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Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl | 
 enlarge | Author: Stacey O'brien
Publisher: Free Press
Category: Book
List Price: $23.00
Buy New: $15.64
You Save: $7.36 (32%)
New (37) Used (9) from $13.82
Rating:  63 reviews
Sales Rank: 259
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 8.6 x 5.6 x 1
ISBN: 1416551735
Dewey Decimal Number: 598.97
EAN: 9781416551737
ASIN: 1416551735
Publication Date: August 19, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
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Product Description
On Valentine's Day 1985, biologist Stacey O'Brien first met a four-day-old baby barn owl -- a fateful encounter that would turn into an astonishing 19-year saga. With nerve damage in one wing, the owlet's ability to fly was forever compromised, and he had no hope of surviving on his own in the wild. O'Brien, a young assistant in the owl laboratory at Caltech, was immediately smitten, promising to care for the helpless owlet and give him a permanent home. Wesley the Owl is the funny, poignant story of their dramatic two decades together.With both a tender heart and a scientist's eye, O'Brien studied Wesley's strange habits intensively and first-hand -- and provided a mice-only diet that required her to buy the rodents in bulk (28,000 over the owl's lifetime). As Wesley grew, she snapped photos of him at every stage like any proud parent, recording his life from a helpless ball of fuzz to a playful, clumsy adolescent to a gorgeous, gold-and-white, macho adult owl with a heart-shaped face and an outsize personality that belied his 18-inch stature. Stacey and Wesley's bond deepened as she discovered Wesley's individual personality, subtle emotions, and playful nature that could also turn fiercely loyal and protective -- though she could have done without Wesley's driving away her would-be human suitors! O'Brien also brings us inside the prestigious research community, a kind of scientific Hogwarts where resident owls sometimes flew freely from office to office and eccentric, brilliant scientists were extraordinarily committed to studying and helping animals; all of them were changed by the animal they loved. As O'Brien gets close to Wesley, she makes important discoveries about owl behavior, intelligence, and communication, coining the term "The Way of the Owl" to describe his inclinations: he did not tolerate lies, held her to her promises, and provided unconditional love, though he was not beyond an occasional sulk. When O'Brien develops her own life-threatening illness, the biologist who saved the life of a helpless baby bird is herself rescued from death by the insistent love and courage of this wild animal. Enhanced by wonderful photos, Wesley the Owl is a thoroughly engaging, heartwarming, often funny story of a complex, emotional, non-human being capable of reason, play, and, most important, love and loyalty. It is sure to be cherished by animal lovers everywhere.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 58 more reviews...
Fantastic Book!! December 2, 2008
The story of Wesley the Owl is a fantastic read for any animal lover, and especially avian lovers. The human/animal connection Stacey shares with Wesley, and the stories she tells of that connection are entertaining, enlightening and simply wonderful. A lot can be learned from this book about the human/animal connections that we all share with our animal friends. A must read!
Wonderful book! December 1, 2008
I absolutely loved this book. Read it straight through in one night and can't get it out of my head. It's a beautiful story, beautifully written. And Stacey O'Brien is such an extraordinary person. It was a privilege to read about her and Wesley's life together. I think that anyone who loves animals will love this book, and hopefully it will convert some non-animal-lovers 'to the bright side' as well. It truly had me laughing and crying and in awe, all in one book.
Wesley the Owl...Best Book Ever Read! December 1, 2008
Wesley the Owl is an awesome book that is full of adventure, humor, love, and detail between Stacy Obrien and her owl Wesley. I never knew that an owls life was so complex! Stacy throws so much detail into her book, that you actually feel like you are a part of their lives, and experience all the emotion that goes on between them. Stacy also provides excellent pictures of her life with Wesley, and shares every moment of it with the reader. The story of Stacy and her life with Wesley was so fascinating, and I fully enjoyed every minute of it! From start to finish I found it hard to put the book down! I lent it to my mother in law and she read it in 4 days! She truly felt that this was the best book she has ever read... and she is a regular book worm! The ending of this book brought tears to my eyes. I felt sort of sad when I was done reading this book. It felt as if I had lost contact with a wonderful relationship. I have never found a book that had so much offer! It was educational, emotional, humorous, fascinating, adventurous in a sense, and feeling like you were physically there and a part of their lives. Well done Stacy Obrien! I will truly treasure this book.
 Not For All Animal Lovers November 27, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I know I'm going to get blasted for writing a negative review, but I just couldn't like this book. As an animal lover, as are most of the people who will read this book, I expected to like it, I wanted to like it. The story of the owl itself is ok, and the book is a quick, easy read.
The problem arose for me when, in the first few pages, the author remembers crying all day as a child when her mother flushed a spider down a toilet, using that to portray what an animal lover she is. But a few pages later, the adult biologist writes "there is a cultural pressure among biologists to withstand the extremely gross without reacting" and goes on to describe cleaning up rotten, maggot infested rats parts that the owls have dropped. Later on, she works desperately to save a hamster but is blase about microwaving mice. She jokes about rats that "must have been doing genetic experiments" because they were so large before she sliced them into "rat pucks".
Now of course I know that in the wild, mice, rats, and other such creatures are always in danger of being eaten. But I also know they also have the chance to get away. It is the author's seeming total lack of concern for the animals that are killed to keep her owl alive that concerns me. I could not read this story without feeling for the animals that have been compartmentalized in her mind as "food" and therefore not worth any compassion. This story just made me sad.
The Owl Whisperer November 27, 2008
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.
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. (I do agree with another reviewer that parents should read it first to screen out any material that might be upsetting to young children.)
But this really 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.
As an animal communicator, this is not a book I would recommend to teach people to become animal communicators, its a story that in a very unique way, from a very unique person, addresses animal communication as part of our relationship with our animal kids.
Easy to read, it's funny, it's fascinating, 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.
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