An entertaining history of the "tot" (British naval rum ration), given in the context of surrounding naval history. It's interesting to see the shiftsAn entertaining history of the "tot" (British naval rum ration), given in the context of surrounding naval history. It's interesting to see the shifts in attitude toward liquor (versus beer) from several perspectives ranging from seamen to admiralty. ...more
This is essentially the book that most people expect when they pick up "Don't Shoot the Dog!". Pryor gets away from trying to apply clicker training tThis is essentially the book that most people expect when they pick up "Don't Shoot the Dog!". Pryor gets away from trying to apply clicker training to all aspects of life and focuses on anecdotes of using clicker training for a wide range of animal species. I really enjoyed this as a light read (and oh man, did it make me miss my zoo critters) and it's a lot of fun (I particularly liked the stories about training fish and hermit crabs), but there's not as much new insight as I had hoped for. The highlight of the book is definitely the chapter on what is actually going on neurologically during clicker training, which helps explain why a click is generally more effective than a "good boy!" and why it can be so effective in physical training of humans (such as gymnasts and dancers).
My only gripe is that Pryor has fallen into the typical trap of animal training writers and spends a good deal of time bashing on "traditional" trainers and how her method consistently one-ups all those mean ol' harsh methods. There's so much good support and so many great examples in here, is the negative angle really necessary?...more
How has this book not come up more often in zoo discussions? Another book that should be required reading for zookeepers. The specific ground it coverHow has this book not come up more often in zoo discussions? Another book that should be required reading for zookeepers. The specific ground it covers is nothing unique (a brief history of zoos and a call for a change in the future and commitment to true conservation), but it is the most well-cited and well-worded books on the subject I have come across. A particular aspect I have not seen addressed before is the preservation of behaviors in addition to genetics. Well done. My only real problem is that Croke's personal bias towards institutions as a whole practically screams from every paragraph. According to her, it seems the San Diego Zoo, Roger Williams Park Zoo, and Bronx Zoo/Wildlife Conservation Society, can absolutely do no wrong and are triumphantly leading modern zoos to the future. Most other zoos get a pretty negative presentation, with a particular need to attack the Franklin Park Zoo at every opportunity. It makes me think she is more easily blinded by PR than she is aware. It is fortunate most of her assertions are so well-cited; the careful reader simply needs to sift the fact from the opinion....more
This book is decidedly dated at this point, but it provides a snapshot of zoos in the 70s and 80s which is invaluable to understanding where many antiThis book is decidedly dated at this point, but it provides a snapshot of zoos in the 70s and 80s which is invaluable to understanding where many anti-zoo activists are coming from. This is a collection of emotional essays from a number of animal-related people on the subject of how zoos need vast improvements for the well being of their animals. And at the time it this was written, all of it was completely true -- it's fascinating that these arguments are still applied today, almost verbatim, when in fact many modern zoos have addressed the issues at hand. It put things in a different perspective, to remind myself that the anti-zoo crowd was completely justified in all its demands, just 30 years ago. To read it in context, this is a well-presented collection. My only hefty objection is to the heartwrenching anthropomorphic story at the end from the perspective of a London Zoo elephant. Even this one, however, cannot really damage the book, becuase from a little poking around I've done, the extreme presentation appears actually justified. It's amazing how far zoos have come in 30 years, and how far they still need to go. ...more
Oh, this one is great fun! This is worth a read if only for the image of a proper Victorian lady wandering around behind the scenes of zoos and circusOh, this one is great fun! This is worth a read if only for the image of a proper Victorian lady wandering around behind the scenes of zoos and circuses with her little notebook, jotting everything down.
I was inititally disappointed with this book, because when I first receieved it, I thought it was actually a female trainer from the 19th century writing about herself. It turns out instead to be an account written by a woman who studied other trainers. But this ended up not being a negative point at all.
There is a lot that is ho-hum and clearly animal people simply relating dramatic tales to her (the chapter on wolves could have happily been excluded). This is also not a book to read for training techniques. However, there are some unique bits to this book that don't appear in all the trainers' books.
