October 2018 - Page 2 of 2

The Alien Animals

the Story of Imported Wildlife
by George Laycock

This older book is about animals that humans have deliberately moved to new areas of the globe- sometimes the species they wished to see established failed to survive long term, many more thrived- often with disastrous consequences, (which we didn\’t seem to be able to learn from). Although the book is cautionary about the merits of importing exotic wildlife into new areas, it didn\’t have a lot of proof why this was a bad idea, and more often than not lauded efforts (reporting governments spending thousands) to put wild animals in places they had not lived before.

Some of the myriad examples laid out in the book: Barbaray sheep, oryx and kudu (from Africa) in New Mexico, ring-necked pheasants from Asia brought to North America, brown trout from Chile introduced in New Zealand, North America and many other places, striped bass moved from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific (and even to inland bodies of water), wild boars from Russia introduced into the Great Smoky Mountains, various songbirds (most notably the house sparrow, the European starling and rock pigeons) scattered all over the place- just because people missed them when they moved to new countries, gray squirrels from America to England, the nutria (a large aquatic rodent) from South America to Louisiana, the mongoose from India to Jamaica (and many other places also). I grew up knowing that chukars (a partridge) live in eastern Washington state- but they\’re originally from Asia. The burros that roam arid regions of the southwest here were imported from Africa. And of course there\’s the famous example of European rabbits introduced to Australia.

A lot of these cases I had not heard of before, so I looked some of them up to see how well they had \”taken\” in the long run. Unfortunately, most of the animals are still where they were transported. A few fitted into their new ecosystems nicely, most shouldered out native species or ravaged the landscape. It\’s horrendous the amount of animals that were introduced to New Zealand and Hawaii, wiping out many native bird species. This book will sit on my shelf next to Where Do Camels Belong?– it\’s the same topic, just with a different viewpoint. When Laycock wrote this one, \’acclimitisation societies\’ were still in existence- their reason being just to bring exotic species into new locales! Usually because sportsmen wanted more animals around for hunting purposes.

Rating: 2/5 240 pages, 1966

Tags: 2/5- Just Okay, Animals Nonfiction, Current Reads

My Backyard Jungle

by James Barilla

While I liked this book, it has a misleading title. I was expecting it to be something like Suburban Safari or Noah\’s Garden. It really is more about the author\’s travels to see how wildlife co-exists with people in other parts of the world, than it is about his own backyard. In the first chapter the author tells how he planned to make his yard a wildlife habitat, he wanted to get certified to stake a sign telling all his neighbors so. He also intended to plant a vegetable garden and grow fruit trees- but there\’s nothing about the garden except for breaking ground. The chapter about his trees is all about trying to thwart a squirrel that ruins every peach. There is also a section about how he deals with an opossum under the house that makes noise in the middle of the night.

Most of the book is about his travels. He visits Diana Beach, Florida where descendants of escaped green monkeys live in the wild (I had no idea!) He goes to India to see the monkeys living in cities- I swear that part takes up a third of the book. It was pretty interesting- but overwhelming with reminders of the presence of trash. He goes to Massachusetts to see bears that den under porches- this part reminded me a lot of True Grizz. He goes to Brooklyn to visit beekeepers. He goes to Brazil and sees how two species of tamarin might intersect with dire consequences. Back at home he goes on the rounds with an animal exterminator- learning what it takes for squirrels, rats, bats, and opossums to be excluded from attics and crawl spaces. And then finally deals with the critter under his own house.

Side note: I was a bit baffled at the use of references in this book. It seemed overdone. Example: a simple sentence They\’re easy to anthropomorphize (about squirrels) has a reference number. (I know this refers to that one short sentence, because the sentence before it has a number, too.) Out of curiosity I looked it up- it pointed to nine pages in another book I happen to have on my shelf. Which describe (in a much more charming style) the antics of young squirrels in this other author\’s backyard. I can understand backing yourself up with references when quoting, for example, the number of macaques that populate Delhi. But so many times in this book I\’d be reading a paragraph where the author seems to just be describing his thoughts on a matter, or his own yard maintenance, and suddenly there\’s a reference number. It\’s as if he didn\’t trust his own opinions.

There\’s a great review of this book on Goodreads, by the way. Complete with added pictures.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5 363 pages, 2013

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Animals Nonfiction, Current Reads

Girl, Interrupted

by Susanna Kaysen

Please be aware of spoilers below.

I first read this story about mental health a long time ago. Prompted to revisit it because honestly, I saw a copy in my teen\’s stack from the library and I wondered what she would find there. I couldn\’t recall the book clearly myself. Poking around online didn\’t help- the only detailed info I could locate pointed out things about the film, not the book- which apparently added more shock value to the story. I haven\’t seen the movie. But from several online reviews, seems like it has quite a bit of sex and scenes of death- from suicide. I can tell you, having just finished the book- there is no actual sex in it. The characters talk about it: one time they have a discussion about blow jobs (the taste) and another time speculate if they had a boyfriend visiting, could they manage to \”do it\” between nurse checks (fifteen or ten-minute increments). Kaysen herself mentions that she went out with a teacher one time, and he kissed her- but in a therapy session she lets the doctor believe they slept together, and apparently the film carried that idea further. As for the suicide- well, it is discussed a lot in the story- the author constantly thought about it, and one time they hear that a former patient committed suicide after going home. That\’s it. In case you want to know!

