The Call of the Honeyguide: What Science Tells Us about How to Live Well with the Rest of Life

by Rob Dunn Narrated by Charles Constant

Overview

How rethinking our relationships with other species can help us reimagine the future of humankind

In the woodlands of sub-Saharan Africa, sometime deep in our species' past, something strange happened: a bird called out, not to warn others of human presence, but to call attention to herself. Having found a beehive, that bird-a honeyguide-sought human aid to break in. The behavior can seem almost miraculous: How would a bird come to think that people could help her? Isn't life simply bloodier than that?

As Rob Dunn argues in The Call of the Honeyguide, it isn't. Nature is red in tooth and claw, but in equal measure, life works together. Cells host even smaller life, wrapped in a web of mutual interdependence. Ants might go to war, but they also tend fungi, aphids, and even trees. And we humans work not just with honeyguides but with yeast, crops, and pets. Ecologists call these beneficial relationships mutualisms. And they might be the most important forces in the evolution of life.

We humans often act as though we are all alone, independent from the rest of life. As The Call of the Honeyguide shows, we are not. It is a call to action for a more beneficent, less lonely future.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Highly approachable—but ultimately philosophical—look at life on Earth...[A] soulful tribute to what Dunn calls ‘mutualisms.’”

—New York Times

“A gorgeous, authoritative, and philosophical directive to stop destroying the mutualisms of life.” —Kirkus (**starred**)

“Stunning… a triumph of popular science.”—Publishers Weekly (**starred**)

“Dunn does an enormous service. Readers will come away from this book with a vivid picture of the incredible, complex, interconnected world in which we live and the tenuousness of our own place within it.” —Science Magazine

“Definitely one to put on your climate change shelf.” —The Southern Bookseller Review

“Dunn's writing is sometimes philosophical, occasionally witty, and at times olfactory (when he analyzes armpits, guano, and anal sacs)… A description of the interdependence of life on Earth, a plea for people to get along with nature, and a rallying call for environmental activism.” —Booklist

“This highly recommended book is filled with fascinating discussions and philosophical musings about our place in this world with other living beings, all shared with wit and humor.” —Library Journal

"Thoughtfully provocative... Rich with knowledge and a contagious curiosity for ecology and our mutualistic relationships with the rest of the living planet, this book encourages us to ask ourselves toward what future we are working, and how we wish to share it.”—Aviâja Lyberth Hauptmann, Head of SILA Department, Ilisimatusarfik - University of Greenland

"This exciting, original, life-affirming book will change your understanding of the way the natural world works. Evolution is not just a hotbed of competition. It is also an incubator for cooperation, not just within but between multiple species—and we are a part of it! Thank you, Rob Dunn, for giving us a new, updated model of how we—being all species, not just our own—work in concert with others, keeping our sweet, green world abundant, nurturing, and whole."—Sy Montgomery, New York Times bestselling author of The Soul of an Octopus

"Rob Dunn's book, The Call of the Honeyguide, is foremost as exploration of the wonderfully interconnected nature of life on Earth. But, in the best possible way, it is also  a love letter to our fellow travelers on this planet, from songbirds to termites, one that reminds the reader in the happiest way of how lucky we are to be part of this remarkable family."—Deborah Blum, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Poison Squad

"I love reading Rob Dunn, because I look up from the page and the familiar world around me is suddenly different and ever more interesting. The mutualistic cooperations in the natural world he lovingly details in The Call of the Honeyguide were always there, just indiscernible and unappreciated until you’re taught to look. That's Dunn’s great gift. He grants his readers a new set of eyes for seeing nature."
 —Dan Flores, New York Times bestselling author of Coyote America and Wild New World

“Brimming with amazing stories and generative ideas. The many surprising ways that human life is shaped by mutualism are brought to brilliant light in these pages. My copy has more pages earmarked for their startling insights than any other recent book. A must-read.” —David George Haskell, Pulitzer-finalist author of The Forest Unseen

"The Call of the Honeyguide celebrates cooperation between species as a driving force in evolution, and a cornerstone of the human relationship to nature.  It is a book brimming with fascinating ideas to ponder and savor, all conveyed with Rob Dunn’s signature mix of clarity, insight, and wit."—Thor Hanson, author of Close to Home

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2025-04-19
Humans and nature, working together.

Mutualisms are beneficial relationships between two or more species. Humans depend on countless numbers of these—and discover more of them—every day, says Dunn, author of several books. Once, we did not “see” mutualisms, perhaps guided too much by competitive aspects of Darwinism. But Darwin saw cooperation, or “mutualistic symbioses,” in evolution, too. And so did other scientists after researcher Lynn Margulis, in the 1960s, discovered that the mitochondria in all our cells were born when one single-celled bacterium “ate” another billions of years ago and began using it as its energy source: the first complex life. We now know that we are a compilation of endless life forms that live in and around us, that sustain us as we sustain them. Margulis “reimagine[d] symbiotic partnerships as the default story of life.” This book is teeming with such partnerships. One of the most compelling: the partnership between ancient trees and savanna-hopping ancient humans. The trees used the humans to spread their seeds (“fruits evolved to attract animals to eat them”) even as humans used the fruit to survive. (Trees are, in fact, among “nature’s chefs,” the author has unearthed in his research.) Then there is human-beaver mutualism. Near the author’s home in North Carolina, engineers looking to revive a stream removed concrete over it. But because they also straightened it, the waters couldn’t slow, as they do when bending, to pool and form ecosystems. For 17 years the author saw little wildlife. Then two beavers—as they have for 12 million years—built a lodge for themselves, damming and pooling the stream. Soon, life was everywhere: fish, birds, mammals, turtles. A once-stagnant urban trickle had become a “new and righteous, riotous place.”

A gorgeous, authoritative, and philosophical directive to stop destroying the mutualisms of life.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940193356035
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	08/26/2025
Edition description:	Unabridged

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