This is my first Mary Roach, a Christmas gift from my nephew, and now I see what all the fuss is about. I was first attracted by the subtitle—“when nature breaks the law”—but of course the book is about humans’ constant encroachment on animal habitat and our subsequent attempts to bend nature to our will. Roach’s writing style is sprightly, but the reader shouldn’t be confuse by that, because this book is deeply researched and culturally complex, with examples of human-animal conflict from India, Guam, New Zealand, Canada, and many other places. She explores the many attempted solutions to these conflicts and concludes that she is most admiring of the humans who can adopt “coexistence and biocontrol” (289). Along the way, the reader absorbs rich and fascinating facts about animals’ adaptability and resourcefulness that underline the fact that coexistence is really the only sensible path open to us. Finally, I love a book that teaches me new words—pinnipeds, kerf, and spurge, to name a few—and a book that uses footnotes to jolly effect.