THE OWL WHISPERER
You will not find a better book on the love of animals this year, than Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl.
One of the fascinating things about “Wesley” is the transformation you see the author, Stacey O’Brien, going through — from a very scientific, analytical mind to an awakening and acceptance of telepathy as a form of communication between humans and animals.
It’s not that the book focuses on that, it’s really a life story about her and wild owl, whom she named “Wesley.” She adopted him at 4 days old when she was working at CalTech, and this is a story that she wrote as a way to release her grief after he died. He was 19 years old. And no matter how bizarre the circumstance of having a wild animal as a companion, and no matter that every once in a while in the book she uses verbiage that is far above my level of intelligence, (and I consider myself to be of moderately high intelligence) there is a commonality in her story that every parent of an animal can easily understand. The little proclivities our animals have, the snuggling, the cuddling, the getting angry when we leave for too long of a time, these are all things we can understand and relate to from our own experience with our pets.
But this book is so much more — this book is a work of art. I am not a big reader of stories, but I could not put this book down. The side stories are fascinating. For instance, her father was good friends with a man she mentions — the man who figured out it was the o-rings that blew up the Challenger. These are the people she associates with on a regular basis. The stories of some of the people she talks about at CalTech are fascinating, creepy, intriguing and more.
It’s not a book I’m recommending to teach you to become an animal communicator, it is on a higher level. It’s funny, it’s fascinating, it’s repelling at times, making you cringe and say “Eeeeewwwwww” out loud and, by the end, will be hard to read through your tears.
I – can’t – recommend – this – book – enough. Wesley the Owl. If you enjoy it even a fraction as much as I did, you will enjoy it, very much, indeed.