Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid

A beloved natural historian and biologist explores how climate change is driving evolution.

“Hanson is an affable guide and storyteller., with a knack for analogy, a sense of humor and the natural curiosity of a scientist.” ―New York Times 

In Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid, biologist Thor Hanson tells the remarkable story of how plants and animals are responding to climate change: adjusting, evolving, and sometimes dying out. Anole lizards have grown larger toe pads, to grip more tightly in frequent hurricanes. Warm waters cause the development of Humboldt squid to alter so dramatically that fishermen mistake them for different species. Brown pelicans move north, and long-spined sea urchins south, to find cooler homes. And when coral reefs sicken, they leave no territory worth fighting for, so aggressive butterfly fish transform instantly into pacifists.  

A story of hope, resilience, and risk, Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid is natural history of the highest caliber. It is also a reminder of the unpredictability of climate change as it interacts with the messy lattice of life. 

• A New York Times Editors’ Choice Shortlisted for the Pacific Northwest Book AwardA Publishers Weekly Book of the Week
• “Hanson is an affable guide and storyteller, with a knack for analogy, a sense of humor and the natural curiosity of a scientist.” 
  New York Times
• “A masterful storyteller.” 
  Science
• “Opens trapdoors onto the vivid lives of other beings.”
  The Atlantic
• “An engaging author who has celebrated the wonders of nature in books about feathers, seeds, forests and bees, he’s an ideal guide to a topic that might otherwise send readers down a well of despair.”
  Science News
• “A wonderfully engaging tour of Earth’s plant and animal kingdoms.”
  Times Literary Supplement
• “An outstanding introduction to a global threat.”
  Portland Book Review
• “With contagious curiosity, Hanson nimbly avoids pedantic, moralistic admonishments. Nature-lovers will be thrilled to see science so vividly described, and will marvel at the incredible ingenuity of creatures across the globe.”
  Publishers Weekly
• “VERDICT: This compelling read will spark the interest of everyone who cares about what is happening to the natural world.”
  Library Journal
• “….Thor Hanson is a marvel whose enthusiasm for this planet is utterly contagious.”
  Aimee Nezhukumatathil, New York Times–bestselling author of World of Wonders
• “One of our finest writers of literary natural history takes on the most crucial topic of our times—how will life itself respond to a warming world? —and brings back answers both utterly beguiling and strangely reassuring. This is arguably the most significant discussion of the biology of global warming I know, brought to us in the intelligent, wise, and beautiful prose we've come to rely upon Thor Hanson to deliver. If you read only one book on climate change this year, let it be this one.”
  Robert Michael Pyle, Ph.D., author of Chasing Monarchs
• “Thor Hanson’s clear-eyed science writing meets its best topic yet in this book. While governments and publics joust over climate change, biologists studying all the ways wild animals are already responding to it are five steps ahead of the game. Hanson takes his readers on a tour of this cutting edge in our rapidly-changing world. Yes, there are looming extinctions. But before you wring your hands in despair, read this book. As it always has, life finds a way.”
  Dan Flores, New York Times–bestselling author of Coyote America
• “Thor Hanson is not just a scientist and writer—he is a gifted raconteur, filled with wonder and love for the wild earth…. This book bears witness to the individual stories so often lost in climate headlines, and invites us all to live with greater depth and awareness as we seek a hopeful path forward.”
  Lyanda Lynn Haupt, author of Rooted