First, there is her third-party perspective on the cirucs life and the personalities and drama behind the scenes, which is a beautiful thing. Second, there is a whole unique chapter on the photographing of wild animals, where she goes into all the problems that occur to get those perfect posed circus photographs that are everywhere in other books. I'm going to have to look at such photos more closely from here on out. And through all of it, her writing is so matter-of-fact as to be hilarious. A great, fun read....more
I picked this book off the shelf a few years back, because I realized it was the story behind a song that loved.
This book really didn't do anything fI picked this book off the shelf a few years back, because I realized it was the story behind a song that loved.
This book really didn't do anything for me. There was enough technical jargon to be confusing to a newbie like me to the sailing world, but not enough to give any real information on how he sailed. In fact, I'm not fully sure how he filled so many pages, because it felt like he hadn't said anything by the time I reached the end. It seemed to mostly be a story of hopping from port to port and meeting with the local dignitaries in each one. Where there could have been adventure, his "modesty" kept him from going into detail aside from making it clear all troubles were easily dispatched. There were occasional great anecdotes, such as the gift of a goat proceeding to gobble up his lines and charts, or the use of carpet tacks as defensive fortifications. This must have been a hell of a voyage. Clearly he is an incredible sailor. I could only wish he were as good a writer....more
And with classes winding down, I have time to READ again!
Started in preparation for my own mini adventure sailing on the Sea of Cortez, finished on reAnd with classes winding down, I have time to READ again!
Started in preparation for my own mini adventure sailing on the Sea of Cortez, finished on returning (it's hard to read on a rocking boat).
My only previous impression of Steinbeck was reading The Pearl back in 8th grade and utterly hating it. Which is why I was frustrated to learn he was the author of a primary work on a subject of interest. However, after a fair bit of coaxing and having the introduction read aloud to me, I relented and read it myself. And wow, what a brilliant piece of writing.
Steinbeck recounts his voyage with biologist Ed Ricketts to survey the invertebrate life around the coastline of Baja California during WWII. While not heavy with description, his ability to capture the essence of the experience is amazing. I love his attitude toward travel and scientific study (how people always see what they expect to see and we need to go into things with fewer preconceptions and expectations if we are to experience a place). He tends toward philosophical tangents which I only sometimes agreed with, but for the most part the writing is sharp and often hilarious. I have never encountered a finer description of a malfunctioning piece of machinery in my life. I'm not an invertebrate person myself, so some his listings of what they found could become tedious, but I feel they were necessary to keep everything tied together. His qualitative biological observations were always interesting. He also has an incredible ability to describe people and events without actually giving any detail, and yet you know _exactly_ what happened.
I highly recommend this one to any of my animal or biologically-inclined friends out....more
This actually is a very cool book, it just wasn't what I expected. Pollan traces the cultural history of 4 domesticated plants (the apple, the tulip, This actually is a very cool book, it just wasn't what I expected. Pollan traces the cultural history of 4 domesticated plants (the apple, the tulip, cannabis, and the potato). Hardly a "plant's-eye view," this is about as human-centric a botanical history as you can get. I learned a lot, it was fascinating, but I was hoping for a lot more botany and a lot less sociology. The writing was, well, florid to the point of distraction and I was constantly losing patience with the prose. The book does make me want to plant a whole bunch of apple trees from seed (I couldn't get my favorite Cornell apple vending machine out of my head) and investigate more details about GMOs. Cool stuff, just don't expect to get much science....more
This was required reading for all incoming freshmen back when I started at Cornell. I don't remember a lot of the details at this point, but I do recaThis was required reading for all incoming freshmen back when I started at Cornell. I don't remember a lot of the details at this point, but I do recall learning a LOT of new concepts at the time. I believe this was my first time looking at the process of domestication (and the idea that plants as well as animals were domesticated) and I was fascinated. If only Diamond weren't so darned repetitive (something that bogged me down in attempting to read Collapse as well), his books would be far more interesting reads....more
