Did you buy the St Louis centennial book, "Animals Always"? Is it worth getting? It's fairly expensive, but if it's got lots of good historical pictures and an intelligent txt it'd be worth it; if it's vacuous fluff I'd rather save my money. Any pointers?
Did you buy the St Louis centennial book, "Animals Always"? Is it worth getting? It's fairly expensive, but if it's got lots of good historical pictures and an intelligent txt it'd be worth it; if it's vacuous fluff I'd rather save my money. Any pointers?
I'm so pleased that you like my photos - a lot is still left to come.
I only looked through the book in the souvenir shop. It is not cheap (those of Gladys Porter Zoo and Oklahoma City Zoo were cheaper and I bought them) but I still thought about buying it. However in the end I decided not to for two reasons: 1) a taxi ride the day before had cost me more than I thought it would so I was more money minded that usual that day; and 2) as I was looking through the book (the shop clerk stared at me like a vulture meanwhile, fearing that I would suddenly run away with it without paying) I noticed too many new or recent pictures for my taste (the black and white ones seemed few and far between at least). It may be an offical history book, but my feeling was that possibly it is more about now than then. Sadly, as I love zoo history books. But maybe someone who actually bought it might give us a proper review.
Did you buy the St Louis centennial book, "Animals Always"? Is it worth getting? It's fairly expensive, but if it's got lots of good historical pictures and an intelligent txt it'd be worth it; if it's vacuous fluff I'd rather save my money. Any pointers?
@Sooty: I recently compiled a list of 153 books that I own that are some way or another related to zoos/aquariums/nature, and I own 3 that are connected to the Saint Louis Zoo:
Jeffrey P. Bonner- Sailing with Noah: Stories from the World of Zoos (2006)
This book is really terrific, and Bonner used to be the Indianapolis Zoo's director and is currently the President of the Saint Louis Zoo. There are loads of zoo tales from many places (concentrating on Indy and St. Louis) and the 18 chapters are for the most part extremely informative. Tidbits: Bonner questions whether to have a sea lion show at the Saint Louis Zoo, even though it brings in $150,000 in annual revenue; he has some hilarious travelling stories from Africa; he discusses the policy of AZA requiring zoos to have a minimum of 3 elephants, and many other hot topics. A must read!
Patricia Corrigan - Wild Things: Untold Tales from the First Century of the Saint Louis Zoo (2002)
Disappointing, and a scattered and at times silly history of one of America's truly great zoos. Well-intentioned but not really worth the money.
Mary Delach Leonard - Animals Always: 100 Years at the Saint Louis Zoo (2009)
Pricey but worth the money. Many lavish photos and a strong sense of history in a book that is much more informative than the Corrigan history book from 2002.
On a side note, one of the very best zoo history books that I own is all about a zoo that I've never even been remotely close to: Dublin Zoo!
