical analyses. This is not science for science's sake, or academic preferment's sake, but for the tigers’ sake, and for love's sake. It is an...