I was expecting an excessive pro-vegetarian rant, and instead found a heavily researched exploration of our current food systems. In fact, a major poiI was expecting an excessive pro-vegetarian rant, and instead found a heavily researched exploration of our current food systems. In fact, a major point is that there can be no sustainable agriculture without raising both plants and animals on farms. There is a definite agenda, making his presentation of facts decidedly biased, but it remarkably well done. I have heard a lot of bits and pieces regarding corn in our food economy, and was happy to find a thorough overview of why it is in _everything_ and how it got quite so out of control. I was also happy to see Pollan lay into the organic industry as heavily as the standard industrialized "food chain". His description of a particularly sustainable farm in Virginia truly blew me away. I have extremely limited knowledge of farming and agriculture, so I have no idea how unusual or "revolutionary" (given it's going back to pre-industrial farming strategies) this farm's techniques are, but I was amazed at ingegrated agriculture can really be. Pollan sort of lost me in the final section of the book about hunting and gathering, simply because it became far more personal and soul-searching than the rest -- I couldn't really relate to his mindset here and that made it drag on. If his goal was to make me want to buy local and grass-fed, he certainly succeeded there....more
Short biography of an animal trainer who worked for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey in the 40s (and 50s?) timeframe. It follows the basic form of aShort biography of an animal trainer who worked for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey in the 40s (and 50s?) timeframe. It follows the basic form of all such books, with the humble beginnings of a poor boy (in India this time) who manages to beg his way into working for a small circus, and then manages to fulfill his dream of working with dangerous animals by doing something remarkably foolhardy (in this case entering a lion's cage without permission and surviving) to catch the eye of the current animal trainer. Perhaps these stories are true, but it's hard to ignore the presence of formula.
I do appreciate this one for its detail in training methods. I believe this is the only book I've read so far that placed such an emphasis on ropes being used from the outside to make the animal move in the desired way -- this requires a large number of assistants in breaking/training any animal, and most trainers prefer to emphasize their solo role in these tasks. The chapter where Dhotre had to create a mixed act with two tigers and a ram was a great read (in part for the wonderful moments when the simple domestic ram turns out to be the most vicious component). There's much less self-back-patting than in most such books, and the tales of the numerous ways animals have made of a fool of him are fun. I felt more like I was chatting with a fellow animal-lover than the usual sense of reading a promotional packet.
A simple book with a lot of exciting details conveyed very quietly, I read it in a single sitting....more
Coming from a zoo history background, this book was a lot of fun. It is amusing how natural history museums and zoos face basically the same challengeComing from a zoo history background, this book was a lot of fun. It is amusing how natural history museums and zoos face basically the same challenges in exhibiting their collections (if not in the day-to-day upkeep). The book starts off with Asma's hilarious setup to how he became interested in studying the practical and cultural aspects of natural history museums, which alone makes the book worth reading. The museums themselves are then somewhat sidelined for the majority of the book as he explores the developing and competing philosophies of taxonomy and classification over the centuries. This gets more than a little dry (despite his attempts keep the humor up), but it does provide a wonderful overview of changing scientific views on the biological side and puts a few personal faces on the competing ideologies (and being a philosophy professor, Asma handles the material expertly and presents it in a very comprehendable way). It is a well-presented discussion of the role of museums and the challenges of combining educaton and entertainment without destructively diluting the key concepts....more
I have had this book on my shelf forever but had never quite gotten to reading it. I'd read every book on unicorns available at our city library when I have had this book on my shelf forever but had never quite gotten to reading it. I'd read every book on unicorns available at our city library when I was little, so I had a fairly good overall sense of the variations in the mythology at a basic level, but it was great fun to read a "grown-up" study of the legend now. Much of it I had come across before (the old naturalists' descriptions over time and place), but there was a lot of new insights here as well, such as tracing the origins of the unicorn's powers back through older myths (I particularly liked linking the virgin capture-story to a much older legend about capturing rhinos with a dancing, tickling female monkey). I would occasionally get lost in all the names Shepard would throw around, and there were times when I couldn't stay oriented as to what timeframe he was discussing, but for the most part, this seemed a comprehensive overview of unicorn legend. A winning aspect for me was also Shepard's dedication to studying the unicorn and its importance without ever making a point of whether or not the beast itself is "real", something the "factual" children's books I used to read could have learned from....more
"'The perfect society to which we aspire in theory may become a powerful enemy of the good society we can become in fact.'" -- Mark Sagoff, philosophe"'The perfect society to which we aspire in theory may become a powerful enemy of the good society we can become in fact.'" -- Mark Sagoff, philosopher, quoted in Noah's Choice.
