So, just out of curiosity, what's in your collection/library! I myself just have Conservation of Wildlife Populations: Demography, Genetics and Management, Vertebrates: Comparative Anatomy, Function, Evolution (5th edition), Wildlife Heroes: 40 Leading Conservationists and the Animals They Are Committed to Saving, and Integrated Principles of Zoology (14th Edition). How about you?
What's in your own library?
- Thread starter wallaby
- Start date
Ive got quite a lot in my collection, but these are some of my favourites:
Alison, Peter, Whatever You Do, Don't Run: My Adventures As A Botswana Safari Guide, USA, Allen & Unwin, 2007. (his sequal Whatever You Do Don't Look Behind You is hilarious also)
Fraser, Caroline, Rewilding The World, New York, Picador, 2009.
Matson, Tammie, Dry Water: Diving Headfirst Into Africa, Sydney, Hodder, 2006.
Matthiessen, Peter, The Snow Leopard, London, Picador, 1979.
Owens, Mark & Delia, Cry Of The Kalahari, Great Britain, Fontana Collins, 1984.
Richards, Michael W, and Tyabji, Hashim, Tigers, London, New Holland Publishers, 2008. (this is the book about the making of the documentary Tiger Spy Cam)
Russell, Franklin, Season On The Plain, New York, Penguin, 1974.
Schaller, George B, The Deer And The Tiger: A Study Of Wildlife In India, Chicago, University Of Chicago Press, 1967.
Singh, Arjan, Tiger Haven, London, Macmillan, 1973.
Alison, Peter, Whatever You Do, Don't Run: My Adventures As A Botswana Safari Guide, USA, Allen & Unwin, 2007. (his sequal Whatever You Do Don't Look Behind You is hilarious also)
Fraser, Caroline, Rewilding The World, New York, Picador, 2009.
Matson, Tammie, Dry Water: Diving Headfirst Into Africa, Sydney, Hodder, 2006.
Matthiessen, Peter, The Snow Leopard, London, Picador, 1979.
Owens, Mark & Delia, Cry Of The Kalahari, Great Britain, Fontana Collins, 1984.
Richards, Michael W, and Tyabji, Hashim, Tigers, London, New Holland Publishers, 2008. (this is the book about the making of the documentary Tiger Spy Cam)
Russell, Franklin, Season On The Plain, New York, Penguin, 1974.
Schaller, George B, The Deer And The Tiger: A Study Of Wildlife In India, Chicago, University Of Chicago Press, 1967.
Singh, Arjan, Tiger Haven, London, Macmillan, 1973.
beastdoctor
Active Member
I recently read "The Deer and the Tiger". I followed up with "The Empire of Equus", and that led to Colin Groves' "Wild Horses, Asses and Zebras". I am now reading a book about the Przewalsky's horse. I also read "The Management of Wild Mammals in Captivity". I have tons of interesting zoo/ animal/mammal books. I have had some a long time and am now reading them. Lots of fascinating stuff! My discovery is to not just collect books, but read them and savor them and extract all the goodness from them. I may follow up with a partial book list.
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Here are some of my all time favorites, highly recommended.
The Jim Corbett Omnibus by Jim Corbett.
An anthology containing three of his classic cat chasing books - The Maneaters of Kumaon, The Temple Tiger and More Maneaters of Kumaon, The man-eating leopard of Rudrapayag. He was quite the adventurer and he has the writing style to make it interesting to everyone.
Tigers in Red Weather by Ruth Padel.
The best tiger book I have ever read (and I have read several). She is an amateur naturalist (and poet by trade I think), so it is not the least bit stuffy. Best of all, she visits the range country of ALL remaining subspecies and discusses each. Most tiger books focus solely on indian tiger or on occasion siberian tiger.
The Maneaters of Tsavo by J.H. Patterson.
First hand account of the infamous lions Ghost and Darkness that terrorized the builders of a railroad in Kenya. The author has a very engaging and easy to follow writing style.
The Jim Corbett Omnibus by Jim Corbett.
