Rob Dunn's The Call of the Honeyguide is an incredibly informed look at mutualisms with the natural environment, many of the examples explored are related to humans and our part in the relationship. Dunn artfully weaves storytelling and science education in an easily digestible way that educates the reader on the natural world and our relationships with other living organisms. The author starts off discussing our mutually beneficial relationship with honeyguides, which flows into a variety of other topics from bacteria and fungi, to Killer Whales, wolves, and beavers.

The author is obviously very knowledgeable about the topic and does a great job of exploring the history and providing practical applications of mutualism that apply to everyday life or have lead us to a certain place in time. It was an enjoyable and interesting read. I imagine it may not appeal to those interested in deep-in-the-weeds science.

Thank you to NetGalley and Basic Books for providing this ARC for my unbiased review.

I was thrilled to find this book to review on Netgalley, as mutualisms are a subject of interest to me. I like the idea of how different organisms have bonded and used each other in ways that are of mutual benefit to both parties. The first mutualism of note being prokaryotic cells that formed symbiotic relationships to become eukaryotic cells. There are others here, like the killer whales who helped humans with their fishing in exchange for their favorite bits of food, and the honeyguide bird that leads humans to honey so the humans can smoke out the bees and make it safe for the bird to eat what’s left behind. Of course, there are other examples that don’t involve humans, like the bacteria in a termite’s stomach that benefit from helping termites digest wood.

I was impressed with all the first-hand knowledge the author had of the subjects, but that was also a detriment because he often forgot to introduce them. For example, he started talking about honeyguides like I already knew that they were birds (I didn’t). Also, there were some subjects that I already knew about and felt that he glossed over some of the more interesting bits I would have included, with a tendency to meander into other subjects before fully exploring an idea. But overall, it was an enjoyable and informative read. I think it’s pie-in-th-sky optimistic to think that seeing mutualisms in nature could make humans become better, but I guess if you’re going to have a thesis, you might as well hope the best for humanity, even if we’re being quite self-centered at the moment. Then again, nature’s mutualisms pretty much started out being centered on what’s in it for me rather than what’s in it for the other partner.

Overall, despite my gripes, it’s a book worth reading. If the idea of it appeals to you at all, give it a try.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I found the beginning about mutuality quite interesting, but then I got lost in the science of it all.