Among Tigers

A book by the biggest tiger expert in the world

Hey friends,

Greetings from Ashoka University, India!

I just finished reading “Among Tigers”, the latest book by one of my heroes—Dr Ullas Karanth.

Dr Karanth is the global expert on tigers. If you read a fact about tigers in a book, he was probably the man who discovered it. He is one of India’s prominent conservationists and has been my hero for the longest time.

I also made a small trip to Agra, a town 4 hrs from Delhi a short while ago. This place is famous for having one of the seven wonders of the world—the Taj Mahal. After 20 years of living in India (my whole life), I’ve finally seen its most famous monument.

Also, this week’s quote is looooooooong. Check it out below.

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The elephant here is no ordinary animal. This individual chased our car, kicking the bonnet, giving it a large dent, and us a story to talk about at dinner parties.

The story goes like this. My dad was once driving through Bandipur Tiger Reserve (in the southern part of India) when he came across this elephant. While it isn’t visible in this photograph, this elephant had a swollen right leg. It presumably got it from a fight or a collision with a vehicle. In any case, it was belligerent and angry.

As my dad inched the car forward, this elephant swiftly blocked his path. My dad immediately stopped and switched the car off. He waited patiently for the animal to move.

But the animal was enraged from its injury. And it wanted to take out that anger on something. It charged at our vehicle and gave the bonnet a good kick, denting the polished metal. Then it lumbered off. My star-struck father quickly drove away.

As fate would have it, my dad and I drove on the same road again, and the same elephant was there to greet us! My father could recognise it from the swollen leg!

From a safe distance, I took this photograph before promptly departing from the scene.

We took the car to the service shop, but they surprisingly had little experience in mending elephant-kicked car bonnets. The damage was only partially repaired.

Book Update

As I just finished the first draft of my book, I am reflecting on all the books (on nature) that have brought me here. As I went through my library, I realised one thing:

My book isn’t like any of them.

Sure, mine includes all my adventures, just like all the naturalists before me. But unlike their stories, mine is set in a modern era (obviously, given that I’ve been born into an era with dwindling wilderness).

But my book is also not about conservation practices, debating whether one practice is good or not. It is not academic in that sense. It is mostly my experiences, my emotions, and my learnings in the natural world. As a result, it isn’t of any “practical” value, except perhaps in potentially inspiring people.

These are some of the thoughts I’m grappling with as I write the book.

I’ve gained a wealth of insights just by trying to write a book. There is so much you learn by simply ideating, structuring (and restructuring), drafting, editing (and re-editing) a book. I could write a whole new book on just these insights. 

Here are some links I enjoyed this week:

This week’s links are only going to be podcasts, seeing that I listened to a bunch on my recent road trip.

• Paul Rosolie on Joe Rogan’s Podcast: Paul Rosolie is another hero of mine. I wrote an article about him on my website, talking about why I love the guy. TLDR: he is someone who has explored the Amazon and is now working to protect it. I’ll write about him in another issue. If you want to hear about thrilling tales with anacondas, caimans, jaguars and un-contacted tribes, listen to this podcast.

• Hugh Jackman on Best Decisions, Daily Routines, The 85% Rule, and Much More | The Tim Ferriss Show: I love Hugh Jackman. I mean, who doesn’t? If you want to learn more about the guy and his values, listen to this podcast.

• Why Manifestation Isn’t Just A Trend: How To Manifest - Roxie Nafousi: Now I know that manifestation is a contested subject. I don’t know where I stand on the debate. But I must say that I enjoyed this podcast. It certainly makes you think. Give it a shot.

Postcard

Ullas Karanth’s “Among Tigers”

First of all—this is not a book review. I will be doing that later on my website.

In the book, Dr Karanth discusses his journey studying and conserving this big cat. His journey is so inspiring, and I will not do it justice here. But he has many takes on conservation that many people disagree with. It feels great to debate conservation practices; this book showed me a side many people dismiss. I won’t get into it here because it is a heavy topic (perhaps for another issue).

Favourite Quote

This quote is long but worth it.

“Most of the stuff that interests us is false and useless. And we know it. We freely admit it. We call this stuff “fiction.”

We’re not only interested in fiction; we’re more interested in fiction than reality. Novels sell better than textbooks. Movies sell better than documentaries. Tabloids are about a thousand times more interesting than scholarly journals.

We’re interested in celebrities, even though we we’ll never meet them. Useless.

We’re interested in sports, even though we can’t control the athletes. Useless.

We’re interested in sweeping generalizations, even though reality is complicated.

We’re interested in eloquence—enthralling speakers and stylish prose. But eloquence has nothing to do with truth or usefulness. Ditto for charisma, humor, whimsy, wit, passion, irony, and quirkiness.

We’re interested in new information (i.e. the “news”), even though the vast majority of useful truths are old.

We’re interested in spiritual flimflam about the “meaning of life”, even though it’s too vague to be useful.

We’re interested in self-help gurus who confidently tell us all that we can be the best, even though that is logically impossible.

We’re interested in contrarian hot takes, even though the conventional wisdom is usually truer and more useful.

We’re interested in simplistic partisan rants, and we’re bored by nuanced policy analysis. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?

We’re interested in stuff that confirms our preconceptions. But that is the least useful information to focus on, because it just results in us doing what we were going to do anyways.

You know what’s actually useful? The tax code. Home repair. How cars work. Retirement planning. Noncollateralized loans. The actual policies going through Congress. The actual words in the contracts we DocuSign. Booooooooring!

Here’s a weird fact: modern humans have been around for roughly two hundred thousand years.

Yet we only discovered how to find useful truths (i.e. science and free inquiry) a few hundred years ago—about 1% of our history.

And plenty of countries still haven’t gotten the memo: heretics and dissidents are getting killed all the time.

Humans really suck at seeking useful truth.” — David Pinsof

Have a creative, energetic and inspiring week!

If you’re new, welcome to The Owlet! My name is Ishan Shanavas, and I am an Artist, Photographer, Writer and Student of the Natural World.

Here I talk about my work, along with curating the most interesting ideas on the internet. I confine them to topics like Nature, Culture, Photography, and Art but often fall prey to other genres.

I would greatly appreciate it if you shared my newsletter and work with your friends. It really helps me out :)