tough headline

my mother has a synthetic Christmas tree & it is a chaotic mix of random conifers

down in Georgia for Christmas

oh yeah

My experience with bears is very small, but this description by @jonathanslaght.com of locking eyes with one is 👌. "Their dark eyes bore into yours as if assessing what kind of person you are and what, exactly, they are going to do with you should they find you lacking."

nice shout out from Rochelle Olson in her weekly "Olson's Cheers & Jeers" column at @startribune.com (TIGERS BETWEEN EMPIRES got a Cheer rather than a Jeer): "another improbable page-turner." www.startribune.com/kia-boys-twi...

‘It surprised me that Dersu was referring to boar as “people.” I asked him about it. “They people all the same,” he confirmed, “only different shirt.”’ - Across the Ussuri Kray, by Vladimir Arsenyev (1921). Translation by Jonathan Slaght @jonathanslaght.com

nice shout out from Rochelle Olson in her weekly "Olson's Cheers & Jeers" column at @startribune.com (TIGERS BETWEEN EMPIRES got a Cheer rather than a Jeer): "another improbable page-turner." www.startribune.com/kia-boys-twi...

Your occasional reminder that Great Britain has about the same land area as Minnesota but 60 million more people.

Melissa Hortman Died in a Shocking Act of Political Violence. This Is the Story of Her Life The Minnesota Speaker’s closest friends and family open up for the first time. Read @stephenrodrick.bsky.social's exclusive: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Or, "my boyfriend wants me to have *different* nightmares."

I love you Powderhorn/ Ward 9 ❤️

Recent successes show us that you can bring tigers back, says WCS’s Luke Hunter. “You can catalyze recovery. And we’re still in the early stages of it in most places, but we see it’s possible.” 🌏 news.mongabay.com/2025/12/hope...

doing my monthly random check-in with bluesky for a specific purpose: to share how excited I am that @jonathanslaght.com's latest book, Tigers Between Empires, is out and I finally got my hands on a copy! continued below👇

Looking forward to picking up @jonathanslaght.com’s new tiger book when I have a breather after the semester. I adore and highly recommend his book Owl’s of the Eastern Ice! Here is a Blakiston’s fish owl I illustrated for him when he was kind enough to talk with our Bird Nerd book club years ago.

I am the only person in my entire contact list on Bluesky

pretty happy with my placement of this tiger stamp - the FSG logo looks like its tongue

to be clear Donald Trump Jr did not steal my shoes it is a figure of speech

Our last environmental book column of the year, featuring @jonathanslaght.com @susannahfisher.bsky.social @hillaryrosner.bsky.social @anjanakhatwa.bsky.social @mikegrunwald.bsky.social & many others. therevelator.org/environmenta...

"[Donald Trump Jr] wouldn’t last a week in the shoes of Minnesota ornithologist Jonathan Slaght" Thanks @motherjones.com? My 2020 book Owls of the Eastern Ice (not my 2025 book Tigers Between Empires) made their list of "The 24 Best Books We Read in 2025" www.motherjones.com/media/2025/1...

this is not behavior becoming of a FIFA Peace Prize recipient.

TIGERS BETWEEN EMPIRES has earned a "rave" score at Book Marks, @literaryhub.bsky.social's review aggregator! Nice to see all these reviews in one place. bookmarks.reviews/reviews/tige... 💙📚🐅🌍

on Dick Van Dyke's 100th birthday here's Bert in "Mary Cloggins" today in Minneapolis, performed by the Wild Goose Chase Cloggers

Life is a series of funny seemingly random things that suddenly connect. Ever since I read @johnvaillant.bsky.social's book Tiger, I've been enamoured with Amur tigers. Fast forward: @bikehfxlobby.bsky.social recommends @jonathanslaght.com's Owl's of the Eastern Ice, which was great, read it.

stopped by Magers & Quinn Booksellers in Minneapolis this snowy afternoon to sign some tiger books - the place was bustling! 💙📚

If you're looking for a book recommendation for the naturalist in your life this Christmas, here are my two favourites of 2026. Both about mammals (sorry orchids, hummingbirds, and butterflies), both very different, both brilliantly written, and both highly engaging. @jonathanslaght.com #yossiyovel

Ologies with Alie Ward @ologies.bsky.social is one of the best podcasts. And of course I'm biased but this is one of my favorite episodes ever: strigiformology, the science of owls! Plus it features Dr. Rocky Gutiérrez. @jonathanslaght.com also gets a mention. 🧪 🪶 www.alieward.com/ologies/stri...

