I found this book really interesting, and it read more as an anthropological study, which is right up my alley! I found it pretty fascinating, and really enjoyed this science based parenting model.

Thank you Netgalley and North Atlantic Books for the ARC!

This was a detailed, well argued book. Although it focused slightly more on human parenting rather than just animal parenting as I had expected, it left me with lots of food for thought on different parenting methods and ideas.

The authors present a compassionate, science-backed guide to modern parenting. Blending research and personal insights, They make the case for an "evolved" approach that balances instinct with intellect to raise healthy, secure children. This thoughtful book will resonate with any parent looking to adopt a mindful, responsive style of parenting.

Authors Narvaez (a past professor of psychology at Notre Dame) and Bradshaw (who holds one PhD in psychology and another in ecology) believe humanity has lost is way. Around 10,000 years ago, they say, human cultures in several regions of the world shifted, maybe because of population pressures or changes in climate. Some societies broke from the “gift economy” of Nature [authors’ capitalization] and began to “enslave” Plants and Animals [authors’ capitalization again]. The other living things on the planet were no longer thought of as kin but as commodities over which humans had dominion. Increasingly divorced from their evolutionary ways, Homo sapiens eventually pushed the world into the “Capitalocene” era, characterized by pollution, climate disasters, the destruction of the natural world, and the erasure of indigenous cultures living in the greatest harmony with it. The dominant (Western) culture adopted a trauma-inducing lifestyle, which it continues to foist on others. The effect on humans overall? Stress, disconnection, and alienation. Gabor Maté wrote the introduction for The Evolved Nest and mentioned Narvaez’s ideas a few times in his recently published The Myth of Normal, a work I wasn’t overly keen on.

In their impassioned and very serious book, Narvaez and Bradshaw call for a future that’s “informed and reinvigorated by what the past and everlasting Nature can teach us.” As the title indicates, central to the text is the idea of “evolved nests”—the “developmental systems tailored to nurture psychological, social, physical, and neurobiological needs in a species-unique manner.” Each chapter begins with a short lyrical passage about a social animal species—its name always capitalized, like a tribe’s, to show respect and acknowledge the animal’s significance. This is followed by an encyclopedia-like entry of facts about the species, with a focus on something of critical importance in the animal’s early upbringing that may also pertain to the core developmental needs of human infants or at least serve as a springboard to the discussion of a particular psychological requirement of very young children. The authors write that the first years of life “lay down fundamental trajectories of who and how the child will be in the future.” What happens in early childhood largely determines both physical and mental health. Narvaez and Bradshaw then go on to present, sometimes in fairly dry technical terms, what they see as the scientific evidence for their thinking. (I sometimes found this information limited, vague, or unconvincing. For example, they indicate that sleep training of human infants leads to poor mental health later.)

The first animal Narvaez and Bradshaw consider is the brown bear, which, like humans, is an “altricial” species: it depends on intense postnatal care. This leads the authors to a discussion of attuned, synchronous human parenting, epigenetics (the influence of the environment on the expression of genes), and the development of three sensory systems (proprioception/interoception; exteroception; and alteroceptivity). I mention these terms, so you get a sense of the kind of language you’re in for should you choose to read this book, but I’ll leave it to you to seek clarification if so interested. The authors do a pretty good job of explaining, but I’ll admit I found their discussions rather hard going and academic at times. I would’ve liked the occasional illustrative example.

Which brings me to my next point: who is the intended audience? Academics? Parents? Pediatricians? Family doctors? Those interested in ethology? Developmental psychology enthusiasts? As mentioned, there’s a lot of jargon here, and the book fairly overwhelms the reader with facts and footnotes. It’s also deadly serious, not a breath of humour.

Yes, I learned some things. I was sceptical of others. At times, I found the material thought-provoking. More often, though, I experienced the book as a grind. As far as page count goes, it’s not a long book, but it felt like it was. I don’t think further editorial winnowing would’ve hurt if the goal was to reach a general audience. In the end, I think those who liked Maté’s recent book will likely appreciate this book more than I did.

