Richard's review
Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants
by Robert Sullivan
Richard's review
Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants by Robert Sullivan
Richard's review
rating:
recommended for: Sacha
Author Robert Sullivan is the laureate of NYC's misnomered rattus norvegicus - they actually come from Denmark (or so I learned from Mr. Sullivan). His year long study watching the rodents of Eden Alley gives us some rather impassioned prose as to the place of rats in the urban scheme of things, a collection of tidbits about rats in general, entertaining thumbnails about the people who make their livings hunting and killing them, a smattering of plague, and one rather odd chapter about the Liberty Pole that seems to belong in another book.
"Rats," falls somewhere between the ponderous "Salt," by Mark Kurlansky, and the hugely entertaining "Stiff," by Mary Roach. It told me as much as I really wanted to know about rats, but the wit ran out as the prose ran purple.
One thing for sure, the thought of rats fornicating just out of sight of wherever I happen to be gives me the willies.
"Rats," is a generally entertaining read, with a cover ...more
"Rats," falls somewhere between the ponderous "Salt," by Mark Kurlansky, and the hugely entertaining "Stiff," by Mary Roach. It told me as much as I really wanted to know about rats, but the wit ran out as the prose ran purple.
One thing for sure, the thought of rats fornicating just out of sight of wherever I happen to be gives me the willies.
"Rats," is a generally entertaining read, with a cover ...more
