Thursday 26th February, the new book from the wonderful Jo Wimpenny arrives in all good bookshops … Beauty of the Beasts - Rethinking Nature’s Least Loved Animals.

For a chance to share your thoughts on unloved animals - or the books that have inspired you - please pop over to the Substack version of this article (that will be up at 0800 Thursday).

I have a very personal reason to be interested in this work … no, I am not in it … though I do my bit for the patriarchy, as the only bloke writing supportive words on the back cover!!

My connection comes down to the title … and a very bizarre coincidence! It turns out that Jo lives less than a mile from me in Oxford, yet we had never met. And - she was also unaware that this almost neighbour of hers had written a book called The Beauty in the Beast - Britain’s Favourite Creatures and the People who Love Them.

We have since met and she is now very aware of the titular collision! In fact I will have the pleasure of hosting her on my Kindling Stage at the Wood Festival this May … alongside other great thinkers and writers and speakers like comedian and poet, Robin Ince, philosopher and ethicist, Angeliki Kerasidou, ethnobotanist, Sarah Edwards, and many many more. 

Her book is great - Jo shares her enthusiasm for the species we may not normally think warrant attention - wasps, snakes, cockroaches, sharks - all get a PR make-over as she celebrates nature’s underdogs. 

When I was writing Cull of the Wild I was really interested in the way the label we give an animal has a massive impact on the way we think about it - for example - rats … pet rats, we love them; lab rats, we use them; pest rats, we kill them often in incredibly cruel ways - yet they are all, whatever we call them, capable of feeling fear, joy, pain, and - when tickled in the right way, they can laugh. 

So Jo sets the record straight on ‘good’ vs ‘bad’ species … there is no such thing. Complex ecosystems do not have value judgements - and the sooner we realise that the better!

How does Jo go about this re-framing? By taking us into the lives of remarkable creatures. Wasps that provide vital, and free, pest control; snakes who have venom that might cure cancer; crocodiles and vultures with deep social bonds - within their own species, I should add - though that would be quite a turn up for the books - crocodile and vultures on their own social media network … 

There is real science in this book, but you won’t notice … Jo writes with a delightfully light touch. You will find yourself recounting strange facts over a pint of beer or cup of coffee without quite knowing where they came from!

However, there is something missing from her book - and that is tattoos!!

Let me explain … in my book, The Beauty in the Beast - I went and met 15 people who were a bit like me - passionate about their own research species - there were experts in robins, dolphins, beavers, owls, water voles, solitary bees, foxes, badgers, dragonflies, sparrows, toads, adders, moths, bats, otters - and the task they were set was to convince me to get ‘their’ animal tattooed onto my body, next to my hedgehog …

My hedgehog tattoo came about as part of an art project in Manchester, called ExtInked - where I got what was definitely my first, and last, tattoo … it was all part of my mid-life crisis - I did three things for the first and last time - there was also a comedy show, and a dance class … but my attempt to control my mid-life crisis failed dismally as can be seen from repeated dancing and repeated comedy gigs!! Oh, and the second tattoo … so which do you think I got?

And which should Jo get??

Occasionally I get people being a bit grumpy about me using this platform to ask for support - but writing books is a very hard way to earn a living. The very best way you can show support to Jo - or me, is to buy books - or borrow them from the library. 

Just to give you an insight - the average income of full-time authors from their books in 2022 was £7,600 … now I am not a full time writer, I earn about a third of my income from writing, a third from photography and a third from hedgehog related activities … and I have years when it is a real struggle. So - please - if you are wondering what to buy a friend for their birthday - get them a book … and NOT something trashy - get something that will get them thinking … like Jo’s book - or, at a push, some of mine!!!

Comment on substack - let me know what tattoo Jo should get, and please, share the books that have made you really think. 

Photo by my son, Pip.