Narvaez and Bradshaw are evidently passionate about their subject matter. They evidently want to correct this life out of balance. I just wish their book, like Maté’s before it, wasn’t so dire and joyless to read—for me anyway.

This book is a mine of information about animal behavior, sociology, anthropology and our own human psychology and physiology. The content is divided between childrearing in animals and humans in both, nature-based and “developed” societies. The authors analyze the differences and similarities, pitfalls and advantages of each. Spoiler alert, the closer to Nature, the better things are. I was mostly interested in the animal content, which didn’t disappoint. Bears, wolves, elephants, whales, beavers, penguins and octopuses, among others, are explored here. They all have differences and similarities in their parenting. This was my favorite part. The human content was not as interesting to me, since I never had nor wanted children. But the animal facts were fascinating. The authors clearly advocate for a return to nature and, after reading this book, it’s hard not to agree.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#North Atlantic Books!

I am absolutely horrified by this book. I read a review earlier about how the reviewer felt mum-shamed without even being a mum, which left me even more curious. After all, how can a book that seemingly is about motherhood in nature cause that feeling? I found out SO fast!
Within 10 minutes of reading, I realised that the book is essentially about human parenting. Not too bad, right? I wish. The tone used in the book is incredibly judgemental and I was promptly informed that having planned births and C-sections is unnatural and sets up children for lifelong trauma. I can't have a natural birth due to health conditions, so a planned C is my only option - so I'm delighted (not) to know that I will be starting my child's life with abuse and leave them psychologically affected forever. Thanks. I'm glad the author is the supremest best parent in the whole entire world and their children are the healthiest in the entire galaxy and everyone else is ruining the planet by popping out traumatised kids (or forcefully removing them from their wombs.- the horror!).
One star is way too much, so please remove it and glue it to the author's best parent award that they undoubtedly keep framed above their shrine to themselves.

I am giving this book more stars than previous readers, I opened the book knowing what I was was about to read and hoping some of the questions I have about parenting in a society which is evolving at such alarming rates, that our brains and bodies can’t keep up.

I often to turn to evolutionary psychology for answers in my parenting journey and hoped this would be more in-depth on subjects such as length of breastfeeding and adolescence etc. This book is a little more generalised and compares different species finding the similarities and harvesting them to present a kind of rough philosophy to parenting. It’s not as scientific as I would like and not really based on humans as an evolutionary species, although it does look at the psychological well-being of people in tribal villages.
This book will confirm what you are already thinking if you try to parent in a gentle, attached and community approach. It will leave you questioning why we live like we do when it’s so evidently harming us, but offers no suggestions about how to implement these approaches in our own parenting.
An enjoyable and insightful read.

I gravitated toward this, because I love reading about the intricacies of animal lives, but this wasn't that. This read more like privileged, crunchy propaganda. Nothing wrong with crunchy, but this was a lot. And the animals? Mostly just entry points in which to dissolve into some more human-centric new parent agenda.

For example (INCLUDES POTENTIAL SPOILERS??):
- ch. 4 is on breastfeeding, which is amazing and fascinating. BUT this was mostly just "breast is best." Which is very tired.
- ch. 5 is just one long red flag. Quotes around "factual" knowledge and "world experts" makes me think the information I'm going to get isn't well rounded or fairly researched. They go on to say that sleep training is cruel (bc god forbid parents deserve sleep) and didn't really talk about "sharing care" (the chapter's title) at all. More like, "pay attention to your baby 24/7 or they will grow up to be anxious.... I suppose you could share the workload. The end."
- The comparison of cribs/nurseries to prison in terms of trauma and solitary confinement.... Oof.
- Frequent talk about colonization, which yes historically was very bad and widespread, but I don't think this was the time or place for that very separate agenda item. It felt very much unrelated.

Mostly I just feel bamboozled. I just wanted to read about animal parenting 😭. I don't even have kids and this book mom-shamed me.

Did not enjoy the writing style. It was “overwritten” and it took to long to get to the main point. The idea was so interesting and beautiful, but unfortunately i disliked the execution and the topics chosen.