What is it mostly about? How the author found herself in a mental hospital as a teen, after what seemed to her a very brief interview with a psychiatrist. She was moody, she practiced self-harm, her perception of time had serious lapses, she struggled with uncontrollable thoughts that looped and spiraled downwards- but really, she wondered what she was doing there. She tells about the other young women on the ward with her- most of them seem to have more serious issues than herself, until the day she starts to wonder- frantically- if she has substance, if there are bones beneath her own skin- and injures herself in a quest to find out. I think that was the most disturbing thing to read about. On the whole, I found it to be bluntly honest, frankly questioning, a bit snarky at times. The writing is also very lyrical and refreshing at times, and once again I really enjoyed her voice.

I was surprised how much of this reminded me of I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. Not the symptoms, but the atmosphere. Kaysen\’s memoir is placed during the late sixties- cold packs, electric shock and isolation were still common treatments. The feel of the ward is so similar- sitting in the hall outside the nurse station, waiting to make it back outside- or not. On a side note, she managed years later, to get hold of the records from the hospital, and reprinted some of the pages in the book- showing what the nurses and doctors had written about her, what their actual diagnosis was. Comparing that to the inner thoughts she shares about her time spent there, is interesting and puts some perspective on things. Kaysen is discharged after two years, able to hold a job and maintain a relationship, but still often questioning herself- wondering am I sane? are you?

Rating: 4/5 169 pages, 1993

Tags: 4/5- Great Book, Bios / Memoirs, Current Reads, Medical/Health, Re-reads

How to Live with a Calculating Cat

by Eric Gurney

Looking for something to use my excess of points on a book-swapping site, I picked this one at whim. It\’s a cute, funny book about how difficult cats can be to live with. It has a very brief history of the domestic cat, pointing out how they were worshiped in ancient Egypt and then persecuted in the Middle Ages. The rest is tidbits about how frustrating cats can be: having litters nonstop (this was the sixties) after lots of backyard caterwauling, ruining your furniture (selectively), demanding fine food, sleeping in odd places, getting stuck up trees, despising dogs, gravitating to visitors who hate cats, etc. Rather stereotypical and all to be expected, if you\’ve ever had a cat in the house. Really, the charm of this book for me was in the illustrations- I recognized the style but it took me a while to realize where I\’d seen it before. It\’s the same artist who made the children\’s books The Digging-est Dog and The King, the Mice and the Cheese, which I remember very well from my childhood. This was a fun read (but not a keeper).

Rating: 2/5 141 pages, 1962

Tags: 2/5- Just Okay, Animals Fiction, Current Reads

Folks, This Ain\’t Normal

by Joel Salatin

Joel Salatin runs an organic farm in Shenandoah Valley that amazes me- the systems he has worked out to cycle all the nutrients, to have the animals and crops support each other. I\’ve wanted to read one of his books since I saw him speak in part of a film.

This book is all about what\’s wrong with our current food system. He discusses so much: how people ought to live closer to the land, be in connection with the food they eat, store up for winter, etc. How kids need to be involved in household chores. How ruinous packaging is to the environment. That pasture-feed beef is actually better for the environment that turning to a completely vegetarian diet (I hadn\’t heard this before). Raising cattle for food isn\’t good or bad, depends on how it\’s managed. Questioning how healthy soy products are (really?). The glories of compost. The preciousness of water. The horrors of GMO\’s. The immense difficulties small farms face in getting their products to consumers- regulations and rules tying their hands every step of the way, it sounds like. I didn\’t know that chickens are omnivores- in warm months of course they eat insects, in the winter it used to be common for farm boys to kill rats, squirrels, etc. to feed the chickens protein once a week. I\’m sad to read about older farmers desperate to find a young person who will take their land and continue to farm on it- because often their kids don\’t want to. I learned why Virginia has famous ham- the climate is perfect for butchering hogs. If food is too preserved to start rotting when left out on your kitchen counter, Salatin thinks you shouldn\’t be eating it! He details a lot of reasons why chemical fertilizers became common usage, that I had not considered before. He says that properly grazed fields build soil faster and sequester carbon better than forests- using his own land as an example. And that\’s just a little sample of the subjects covered in here. I\’m not sure if I agree with all his statements or ideas, and a lot of it sparks further reading. I\’m definitely interested in a few of his other titles now: Everything I Want to Do is Illegal and The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Famer.

The only thing I didn\’t like about the book is it feels like it was drawn from TED talks he gave. He stuffs it with a ton of information- a lot of it quite brief, but really gets your mind racing with questions. Not a lot of detailed sources or data to back it all up- and he gets pretty worked up about certain subjects. Railing on big businesses and government decisions, often interjecting side remarks and comments like \”let\’s get real, folks\” and \”come on, now!\” I would have appreciated more in-depth examinations of the subject matter.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5 361 pages, 2011

more opinions:
Book Nook Club
anyone else?

Tags: 4/5- Great Book, Current Reads, Gardening / Food

Month: October 2018

The Alien Animals

My Backyard Jungle

Girl, Interrupted

How to Live with a Calculating Cat

Folks, This Ain\’t Normal

RATINGS / SUBJECTS: