My Book Collection

snowleopard

snowleopard

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Premium Member
Here is my personal collection of 153 books that range from thick guide books, zoo and aquarium history books, nature-themed literary creations, Gerald Durrell classics and assorted odds n' ends. Some are legendary books that are well known by zoo enthusiasts, while others are much more obscure.

Anyway, over the Christmas holidays I typed up this list by analyzing my bookshelves at home (my wife and I have a mini-library of a ridiculous number of books) and the reason that I have decided to post my list on ZooChat is three-fold. I'd like ideas for great zoo books that I'm missing out on, I would be willing to purchase anyone's books that they would willingly sell, and I'd also be intrigued by comments on the thread or privately on my list.

Alphabetical List By Author:

William Adams & Carl Shiver - St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological
Adelaide Zoo - Guide Book (2001)
Adelaide Zoo - Guide Book (2006?)
Alberta Game Farm - Guide Book (1975?)
Lawrence Anthony + Spence - Babylon’s Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo
David Attenborough - The Living Planet
Baratay & Hardouin-Fugier - Zoo: A History of Zoological Gardens in the West
J. Barrington-Johnson - The Zoo: The Story of London Zoo
Bay Books (Australia) - Australia’s Amazing Wildlife
Deborah Blum - The Monkey Wars
Jeffrey P. Bonner - Sailing with Noah: Stories from the World of Zoos
Douglas Botting - Gerald Durrell: The Authorized Biography
Peter Brazaitis - You Belong in a Zoo!
Bill Bruns - A World of Animals: The San Diego Zoo
Burt & Grossenheider - Peterson Field Guide: Mammals
Maurice & Robert Burton - The Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom
Busch Gardens: Tampa Bay - Guide Book (2008)
Sheldon Campbell - Lifeboats to Ararat
Bruce Carlson & Steve Shindell- Bringing the Ocean to Atlanta: The Creation of the Georgia Aquarium
Mark Carwardine - The Encyclopedia of World Wildlife
Chester Zoo - Guide Book (2004)
Carl S. Chilton, Jr. - The History of Gladys Porter Zoo
Cleland Wildlife Park - Guide Book (1996)
Darill Clements - Postcards from the Zoo
Colchester Zoo - Guide Book
Patricia Corrigan - Wild Things: Untold Tales from the First Century of the Saint Louis Zoo
Cotswold Wildlife Park - Guide Book (2006)
Vicki Croke - The Modern Ark: The Story of Zoos: Past, Present and Future
Dallas World Aquarium - Field Guide
Dallas World Aquarium - Field Guide (2009?)
Catherine De Courcy - Dublin Zoo: An Illustrated History
Felix Dennis - Man-Eating Sharks
Disney’s Animal Kingdom - Guide Book (2007)
Fort Worth Zoo - Guide Book (2007)
Deuchler & Owens - Brookfield Zoo
Georgia Aquarium - Guide Book (2007)
Georgia Aquarium - Guide Book (2009)
Gerald Durrell - The Overloaded Ark
Gerald Durrell - My Family and Other Animals
Gerald Durrell - Three Singles to Adventure
Gerald Durrell - The Drunken Forest
Gerald Durrell - Encounters with Animals
Gerald Durrell - The Bafut Beagles
Gerald Durrell - Rosy is my Relative
Gerald Durrell - A Zoo in my Luggage
Gerald Durrell - Golden Bats & Pink Pigeons
Gerald Durrell - The Ark’s Anniversary
Gerald Durrell - The Stationary Ark
Gerald Durrell - Catch me a Colobus
Gerald Durrell - The Aye-Aye and I
Gerald Durrell - How to Shoot an Amateur Naturalist
Gerald Durrell - Birds, Beasts and Relatives
Gerald Durrell - The Garden of the Gods
Ann Ferns - Watch Out! These Australian Creatures Bite
Tim Flannery - Chasing Kangaroos
Karen Furnweger - Shedd Aquarium: The First 75 Years
Birute M.F. Galdikas - Reflections of Eden: My Years with the Orangutans of Borneo
Garbutt & Bradt & Schuurman- Madagascar Wildlife: A Visitor’s Guide
Nick Garbutt & Mike Unwin - 100 Animals to See Before They Die
Katherine Girlich - San Francisco Zoo
Gladys Porter Zoo - Guide Book (2002)
David Hancocks - A Different Nature
Jack Hanna - Monkeys on the Interstate
Dean Harrison - Return to Eden
Sonya A. Haskins - Knoxville Zoo
Healesville Sanctuary - Guide Book (2004?)
Stephen Herrero - Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance
Kevin Hile - Little Zoo by the Red Cedar: The Story of Potter Park Zoo
