How to Be a Good Creature

“If you called Sy Montgomery a dog, she wouldn’t be insulted,” said E.B. Bartels in TheMillions.com. The acclaimed author of The Soul of an Octopus deeply admires dogs—and pigs, and chickens, and spiders. Her new memoir revisits her relationships through the years with 13 creatures, including a face-size tarantula. The book is “about more than appreciating animals,” though: “It is about learning from them.” Often enough, they are better role models than other humans.