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sky130's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
overall a lot of great information about coexistence with wildlife! My one issue is that the end section on pests and poisons was a bit of a slog for me; it felt like a rehash of the entire previous part of the book that added little on its own.
linneamo's review against another edition
3.0
big Mary Roach fan but this and the last I read GULP didn't get me like BONK and STIFF
The research is interesting, the chapters well written but I find my self picking between them. Some weren't for me, others had me riveted. This won't stop me from reading whatever she writes...forever but I think I've changed how I read her.
The research is interesting, the chapters well written but I find my self picking between them. Some weren't for me, others had me riveted. This won't stop me from reading whatever she writes...forever but I think I've changed how I read her.
matttruss's review against another edition
funny
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
My first time reading Mary Roach, and it probably won't be my last. Her style is informative and fun and she is a queen of the footnote. There were some slow parts that weren't always engaging, but for the most part, the book held my interest from start to finish. It also really made me think and it didn't offer any clear answers, which is ok, this subject is nuanced, like everything. Definitely not what I was expecting from the title, I think I was expecting more humorous anecdotes of animals behaving badly, and while there is some of that, it is mostly about animals just being animals and annoying humans as we try and cohabitate. Sometimes it's animals ending up somewhere they shouldn't because humans brought them there only to later realize the consequences of their own actions, sometimes it's the visual threat to a livelihood despite it not being much more than humans cause on their own, and sometimes it actually is animals being naughty. A quick, enjoyable read about the moral dilemma of pest control and what really determines a pest.
americattt's review against another edition
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
“We all have emotional connections to certain branches of the tree of life, and for some that branch is trees. We are irrational in our species-specific devotions. I know a man who won’t eat octopus because of its intelligence. Yet he eats pork and buys glue traps for rats, through rats and pigs are highly intelligent, likely more intelligent— I’m guessing for I have not seen the SAT scores— than octopuses. Why, for that matter, is intelligence the scale by which we decide who to spare? Or size? Have the simple and the small less right to live?”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
Moderate: Excrement and Injury/Injury detail