Nick Jans - The Grizzly Maze: Timothy Treadwell’s Fatal Obsession with Bears
Jersey Wildlife Trust - Guide Book
Linda Koebner - Zoo Book: The Evolution of Wildlife Centers
John Knowles - My Marwellous Life
Joy W. Kraft - The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden
Peggy Pickering Larson - Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum: A Scrapbook
Mary Delach Leonard - Animals Always: 100 Years at the Saint Louis Zoo
Ted Ligibel - The Toledo Zoo’s First 100 Years
Living Australia Series - Dangerous Australians
London Zoo - Guide Book (1971)
London Zoo - Guide Book (2007?)
Longleat Safari Park - Guide Book (1967)
David Macdonald - The Encyclopedia of Mammals
Macdonald Encyclopedia - The Macdonald Encyclopedia of Mammals
Terry Maple + Erika Archibald- Zoo Man: Inside the Zoo Revolution
Elena Marcon & M. Mongini - The World Encyclopedia of Animals
Marineland of the Pacific - Guide Book (1959)
Anthony D. Marshall - Zoo: Profiles of 102 Zoos, etc
Benjamin Mee - We Bought a Zoo
Monterey Bay Aquarium - Monterey Bay Aquarium: The Insiders’ Guide
Desmond Morris - Animal Days
Farley Mowat - Virunga: The Passion of Dian Fossey
Farley Mowat - Never Cry Wolf
Farley Mowat - Sea of Slaughter
Farley Mowat - Rescue the Earth!
Farley Mowat - Walking on the Land
Farley Mowat - Tundra
Farley Mowat - A Whale for the Killing
Farley Mowat - Canada North Now
Farley Mowat - Sibir
Farley Mowat - Born Naked
Farley Mowat - The Snow Walker
Farley Mowat - People of the Deer
Farley Mowat - The Desperate People
Douglas G. Myers + Stephenson- Mister Zoo: The Life and Legacy of Dr. Charles Schroeder
National Geographic - National Geographic’s Last Wild Places
Dr. Murray A. Newman - People, Fish and Whales: The Vancouver Aquarium Story
Norton/Hutchins/Stevens/Maple- Ethics on the Ark: Zoos, Animal Welfare, and Wildlife Conservation
Allen W. Nyhuis - The Zoo Book: A Guide to America’s Best
Allen W. Nyhuis + Jon Wassner- America’s Best Zoos
David A. Oehler - Great Zoos of the U.S.A.: Cincinnati Zoo (children’s book)
Oklahoma City Zoo - Guide Book (2005?)
Robert Paddle - The Last Tasmanian Tiger
Jake Page - Zoo: The Modern Ark
Jake Page - Smithsonian’s New Zoo
Dale Peterson - The Deluge and the Ark
Point Defiance Zoo - 100 Years at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium
Reader’s Digest (many authors)- Sharks: Silent Hunters of the Deep
Reader’s Digest (many authors)- Australia’s Dangerous Creatures
Judith E. Rinard - Zoos Without Cages
Phillip T. Robinson - Life at the Zoo: Behind the Scenes with the Animal Doctors
Rosenthal/Tauber/Uhlir - The Ark in the Park: The Story of Lincoln Park Zoo
Andrea Friederici Ross - Let the Lions Roar! The Evolution of Brookfield Zoo
Saint Louis Zoo - River’s Edge Fold-Out Guide/Map (2008)
San Diego Zoo - Guide Book (1976)
San Diego Zoo - Guide Book (1988)
San Diego Zoo - Guide Book (1991)
San Diego Zoo - Guide Book (1997)
San Diego Zoo - Guide Book (2000)
San Diego Zoo - Guide Book (2007)
San Diego Zoo + WAP - Souvenir Photo Book (2006)
San Diego Wild Animal Park - Guide Book (2000)
George B. Schaller - The Year of the Gorilla
Joan Scheier - The Central Park Zoo
Joan Scheier - New York City Zoos and Aquarium
Gunther Schmida - The Cold-Blooded Australians
Jeremy Seal - The Snakebite Survivors’ Club
Lucy H. Spelman & Mashima - The Rhino with Glue-on Shoes
Amy Dee Stephens - Oklahoma City Zoo: 1902-1959
Taronga Zoo - Guide Book (1972)
Taronga Zoo - Guide Book (1980)
Patricia Van Tighem - The Bear’s Embrace: A True Story of Surviving a Grizzly Bear Attack
Amelia Thomas - The Zoo on the Road to Nablus
Tierpark Carl Hagenbeck - Guide Book (1964)
Time Life Television Series - Birds of Sea, Shore & Stream
Time Life Television Series - Bears & Other Carnivores
Time Life Television Series - Elephants & Other Land Giants
Toronto Zoo - Guide Book (2004)
Ivan Tors - My Life in the Wild
Torstar Books - All the World’s Animals: Hoofed Mammals Tyler Trafford - The Evolution of the Calgary Zoo
Trevino & Pastorello - Oak Park and the Montgomery Zoo
Whipsnade Zoo - Guide Book (2007?)
Wildlife Safari - Guide Book
Alan Wykes - Snake Man: The Story of C.J.P. Ionides, Snake Catcher Extraordinary