An anthology containing three of his classic cat chasing books - The Maneaters of Kumaon, The Temple Tiger and More Maneaters of Kumaon, The man-eating leopard of Rudrapayag. He was quite the adventurer and he has the writing style to make it interesting to everyone.
Tigers in Red Weather by Ruth Padel.
The best tiger book I have ever read (and I have read several). She is an amateur naturalist (and poet by trade I think), so it is not the least bit stuffy. Best of all, she visits the range country of ALL remaining subspecies and discusses each. Most tiger books focus solely on indian tiger or on occasion siberian tiger.
The Maneaters of Tsavo by J.H. Patterson.
First hand account of the infamous lions Ghost and Darkness that terrorized the builders of a railroad in Kenya. The author has a very engaging and easy to follow writing style.
beastdoctor
Active Member
Ok. "Management of Wild Mammals in Captivity" by Lee S. Crandall. The "science" of zoo husbandry has improved considerably since it was written, but it used to be the go-to book for zoo management. He is a good writer and obviously is into animals so it is an interesting and a good book to read.
I have also read The Man-Eaters Of Kumaon and I enjoyed it. Can you please give me the publishing info for Tigers In Red Weather? That sounds like a book I would like to read.
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Tigers-In-Red-Weather-Quest/dp/0802715443/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1376658895&sr=8-2&keywords=Tigers+in+red+weather]Amazon.com: Tigers In Red Weather: A Quest for the Last Wild Tigers (9780802715449): Ruth Padel: Books[/ame]
Looks like HIX beat me to it - follow his link in the previous post. By way of coincidence, another regular ZooChatter just PM'd me that he has started reading it and was going to tell me about it when he saw my post.
One word about it. The opening chapter is a bit out of place (if I am remembering correctly, which I may or may not be). As I recall it was about a relationship breakup and I was worried at the beginning I would not enjoy the book. But from chapter 2 on it is excellent, so do not be concerned if you do not enjoy the first few pages.
Well, it took like all of five seconds to find .....
Just picked up The Secret World of Red Wolves. Pretty good so far.
Oh well, relationships breakups are interesting too - albeit not as interesting as tigers! Happy to read about them anyway!
I am learning a lot from Hans Kruuk's Otters ecology, behaviour and conservation (OUP), an excellent account of fieldwork on all the otter species with some observations from captive specimens too, written by one of the best scientific observers.
Alan
Alan
jbnbsn99
Well-Known Member
I've read it. Best book on Angolan politics I've ever read...
I just finished this book and I must say that I'm a bit ambivalent about it. It was not nearly as impressive as many other animal books that I've read, and I'd take a Gerald Durrell classic or a specific zoo history book over it any day of the week.
Highlights:
- lots of statistics and figures relating to wild tigers, although it makes for some depressing facts as the poaching analysis sections are quite bleak in regards to the future of tigers.
- the author travelled all over Asia and did a comprehensive tour of nations that still contain wild tigers
- fascinating travelogue sections (leeches, snakes, oh my!)
- the focus on individuals working with tiger conservation is admirable
Lowlights:
- initial focus on the breaking up of a relationship rears its head off-and-on throughout the book in tiny sections and it is distracting and unwarranted
- author begins her journey totally oblivious to animals and has zero love for zoos whatsoever. She has no knowledge of what a sloth bear is, or clouded leopard, or a large variety of animals. That information is gained throughout the text but Ruth Padel comes across as a very naïve lady in the beginning.
- the writing never really grabbed me and 400 pages later it was the same struggle for me to get engaged. Padel is a poet and the insertion of many poems and poetic paragraphs in the text clashes with the more scientific-based facts about tigers. Also, short, choppy sentences wearied me.
Overall I would not gush praise about the book but if one were to buy it cheaply second-hand (as I did) then it is worth a small financial investment in order to add it to a library and it does have its terrific moments towards the end. My personal favourite animal-themed books relate to the history of zoos (Toledo Zoo's First 100 Years, Denver Zoo's Centennial History Book, etc).
Heavier on the political than wildlife in my opinion. I didn't really enjoy it overall.