New book: What Zoos Can Do

Does anyone know if this is the publication where there is statistical analysis that actually ranks all of Europe's top zoos...with Leipzig coming out on top?
 
snowleopard said:
Does anyone know if this is the publication where there is statistical analysis that actually ranks all of Europe's top zoos...with Leipzig coming out on top?
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Yes , this is the one . The full title is ' What Zoos Can Do - The Leading Zoological Gardens of Europe 2010-2020 .' The overall top-ranking zoo is Vienna , with Leipzig second and Zurich third , Chester at number 5 is the only UK collection in the top 20 . There are also ranking lists for Visitor factors - Berlin Zoo at no. 1 ; Education and Conservation - ZSL London at no. 1 and Chester no.3 ; Commercial and Marketing - Leipzig no. 1 .

This is all fine as long as you accept that this is all based on the the methods of ranking which is totally down to the author's own views . The author Anthony Sheridan is a zoo enthusiast , not a zoo professional .

It is paperback , with nearly 400 pages , full of colour photos as well as charts of data . There is a chapter about what zoos will look like in 2020 which lists details of future plans . The future of Twycross which has been much-discussed on Zoochat includes the new Chimpanzee House , Lion and Hyena exhibits , a new Giraffe enclosure and ' a replacement Elephant House to include Bull's accommodation ' .

I found the second half to be more interesting , with 3 pages devoted to each of what the author considers to be the top 80 European Zoos . For each there is a map , details of opening hours , admission price , transport , website , area , inventory , indoor exhibits , general description etc. as well as what the author considers to be the star attractions .

I was interested to find out that Zoo Plzen has the largest number of species - 241 mammals , 505 birds , 248 reptiles , 59 amphibians and 90 fish . I understand that this includes a lot of small mammals and birds not on public exhibition .
 
ZooChatters might like to know that this book is also available from the IZES (Independent Zoo Enthusiasts Society), P.O. Box 4, Todmorden OL14 6DA - at a slightly cheaper rate, as postage is included in the basic price.
 
I ordered the Anthony Sheridan book last week (from IZES and along with 2 other zoo-related books) and while I'm eagerly awaiting its arrival I've heard that there are sections of the book that contain rather subjective ranking schemes from everything to conservation and marketing to the actual zoo directors themselves. I'm curious as to how zoos have reacted to the publication of this book, because if a zoo was ranked highly out of the 80 on Sheridan's list then I wonder if they would make an effort to push sales of the book. Has anyone seen "What Zoos Can Do" in zoo gift shops?
 
I purchased the book in German in Tiergarten Schönbrunn's giftshop this summer and was quite positively surprised. While I may not agree with all the rankings it is certainly an interesting read. Aside from the rankings it also has some fun facts such as oldest zoo, most visited zoo as well as many others. The German title is "Das A und O im Zoo - Europas führende Zoologische Gärten 2010-2020". I would really like it in English as my German is pretty good but not perfect.

Also, it was not surprising to find the book in Tiergarten Schönbrunn's shop as Anthony Sheridan has ranked Vienna as the best zoo both in 2008 and 2010. The zoo also proudly displays their Anthony Sheridan award in their orangutan house.
 
I just got it from Amazon, had a quick look over lunch (to cries of 'you're such a geek' from colleagues) and I'm looking forward to reading more when I get home, especially the zoo profiles and maps.
 
The book is well worth purchasing, and its glossy pages, colorful maps and beautiful layout make it eye-pleasing as well as informative. There are a thousand little comments that I could make but overall it is an extremely comprehensive guide to Europe's best zoos. The entire ranking system could be called flawed and unnecessary, but for the most part I highly doubt that many European ZooChatters would strenuously disagree with most of Sheridan's placement of zoos.
 
I've been thinking a great deal about what to say about this book. There is no doubt that it's an enjoyable read for any of us lot but it is deeply flawed. The criteria of his ranking and for inclusion in the guide, the sloppy editing, the inclusion of maps which are too small or feature numbers with no key makes it quite frustrating as well as enjoyable to read.

It's nice to have and I'm still going through it and trying to take it in but ultimately it's a self-indulgent effort which could have been so much better given some judicious editing and attention to detail.
 
Shirokuma said:
I've been thinking a great deal about what to say about this book. There is no doubt that it's an enjoyable read for any of us lot but it is deeply flawed. The criteria of his ranking and for inclusion in the guide, the sloppy editing, the inclusion of maps which are too small or feature numbers with no key makes it quite frustrating as well as enjoyable to read.

It's nice to have and I'm still going through it and trying to take it in but ultimately it's a self-indulgent effort which could have been so much better given some judicious editing and attention to detail.
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Quite a judicious appraisal. No system of rankings on a subject like this can be other than subjective. The book would surely have been better without it.
 
Shirokuma said:
I've been thinking a great deal about what to say about this book. There is no doubt that it's an enjoyable read for any of us lot but it is deeply flawed. The criteria of his ranking and for inclusion in the guide, the sloppy editing, the inclusion of maps which are too small or feature numbers with no key makes it quite frustrating as well as enjoyable to read.

It's nice to have and I'm still going through it and trying to take it in but ultimately it's a self-indulgent effort which could have been so much better given some judicious editing and attention to detail.
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The problems you have listed are just the reason,that a second version of the book is going to be run,from what I heard at zoohistorica in Leipzig.
 
I've really enjoyed the book, as it has lots of interesting information. But at its $42 price tag, it will only be popular among zoo fanatics (like us). I seriously doubt that the general public will pay that much for a zoo book.

I think the biggest flaw to the book is that it claims to cover "Europe", yet it simply doesn't count Eastern Europe (Russia, the former USSR republics, Romania, Bulgaria, the former Yugoslav nations, and Greece) as a part of "Europe". I have personally visited the Moscow Zoo and Greece's Attica Zoo, and both are bigger and better zoos than many of the zoos in Sheridan's book.
 
ANyhuis said:
I've really enjoyed the book, as it has lots of interesting information. But at its $42 price tag, it will only be popular among zoo fanatics (like us). I seriously doubt that the general public will pay that much for a zoo book.

I think the biggest flaw to the book is that it claims to cover "Europe", yet it simply doesn't count Eastern Europe (Russia, the former USSR republics, Romania, Bulgaria, the former Yugoslav nations, and Greece) as a part of "Europe". I have personally visited the Moscow Zoo and Greece's Attica Zoo, and both are bigger and better zoos than many of the zoos in Sheridan's book.
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I have this book in my collection,and the reason you have given is just one of why I consider this book to be very heavily flawed,the main one from what I can see is that the Author took everything he was told,by the various collections as Gospel and didn't independently check them out,as if he did he would have found at least one collections told him a pack of lies about species arriving at the collection!!
 
zoogiraffe said:
at least one collections told him a pack of lies about species arriving at the collection!!
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And that's just out of the collections you have good information on. It makes you wonder how much of what he was told was high hopes and idealised ambitions rather than realistically achievable goals.
 
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