153 books
 
At last count I have 497 animal/zoo books (not counting zoo guide books) and 117 non-animal books. And hundreds of magazines and journals.

The last one I purchased was a secondhand 1967 copy of the english translation of Stümpke's treatise on the now-extinct Rhinogradentia.

@Snowleopard - your Durrell library needs "Two in the Bush", "The Whispering Land", "Menagerie Manor" and "The Mockery Bird".

Colin Tudge's "Last Animals at the Zoo" is an excellent (if now a little dated) book on zoos and conservation.

Other books you might consider:
"The Peacable Kingdom" by John Sedgewick (a year at Philadelphia Zoo)
"Wild Animals in Captivity" and "The Psychology and Behaviour of Animals in Zoos and Circuses", both by Heini Hediger.
"It Began with a Roar" by Wegeforth and Morgan, a history of the San Diego Zoo.

Finally, "Zoo Culture" by Mullan and Marvin. The authors are not zoologists or animal people - they are sociologists who were interested in why people go to the zoo. A bit heavy going, but a good study on the psychology of the average zoo-goer.

:p

Hix
 
What a great idea, many young zoochaters would do well reading up this winter. In spanish, i read durrell and loved them, though some were not translated. Desmond Morris was also translated. I teach anthropology, so primates are my main interest. Jane goodall is a great writer, In the shadow of man, is a must read for my students. I read here that her last book has a fine chapter on zoos and endagered animals but i have not seen it translated. maybe someone remembers the name. Also recommended is Frans de waal´s Chimpanzee politics based on his studies on the Arnhem Zoo chimps. Frans de Waal has other books that I have lent and lost. Not related to zoos, but a must read to understand evolution are the great books by stephen Jay Gould, what a great scientist and what a great writer. I give The Mismeasurement of man in the spanish version for my antro introductory course and students enjoy it too. Like durell, gould never wrote a dull book.
 
