“Writing always, always only starts out as shit: an infant of monstrous aspect; bawling, ugly, terrible, and it stays terrible for a long, long time.”
– David Rakoff, Half Empty (Doubleday, 2010)
BOOKS
I’m delighted to announce that my very first book, Romp! A Journey Through the Natural History of Otters and Why They Matter has, officially, been published! Thank you Penguin Random House | Tarcher, and Folio Literary Agents! If you’re thinking about reading it, I have one heartfelt request: please purchase a copy if you’re able. I can’t tell you how many well-meaning friends and family have said, “I’ll just get it from the library.”
I love libraries (truly, I do), but here’s the reality of publishing: authors only get to keep writing if people actually buy their books. Most writers receive an advance against future royalties. That’s not a bonus; it’s simply an advance payment. Unless book sales exceed that advance, authors never earn another penny, and only a small percentage of books ever do.
Writing is a passion, a privilege, and occasionally a profession, but it only remains a profession because readers choose to support it. So if you’d like to help me write the next one, the greatest gift you can give is buying a copy and, after you’ve read it, leaving an honest review. Those two simple acts make an enormous difference.
“An expert on otters dives into their wild and wondrous world“
You’ve heard of a murder of crows and a pride of lions—but what about a romp of otters? In this informative and entertaining book, animal behaviorist Heide Island takes readers on an odyssey through otterdom, focusing on a family, or “romp,” of river otters that live near her home in Puget Sound, Washington, while also weaving in research about otters around the globe. Tracking an otter nicknamed Patches and her three pups, Island observes as they hunt, play, and try to survive the various dangers in their environment.
But the greatest danger they face isn’t predators or food-stealing scavengers. It’s humans. Because while they captivate our imagination with their intelligent and social behavior, these charming creatures, like so many species, face an uncertain future in an era of climate change and habitat destruction. And we can learn crucial lessons about nature and our relationship with it by studying their adaptability, diversity, and personality, from the adorable sea otters of Monterey Bay to the giant otters of the Amazon.
IN PRAISE OF ROMP!
“An wonderful book. There’s a particular kind of nonfiction that sneaks up on you. You pick it up expecting to learn something, and somewhere along the way you realize you’ve also started to care, deeply, about creatures you’ve never thought much about. ROMP! is that kind of book.”
“As a resident of Whidbey Island and an otter lover, I loved this book. Delightful and fascinating with facts and information, written in an enjoyable, self-deprecating style, it’s a great summer read that will enrich your knowledge of our world and some of the critters who co-inhabit it with us.”
“I just finished Romp! I’m a big fan of American Wolf by Nate Blakeslee, The Bonobo Handshake by Vanessa Woods, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer and now I’ve added another personal favorite, Romp by Heide Island PhD. I look for stories that captivate, educate, and inspire. This book hit all three perfectly.”
NEXT BOOK:
CHASING PEACOCKS: A Farm, a Flock, and Other Impulsive Decisions in the Name of Science
BOOK CHAPTERS
Island, H.D., Animal Research (2024). Encyclopedia of Research Design, 2nd Edition. Bruce B Frey, Ed. Thousand Oaks, CA:SAGE/Elsevier Publishers.
Island, H. D. (2018). “Netiquette.” In Warf, B. (Ed). Encyclopedia of the Internet. Sage Publication. Thousand Oaks, CA. Pp. 674-675.
Island, H. D. (2010). Game Theory in Psychology. An Encyclopedia of Research Methods in Psychology. Neil Salkind, Sage Publications.
MAGAZINE ARTICLES
Island, H. April 26, 2026. Why playing is no laughing matter for otters. Popular Science, April 26.
MOST RECENT SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES
Rooney, B……Island, H.D., et al. (2026). SNAPSHOT USA 2024: The sixth year of data collection for a collaborative camera trap survey. Global Ecology and Biogeography. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.70229
Rooney, B……Island, H.D., et al. (2025). SNAPSHOT USA 2019–2023: The first five years of data from a coordinated camera trap survey of the United States. Global Ecology and Biogeography Journal, 34(1), e13941. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13941
Island, H. D., ^Win, E., ^Smith, B., ^Newberry, K., ^Manfredini, J., ^Slyngstad, R., & ^Strack, S. (2021). A Longitudinal Study of Parenting Conditions on Two Adult, North American River Otters (Lontra canadensis) Repetitive Behavior. Journal of Applied AnimalWelfare Science, https://doi.org/10.1080/10888705.2021.1880906