Hey friends,
Greetings from Ashoka University, India!
Well it’s been almost a month since my book, something I’ve been working on for the past 2.5 YEARS, was released into the world. In that time, it’s become a #1 Amazon bestseller (across 4 categories), and my Instagram DMs are being flooded with an outpouring of praise for the book.
It’s quite a weird feeling really, being on this side of the “writing world”, as it were. Maybe I’ll write about that later.
But all this begs the question—why did I write the book?
Before we get to why, here’s the first official publication that has reviewed my book. Now, as the author, I am biased when I say that the book is an absolute banger (which I truly believe, from the bottom of my heart). So here’s a review of my book by Nature InFocus, one of India’s leading publications on nature and wildlife. Click here and see for yourself :)
So why did I write this book?
Over the past few years, I’ve been doing whatever I can to feed my interest in the natural world. I’ve endured numerous leech bites, tick bites, thorn cuts, and bouts of exhaustion just to explore some of the wildest places in India. I’ve been caught in actual cloudbursts in the Himalayas (a natural disaster, something I actually wrote about a couple newsletter issues back), to thunderstorms in the rainforest. I’ve brushed past leopards, elephants, and too many snakes to count in search of “wild India”.
This book tells you WHY.
It’s the story of my life exploring my passion for the natural world as a teenager.
In some ways, I started writing this book even though I wasn’t aware that I was doing this. Over the past several years, I’ve been maintaining a journal about my life. While each average day gets at least a page, when I’m in a wild space, that goes up to 2-3 pages per day. I’ve documented every wild moment I possibly can.
Then one day, in December 2022, my dad casually said that I should write a book about my wildlife experiences. That stirred something in me. And so, for the next 3 hours, I just wrote whatever came to my mind into a Gdoc, and a few months later, I had my 1st draft of 70k words, which then got refined over 11 drafts (yes, 11, cause I’m that paranoid) into what is now available nationwide. :)
I wrote my story not because I made any earth-shattering discoveries, but because the natural world holds a spellbinding power to transform lives, as it did mine.
For there are some people who can't accept what we haven't experienced for themselves. Misfits. Agitators. Ravens among the crows. We see "DO NOT ENTER" signs and walk right past them.
We see an animal and are overcome with infinite wonder. Normalcy is not for us — we scratch their insect bites with pride in public.

I've come to realise that the self changes in the raw immediacy of the wild. It dissolves and becomes one with the earth. The wild is where the inessential is stripped away, and only the bare essentials of existence remain, etched across trees, mountains, and seas. Its value extends beyond what textbooks say. It's something more intangible and powerful-buzzing with a secret magic. Maybe it's something adrift in the jungle
So if you’d like to experience this magic for yourself, click here.
Postcard
A sneak peak into the personal messages folks have been sending as a result of the book :)
Favourite Quote
I’m repeating this quote this week because I love it so much!
Imagining has always been one of my greatest joys. It’s the one thing we all can do, no matter where we’re from or who we are. It allows us to explore worlds we’ve never seen and live as people we’ve never been. - Trevor Noah
Have a creative, wild 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 :)
Did you self publish? How did you go about the publishing process? Please make a post on this.
So proud to know you Ishan. That was a great review by Nature InFocus. How does ordering your book work from the US? I don't see it on Amazon.com, only Amazon.In.