Hix said:
At last count I have 497 animal/zoo books (not counting zoo guide books) and 117 non-animal books.
Click to expand...
I have about ten non-animal books :D
 
I am always intrigued by the levels of passion clearly evident in ZooChatters. I can tell someone in my line of work (secondary school teacher) that I've been to 120 zoos and they think that I'm bonkers, while someone on this site might have visited 400 or more zoos! I can post a list of 150 animal-themed books and someone else mentions that they have 500 books!

As my wife and I are both teachers and avid readers we have about 1,800 books in total, with approximately half of them being children's books and the other half a nice mix of fiction and nonfiction. The 150 animal-themed books that I mentioned don't include many others that I have read, including several Gerald Durrell classics that are not in my personal collection.

@Hix: the Hediger books are legendary, and thanks very much for the other suggestions. I'll be sure to add them to a "bucket list" of mine that I'm accumulating.
 
I can't believe you have a visitor's guide from the long-closed Marineland Of The Pacific! Now that is a real collector's item. I grew up in L.A. and remember going there as a child (as well as to four other southern California animal attractions that are long since closed).
 
snowleopard said:
I'd like ideas for great zoo books that I'm missing out on...
Click to expand...

One classic zoo book, missing from your list, that is essential reading for any zoo enthusiast is:-

• Management of Wild Mammals in Captivity (Lee S. Crandall; 1964)

Another favourite of mine is

• Longevity of Mammals in Captivity from the Living Collections of the World (Richard Weigl; 2005)

Although I appreciate that they are probably of less interest to a Canadian, as a Londoner, particularly interested in the history of London Zoo, I would have to recommend the following:-

• A Walk through the Zoological Gardens (F. G. Aflalo; 1900)

• A Record of Progress of the Zoological Society of London During the Nineteenth Century (1901)

• The Zoological Society of London : a Sketch of its Foundation and Development, and the Story of its Farm, Museum, Gardens, Menagerie and Library (Henry Scherren; 1905)

• A Centenary History of the Zoological Society of London (P. Chalmers Mitchell; 1929)

• List of the Vertebrated Animals Exhibited in the Gardens of the Zoological Society of London
1828 – 1927: Centenary Edition in 3 volumes (1929)
Vol 1 Mammals (by S. S. Flower)
Vol 2 Birds (by G. Carmichael Low)
Vol 3 Reptiles (by S. S. Flower); Amphibians (by Malcolm A. Smith); Fishes (by E.G. Boulenger)

• London Zoo from Old Photographs: 1852 – 1914 (John C. Edwards; 1996)
 
carlos77 said:
Also recommended is Frans de waal´s Chimpanzee politics based on his studies on the Arnhem Zoo chimps. Frans de Waal has other books that I have lent and lost.
Click to expand...

Particularly the two or three chapters which deal with the power struggles and coalitions between the males Yereon and Luit (and Nikkie) which are among the most interesting in-depth behavioural study of primates I've come across.

Belle Benchley's books about the earlier years of San Diego Zoo are very interesting too. They are probably hard to find nowadays. 'My Friends the Apes' deals just with the four Ape species, including detailed chapters on the lives of all the individuals then at the Zoo but in particular her favourites, the two Eastern Lowland Gorillas, Mbongo and Ngagi. 'My Life in a Man-Made Jungle' is a more general look at San Diego and its animals in the same period. M/s Benchley was originally the book-keeper but ended up as Director.

Another interesting read in a similar vein is Sam Dunton's 'Hold that Tiger' about life for a staff photographer at the Bronx Zoo in the 1940-50's era.

And for fans of the now closed Belle Vue Zoo in Manchester there is 'At Home in the Zoo' by a past director of Belle Vue- Gerald Iles.
 
