Turtle Planet: Compassion, Conservation, and the Fate of the Natural World (Paperback or Softback)

Explore the Amazing Bond Between Humans and Animals

“Turtles have been a part of earth’s natural balance for hundreds of millions of years…In this passionate, shining work, Yun Rou champions their cause and indicts our self-destructive relationship with Mother Earth." —William Holmstrom, Wildlife Conservation Society

#1 New Release in Biology of Reptiles & Amphibians and Taoism

Turtle lover and Daoist Monk Yun Rou shares a beautiful depiction of the wonders of the world—and a powerful plea for preserving our planet—in this fictional philosophical tale.

Turtle Planet, a unique work of philosophical fact and fiction by ordained Daoist Monk Yun Rou, explores the wonders and suffering of the natural world through the eyes of eighteen exotic turtles. This beautifully written book deeply explores the intimate bond between humans and animals―the wisdom they teach us, the wounds they can heal, and the role we play in their destruction.

A call for environmental conservation and political and social justice. Daoist Monk Yun Rou received his academic education at Yale, Cornell, and the University of California and was ordained a Daoist monk at the Chun Yang (Pure Yang) Taoist Temple in Guangzhou, China. Drawing on fifty years of loving and husbanding turtles, from the car-sized giant Leatherback turtle to the Central Asian tortoise, Monk Yun Rou sounds the alarm of what climate change, global extinction, human intervention, and environmental devastation really mean to their worlds and to ours.

See the world through the eyes of turtles.  An informational glossary and description of each turtle at the end of the book is provided as a bonus gift to readers.

Daoist Monk Yun Rou (formerly Arthur Rosenfeld) received his academic education at Yale, Cornell, and the University of California and was ordained a Daoist monk at the Chun Yang (Pure Yang) Taoist Temple in Guangzhou, China. Blending literature, biology, and medicine with an orthodox Daoist education, his writings and teachings propagate Daoist ideas and focus on personal cultivation, environmental conservation, and political and social justice.

From 2010 – 2013, he hosted the hit National Public Yelevision show Longevity Tai Chi with Arthur Rosenfeld. Yun Rou’s work has appeared in Vogue, Vanity Fair, Parade, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, WebMD, Fox Business News, and numerous other websites and newspapers. His 15 books have won many critical awards, including both a Gold and Silver 2018 Nautilus Book Award for Mad Monk Manifesto. His work The Cure for Gravity was a 2002 National Book Award finalist.

He began formal martial arts training in 1980, was named 2011 Tai Chi Master of The Year at the World Congress on Qigong and Traditional Chinese Medicine, and opened and closed the 2014 International Tai Chi Symposium in Louisville, Kentucky. In 2016, the American Heart Association profiled Yun Rou as an inspirational resource. He currently resides in Tucson, AZ.