Reviews for Self-Portrait with Turtles: A Memoir

The average rating for Self-Portrait with Turtles: A Memoir based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-06-27 00:00:00 Gary Massey David Carroll won the John Burroughs medal, the highest award for nature writers, for his book Swampwalker's Journal. This book is a combination of art book, nature stories, and memoir. Didn't need as much memoir, but I loved the nature stories, mostly about turtles. I totally identified with the author because the first job I ever wanted as a boy was to be a herpetologist. I just didn't follow through. So this was a vicarious experience for me about what might have been. Making pets of wild animals can be very destructive. That includes pet stores. Hopefully, you are not supporting the industry that encourages the capturing and often the death of our declining wildlife. Like Mr. Carroll, I learned that lesson when I was young. It takes someone to tell us to keep wild animals in the wild. Saving land for "open space" often is as destructive as developing it. Between joggers, dog owners, snowmobilers, and just about anyone else, the end result is often the same. We need to preserve wild lands for the wildlife. They become "ecological and spiritual graveyards." Since box turtles live on land, their habitat has been destroyed. They are also easy to catch for pets. All of the places I saw box turtles as a boy are gone. As we watch extinction take place slowly before our eyes, do we see our own?

Review # 2 was written on 2020-07-09 00:00:00 Robert Tidmarsh This is a peaceful and charming read about an individual's love of those areas that nurture turtles. The author is an artist whose connection to the wet areas around him are a necessary part of his life. I found this reading incredible relaxing and I pictured myself walking beside the author as he searched for his beloved turtles. Carroll won the John Burroughs Medal for Best Natural History of the Year for Swampwalker's Journal: A Wetlands Year which I added to my WL because of the joy I found in this book.