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Arizona Docent said:
I can't believe you have a visitor's guide from the long-closed Marineland Of The Pacific! Now that is a real collector's item. I grew up in L.A. and remember going there as a child (as well as to four other southern California animal attractions that are long since closed).
Click to expand...

Really?

I am sure l have one of those as well will have to have a look.
 
I got Zoo Borns for Christmas this year. Although it's not a good lengthy read, the photos are great and they melt your heart. It was a surprise gift from my stepmom who thought of me when she saw it. My squeal moment of the night was when I saw the photo of the baby tamandua.

As for your collection Snowleopard, I have like 2 or 3 of those zoo books. I guess I need to start up a collection of my own!
 
I've never counted my zoo and animal books, I have too many of them....But I know, I have now 3750 zoo,-and aquarium guidebooks, of course, I have three guides of the closed Marineland of the Pacific ( it is not that long closed, only 23 years now ) They are not really hard to get, from time to time, you can get them on ebay for a couple of bucks. But all three I have are from the 50ty and 60ty years, I'm still searching for the last edition from the 80ty's, which is really hard to find....
 
@Tarsius: I have two DWA field guides, and the one that I received in the summer of 2010 is very large and actually 16 pages if one counts the front and back covers. The field guide that I suspect is from 2009 is a smaller booklet with a giant river otter on the cover. It is 12 pages in length and has a small picture of some manatees on the back cover.
 
@Snowleopard. Are these the two DWA Field guides you have in your collection ?

The Giant River cover edition isn't from 2009, it was published in 2002, and the big edition is from 2008.
 

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Pertinax said:
And for fans of the now closed Belle Vue Zoo in Manchester there is 'At Home in the Zoo' by a past director of Belle Vue- Gerald Iles.
Click to expand...

Agreed, Pertinax, "At Home in the Zoo" (Gerald Iles, 1960) is well-worth reading. Interestingly, this book was also published in America, a year later, with a slightly different title "My Home in the Zoo" (1961), the American edition having an introduction by Fairfield Osborn of the New York Zoological Society.

I also concur with Hix; "Last Animals at the Zoo" (Colin Tudge); “Zoo Culture” (Mullan and Marvin) and the various books by Heini Hediger are all thoroughly recommended.

My earlier post in this thread was rather biased in favour of London Zoo; two other books that I really should have included amongst my favourites are:-

• The Zoological Gardens of Europe (C. V. A. Peel, 1903)

• British Zoos (Geoffrey Schomberg, 1957)
 
Thanks everyone for the many intriguing selections of zoo-related books, and I'm thankful that I started this informative thread!

@Tarsius: those are the two guide books that I own, and thanks for the clarification of the years (2002 + 2008).
 
On of the best books I've ever read is "Kansas City Zoo Tales: A Wild 100-Year History" by Ruth Seeliger. Probably more interesting to me than to others though.

My collection of several thousand books is lacking very many zoo books so I might get some on your list snowleopard.
 
my animal book list:
richard walker: WOW! ANIMAL
children's encyclopedia of animals
last chance to see
britain's favorite animals
colchester zoo sovenier guide 2010
colchester zoo sovenier guide 2009
spotter's guide to zoo animals
the little booh of dangerous animals
amazing facts about australian wildlife conservation
the complete illustrated encyclopedia of animals of the world
about pets-african grey parrot
about pets-the parrot
how to care for your budgerigar

my animal dvd list:
addo the african king
last chance to see: return of the rhinos
last chance to see: series 1
amazona: the birth of a zoo
zoo days colchester: series 2 (recorded)
playing in savage paradise
a lion called cristian
wildlife diary: disc 7
wildlife diary: disc 9
wildlife diary: disc 10
wildlife diary: disc 6
big cat week: series 3
wildlife diary: disc 3
deadly predators: the big cats
big cat diary special
johny morris: the magic memories
big cat week: series 4
zoo days colchester: series 1 highlights (i brought this one off of colchester zoo's website)
big cat week: series 1 and 2
the lion man: series 1, 2 and 3
 
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