I'm a little outside my knowledge field with this one, so it's hard to rank it in terms of validity. Despite my work with captive exotics, I have limited background in wildlife management while they're still, well, in the wild. I hadn't encountered many of the concepts in this book before, such as the species-area curve for relating habitat loss to biodiversity loss (even if the authors go on to point out this is a poor method of such calculations). Most interesting to me was the history of the Endangered Species Act and how had come to exist in its current form, and how it has been applied. It was also interesting to see a whole history of the Karner Blue butterfly conservation projects nationwide, having spent a cold, rainy day planting lupine in NH as a part of this program myself. The authors choose a few species which they use as representations of what is wrong with the Endangered Species Act and how it is being enforced. I found the amount of detail given for these species a little too heavy (skimming large sections of dollar amounts and regional details was not uncommon) and this made it hard to follow their ideas at times. They end the book by outlining changes that must occur in biodiversity management if any practicable solutions are going to be found -- basically we have to get away from the idealistic "Noah Principle" of trying save everything and make the hard chocies to save what we can. I don't know how viable their suggestions are, but they do an excellent job of identifying problems and making an argument for their variations. ...more
Biography of an incredible man who became one of the greatest strongmen in performance history. The first half is an amazing story and excellently wriBiography of an incredible man who became one of the greatest strongmen in performance history. The first half is an amazing story and excellently written. The second half sort of fizzles, which is unfortunate in the story of a man still able to perform all of the same feats at 80 that he could in his 20s. The copy I borrowed was simply called "The Mighty Atom", and I'm not sure I like the apparent re-titling in later editions. There is certainly a great emphasis on the concept of mind over matter, but spiritual isn't really the word I would apply to Greenstein's life (at least in this telling). I enjoyed the book, and would certainly recommend it, but in the end it fell short of the glowing praise it had been handed to me with....more
It's hard to rate this one; as a training resources, it is not particularly detailed or practical (and focuses almost exclusively on large cats), but It's hard to rate this one; as a training resources, it is not particularly detailed or practical (and focuses almost exclusively on large cats), but as a peek into the history of exotic animal training, it is perfect. My copy is actually the original 1903 edition, and is the earliest complete work on the subject I've read. The difference in attitude toward animals and training is fascinating.
The author frequently states that fear and cruelty are poor and ineffective methods in training animals, yet the techniques he describes are fairly harsh, relying a good deal on domination (and I deliberately use this term instead of "dominance"). He often comments on the amazing strength of the special power that man holds over animals. He describes many accidents and makes mention that it is virtually inevitable that animals will "go bad" after a few years, it is simply their nature (though in reality it probably has more to do with his techniques). Most interesting to me was the chapter on how they captured animals in the wild -- the offhand way in which he describes how many die in the process, and necessary killing of the mother to get to the cubs, etc.
All this being said, his writing itself is amazing. He is beautifully articulate and has an edge of humor that makes the book a very entertaining read as a whole....more
As a collection of classic bizarre experiments, this book holds up well. I had read about most of the included studies before, and it would have been As a collection of classic bizarre experiments, this book holds up well. I had read about most of the included studies before, and it would have been nice to get a little more obscure research, but I'm sure most of this is new to the general audience. There were a few new ones for me, including a study making fools of professional wine-tasters and another that showed being visited by a clown almost doubles likelihood of pregnancy for in vitro fertilization (which has interesting implications for the circus train). It's a light and entertaining read, with plenty of references to go deeper if you so choose. The author's ending quips to each section were more annoying than funny, but overall i enjoyed this one....more
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