Richard Schweid

A book about cockroaches may seem an odd thing for light reading, but it is definitely a work that lends itself to recreational reading. While stuffed with facts about cockroaches, it is presented in a way that makes it much more recreation than scientific or historical tome. It is marred by frequent personal reminiscences that have at best only a tangential relationship to cockroaches but constitute more of a memoir of the author, and these have lost the book a star. They are in most cases interesting, but do not belong in this particular setting unless he wants to tie them more specifically to cockroaches and cockroach lore. The frequent insertions of literary works that mention cockroaches are often delightful, however, and help to demonstrate just how thoroughly the cockroach has entered our human consciousness. Recommended.… (meer)

I have a great love of cephalopods, and this book only further stoked that fire within me. Octopuses are a fascinating species, and one that is still not all that well understood in site of the millenia that we have spent alongside them. It's amazing to me that such an important species is so little understood, and further, that there is still such debate over what intelligence might lurk behind its eyes. So much has been proven over time, and still, so many people continue to doubt.

The Reaktion series of books seeks to bring a new approach to natural history. They seek to incorporate the evolution of the animal in question, the myths surrounding it, popular conception, as well as the latest in scientific research. Personal anecdotes litter these series. The result is that at the end of each book you feel you've a better understanding of the species in question. Books such as [b: Hedgehog|2967752|The Elegance of the Hedgehog|Muriel Barbery|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347755370s/2967752.jpg|1531887] and [b: Woodpecker|9566|Still Life with Woodpecker|Tom Robbins|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1308749778s/9566.jpg|1105809] offered an enormous amount of mythology and curiosities, whereas [b: Vulture|1723385|The Vulture|Gil Scott-Heron|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1358186992s/1723385.jpg|1720780] needled in on the cultural importance of the animal and how dire their situation remains. [b: Octopus|27276262|Lily and the Octopus|Steven Rowley|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1499086357s/27276262.jpg|45476016], I hoped, would be similar. Instead, a distressing amount was devoted to cooking the species and offering up several recipes.. even while acknowledging how overfished many are. That put me off a bit.

While acknowledging the cooking and consumption of octopuses is important, I felt odd about the relish with which that topic was approached while simultaneously acknowledging the level of intelligence inherent in the species and the need for better fishing practices. I would have preferred space given to the film Arrival in addition to the horror shows octopuses still star in, and more attention paid to various steps in the right direction we are taking to help the animal. Something a bit more positive than simply consuming it would have been welcome...… (meer)

I know, I know. Eels are icky. They're twisty and slimy and thoroughly unappealing. And yet, I couldn't put this book down. Schweid does for eels what Ellis did for Giant Squid or Kurlansky did for cod: take a maligned or little-known creature and show us the wonder to be found.

Did you know we're still not really sure how eels mate? Or that we wouldn't have a clue where they gave birth if someone hadn't accidentally found a tiny, translucent elver in the Sargasso Sea? It really blows me away that humanity has been interacting with eels for a good long time and we still have so many unanswered questions.

Scweid also introduces us to various people who have some connection to eels, either through their culture or their job (eel fishermen) or their fascination (eel scientist). He does an excellent job introducing us to these people and letting them tell their own stories.

On top of all this, Schweid gives a culinary history of eels, complete with recipes and his own culinary adventures in tracking the recipes down.

Who would have thought that the humble eel would prove so fascinating?… (meer)

The silver-blue cover, with its sophisticated type treatment was almost as alluring as the topic. If you (or your kids or nieces and nephews) are fascinated by natural history and some special branch on the animal family tree, one of these Animal series books published by London-based Reaktion Books may be just the ticket. Lively biographies of 70 animals from Albatross to Wolf have been published so far—a diverse array that includes ant, cockroach, crocodile, gorilla, lobster, moose, parrot, and trout.

You’ll want to take a peek at them first though. I wasn’t surprised by the book’s many intriguing facts about octopuses (and their cephalopod relatives), like about their decentralized brains, about how laboratory octopuses sometimes dismantle their tanks—suicide, actually—and outsmart their keepers, about how they are caught and processed and cooked, and about their millennia-long role in art and fiction, the malevolent force behind many fictional sea disasters. What I did not expect to learn was that octopuses have a firm place in erotic art (Octopussy, anyone?). This tradition was perhaps most prominent in Japanese art, including the famous erotic woodcut, The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife.… (meer)