What do you think?
Rate this book
Man is the prey: An investigation into the motives and habits of man's natural enemies
BOOK
- GenresScience
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1969
1 person is currently reading
65 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 5, 2015
A great book from a very journalistic perspective about the actual facts concerning man-eating and man-killing animals. I could not get enough of this book growing up.
October 10, 2016
One of the best books I ever read.
July 3, 2024
Man is the Prey is an interesting book about animal attacks on humans although despite the title and cover, not exclusively man-eaters. The book has two clear biases:
1. The author is an ex-pat living in South Africa and as a result the book is more focused on African wildlife than other countries dangerous animals. For example, his chapter on crocodiles is almost exclusively about the Nile crocodile. It's hard to criticize him for this because it is obviously much easier to write about what you have a personal experience with and these firsthand accounts are the most interesting parts of the book.
2. The author has a strong interest in big game hunting. My estimate is that over half of the information in the book comes from big game hunter's memoirs or conversations with big game hunters. This effects the coverage of different animals. The crocodile, an animal the author admits is probably the most voracious man-eater, gets 10 pages while the elephant gets 20 pages of coverage. As the book moves away from the big game animals, it feels more like he's simply listing off facts about these animals and the book starts to drag. Again, it's hard to complain since the stories of the big game hunters are usually quite exciting.
These foundational biases aside, the author also takes sides with some of the animals. Bears are depicted as practically harmless while wolves are ravenous hellhounds that, according to a story he reprints, almost ate an entire village in one night.
Overall the book is quite interesting though not exactly what I was expecting.
1. The author is an ex-pat living in South Africa and as a result the book is more focused on African wildlife than other countries dangerous animals. For example, his chapter on crocodiles is almost exclusively about the Nile crocodile. It's hard to criticize him for this because it is obviously much easier to write about what you have a personal experience with and these firsthand accounts are the most interesting parts of the book.
2. The author has a strong interest in big game hunting. My estimate is that over half of the information in the book comes from big game hunter's memoirs or conversations with big game hunters. This effects the coverage of different animals. The crocodile, an animal the author admits is probably the most voracious man-eater, gets 10 pages while the elephant gets 20 pages of coverage. As the book moves away from the big game animals, it feels more like he's simply listing off facts about these animals and the book starts to drag. Again, it's hard to complain since the stories of the big game hunters are usually quite exciting.
These foundational biases aside, the author also takes sides with some of the animals. Bears are depicted as practically harmless while wolves are ravenous hellhounds that, according to a story he reprints, almost ate an entire village in one night.
Overall the book is quite interesting though not exactly what I was expecting.
April 13, 2015
Okay, this book is a little out of date (it as published in 1969 after all) but the basics are still valid and the approach that Clarke takes is well thought out and presented well, giving a run down of animals that are man killers, opening with man himself (an approach often lacking in the more modern versions of such books). Each species or species group has their own chapter within which Clarke details how they kill man and tries to explain the why behind such behaviour. And Clarke includes more than just the usual suspects with insects, arachnids, fish, birds, bats and monkeys covered as well as lions, tigers and bears. This is a good introduction into the natural world where man is just another animal and a good addition to any environmental bookshelf.
March 7, 2008
Wait, we're not the top of the food chain?
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews