Sweet in Tooth and Claw: Stories of Generosity and Cooperation in the Natural World (Patagonia hardcover book)

“What if Nature is more cooperative, and less competitive, than we think?

A follow-up to Kristin Ohlson’s previous book, The Soil Will Save Us (Rodale 2014), Sweet in Tooth and Claw extends the concept of cooperation in nature to the life-affirming connections among microbes, plants, fungi, insects, birds, and animals—including humans—in ecosystems around the globe.

For centuries, people have debated whether nature is mostly competitive—as Darwin theorized and the poet Tennyson described as “red in tooth and claw”—or innately cooperative, as many ancient and Indigenous peoples believed. In the last 100 or so years, a growing group of scientists have studied the mutually beneficial interactions that are believed to benefit every species on earth. This book is full of stories of generosity—not competition—in nature. It is a testament to the importance of a healthy biodiversity, and dispels the widely accepted premise of survival of the fittest.

Ohlson tells stories of trees and mushrooms, beavers and bees. There are chapters on a wide variety of ecosystems and portraits of the people who learn from them: forests (the work of Suzanne Simard); scientists who study the interaction of bees and flowers in the Rocky Mountains; the discovery of bacteria and protozoa in the mid-1600s by Dutch scientist Antoni von Leeuwenhoek; ranchers, government agency personnel, and scientists working together to restore wetlands from deserts in northeastern Nevada; and more. It is a rich and fascinating book full of amazing stories, sure to change your perspective on the natural world.”