The Boilerplate Rhino: Nature in the Eye of the Beholder

Great book! Full of stores about nature, half science, half LOL humor.

Our local library did not have a copy of this book. Very entertaining.

This tome is a great read for scientist and layman alike. I really like his writing style. Well informed and researched

I have been a Quammen fan for decades; but essay collections of old columns (basically reading again what I read years ago) is sometimes compelling but more often than not rendered tedious by dated subjects. Only to Quammen newbies can I recommend these collections. This is the least interesting one. Flight of the Iguana is a better collection, and if you haven't read Song of the Dodo, I highly recommend that also. Ahead, way ahead of it's time on island biogeography and climate change.

another informative & entertaining winner from the author of The Song of the Dodo. Information clear, comprehensive, and ewntertainingly presented -- even the notes/

This is essentially a reprinting of articles published for Outside magazine.They rambled and obvious to fill space.He is a good writer and I have read 4 of his books but on this I felt that I was had.I deleted from my computer.

Can you name your State Bird? If not, you might start searching for your answer here. If you can, you might find another suggestion in this collection of superb essays.What lofty arrogance gives any of us the presumption in offering any form of judgment of a David Quammen book? It is a rare writer who comes so alive on the page for us. More than mere facts are here; he brings both personal meaning and human values to their simple disclosure. He seductively captures a readers' attention with an element, then expands our view of life as he opens horizons for us. It's a dull reader who comes away without reflecting on their values. Quammen deftly draws the reader into his world; walking through spider- infested forests, climbing inaccessible slopes, or scrambling about a library. Here is a writer of unrivaled skill whose human values permeate every essay.This latest work is offered as the 'swan song' of his career with Outside magazine. It will be lamentable if he fails to generate more examples of his delightful and instructive prose. He did this with fine proficiency in SONG OF THE DODO. Numerous topics in this collection lend themselves to just such an enlargement. How many beetle species roam our planet with us? What happened to the owl's spatula? Can a cat truly fly? What powers are hidden in the nutmeg in your Christmas eggnog? Quammen addresses such questions, but answers are not always forthcoming. More work is to be done, and few, if any can accomplish it as does Quammen.Quammen has been improperly labelled a 'nature writer', a misnomer applied to one who so thoroughly researches his material. He queries field scientists, laboratory techs, the garage operators and himself. A proper label would be 'science journalist' if that truly promotes his role. Whatever he might lack in academic training, he more than overcomes in the depths of his inquiring mind. He exhibits no limits to his observations nor in the methods of dealing with them. The result reflects the breadth of his readership - anyone will find something in his work.We can only hope that these pages will not remain empty overlong of new works by this talented author. His insight is welcome, his story telling unmatched. Buy and read this book. If it is your first, you are certain to follow it with his other works. They are a blessing to any library and will nuture any mind.

Most scientists can't write. That's because they are scientists, not writers. If they try to write then they probably write in the evening after walking the dog and just before they fall asleep. They then think: "Let's explain this very difficult theory in a very difficult way to very few people. That's a pity because science can be interesting. At least that's what I think after reading this and other books by mr. Quammen. David Quammen is a writer and he writes before walking the dog. I discovered his books after being forced by my girlfried to read his "The song of the dodo", a book about island biogeography. Don't feel ashamed, I also didn't know what island biogeography was. "Dodo" went on for over 600 pages about Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace, Indonesia, evolution and extinction. And I loved it. Even the difficult bits because David Quammen can write and explain complicated theories. His prose makes you want to go out and buy a microscope or visit the Galapagos islands.In "The boilerplate rhino" Quammen writes about a species of bat that are eaten on Guam, slime molds, why we worry about dolphins in canned tuna and not about the tuna in canned tuna, racing lizards, rattlesnakes and the importance of nutmeg. It's another fascinating combination of rarities in good prose and explaining difficult things without making you feel dumb. Buy this book and you probably will want to eat the fruit called Durian which tastes wonderful but smells like a jockstrap.

Quammen's writing always calls the word 'muscular' to my mind: he wrestles and bends every topic into a well-formed story, full of research but delivering its information in a way that is entertaining and purposeful. His essays, meticulously but unobtrusively structured, don't just stop, they CULMINATE, ending at the exact moment when they have made their point.This volume is one of several collections of his natural history essays for the 'Outsider' magazine. The subtitle indicates a subliminal theme in this selection, of how humans view nature; but basically it's more Quammen, which is all it needs to be. Some topics covered in the 25 essays here: Thoreau, rattlesnake roundups, penis size, tropical diseases, top speeds of lizards, Durer's depiction of the rhinocerous and the stinkiest fruit in the world. If you wonder how the author managed to pull one of these fascinating stories out of the hat each month, his essay "The Dope On Eggs" spoofs his own working methods, depicting him desperately trying to find a story in a welter of eggy facts, and of course making a story out of the search.This points to one of the great pleasures of his writing, the humour. Fruitbats are a native delicacy in Guam, explains the grocer:"He told me that outsiders sometimes set up a bat stand just down the road from his place, beside the fish stands. Couple of sawhorses and a big umbrella, they were in business. I refrained from asking him, Sort of a fly-by-night operation?"In an essay on the terminal velocity of cats:"What were the mortal limits of Felis catus in free fall? To explore that question experimentally would be moronic as well as heartless - and scientists hate to seem moronic."These articles are colourful, fact-packed, pointed, funny and incredibly engaging. What's not to like?

A very well written stimulating collection of articles, offering an exciting & most interesting look at our world and told engagingly with humour. Treat yourselfWendy Thorpe

Quammen is hilarious and the book is interesting and informative. Easy to read and the range of topics covered is great

Magnificent