Our guest on this week's Book Club podcast is Jonathan C. Slaght, author of Tigers Between Empires: The Journey to Save the Siberian Tiger from Extinction. @questingvole www.spectator.co.uk/podcast/jona...

Requiring temporary visitors to surrender five years of social media to the U.S. sends the message that the American commitment to free speech is pretense. This simply is not the behavior of a country confident in its freedoms. It's a threat to free speech around the world and must be opposed.

The 2025 interviews! Lindsey Davis on ancient Rome, Rebecca Lowe on cycling from London to Tehran, Usha Raman on family dynamics, and Jonathan Slaght on fish owls in Russia. Image: Jordi Vaqué talking-about-books.com/category/int... #authorinterview @usharaman.bsky.social @jonathanslaght.com

have not listened so maybe it's terrible, but my interview with Sam Leith's Book Club podcast about Tigers Between Empires is live @thespectator1828.bsky.social! www.spectator.co.uk/podcast/jona... 💙📚🌍

Current issue of Natural History Magazine has a huge TIGERS BETWEEN EMPIRES spread, an excerpt from the book! 🌍

ICE Points Guns at Crowd Protesting Arrest of Student at Augsburg University in Minneapolis

Current issue of Natural History Magazine has a huge TIGERS BETWEEN EMPIRES spread, an excerpt from the book! 🌍

The esteemed Rocky Gutiérrez, recently on the @ologies.bsky.social podcast (www.alieward.com/ologies/stri...), sent me this sticker he got at the 2025 Raptor Research Foundation Conference in Costa Rica...inspired by my book about Blakiston's fish owls! Anyone know the artist? 🐟🦉#SciArt

My dad abhors any negative comments about immigrants. Asked him recently why he’s so strong on it: ‘Because we’re always happy to take the rich and clever ones. Which means it’s not about disliking immigrants. It’s about disliking the poor and vulnerable. And that’s a bad human instinct.’

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara issued a stern warning to his officers on Thursday: Intervene when you see Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents using unlawful force or lose your job.

Tigers Between Empires...great gift on either side of the pond! Signed copies available at @moonpalacebooks.bsky.social (US) & @stanfordstravel.bsky.social (UK)! US: shorturl.at/Id8bM UK: shorturl.at/ymb9y 💙📚

"Weaving together history and folklore, scientific discovery and wilderness adventure, the book is equal parts educational and exhilarating." Nice write up of my tiger book on @cnn.com this morning! www.cnn.com/science/sibe... 🌍🧪🐅💙📚

Just finished @jonathanslaght.com ‘s Owls ça of the Eastern Ice, such a touching adventure tale. Great family-listen audio book, if you have a road trip coming up! Next up, his new Tiger book 🦉🐅❤️ us.macmillan.com/books/978037...

"Weaving together history and folklore, scientific discovery and wilderness adventure, the book is equal parts educational and exhilarating." Nice write up of my tiger book on @cnn.com this morning! www.cnn.com/science/sibe... 🌍🧪🐅💙📚

The epic fight to save Amur tigers shows it’s “possible for people from different backgrounds to work together and achieve considerable success,” WCS’s @jonathanslaght.com tells @cnn.com. WCS’s role is detailed in his new book, Tigers Between Empires. 🌏 www.cnn.com/science/sibe...

How the fate of the Amur Tiger is tied to humans and history #nature lithub.com/caught-betwe...?

Twin Cities Book People! I'll be in conversation with Kawai Strong Washburn (author of Sharks in the Time of Saviors) about TIGERS BETWEEN EMPIRES on Tuesday, Jan 13, hosted by @subtextbookstore.bsky.social in St. Paul. Free! Hope to see you there! More details: subtextbooks.com/events/49022

Twin Cities Book People! I'll be in conversation with Kawai Strong Washburn (author of Sharks in the Time of Saviors) about TIGERS BETWEEN EMPIRES on Tuesday, Jan 13, hosted by @subtextbookstore.bsky.social in St. Paul. Free! Hope to see you there! More details: subtextbooks.com/events/49022

many people were asking for it and now the full cut of the onion parody of jubilee debates is now up on youtube!

A @startribune.com Best Book of 2025! "Minneapolis writer and naturalist Slaght's "Owls of the Eastern Ice" was hugely acclaimed in 2020 and "Tigers" may be even better....enlivened by the insights of Slaght, whose compassion and curiosity make his book suspenseful and urgent." 💙📚 🌍

Everyone likes books about tigers! Everyone! And @moonpalacebooks.bsky.social in #Minneapolis has signed copies in store for pickup or order online with convenient shipping! www.moonpalacebooks.com/item/f10yIDk...

This is true. It is the best email I got this year.