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Swimming with Piranhas at Feeding Time: My Life Doing Dumb Stuff with Animals
An award-winning nature writer takes us on a thrilling journey deep into the domains of strange—and often dangerous—animals.
Field journalist Richard Conniff examines the lives of two-, four-, six-, and eight-legged creatures from around the globe, providing adventure-packed accounts of his many ill advised forays into the animal kingdom. He pulls a 90-pound snapping turtle out of a Louisiana bayou, tracks leopards with !Kung San hunters in the Namibian desert, and travels through the Himalayas in pursuit of tigers and the mythical migur. All in a day’s work, he flings chicken carcasses into piranha-infested waters to clock how quickly they disappear before diving in himself, and then encounters a man stung by 120 different species of insects, ranking their pain the way Robert Parker ranks wine. Again and again, Conniff courts the most dangerous animals and lives to tell the tale. This collection offers a rare chance to accompany him on death defying treks and see life through the lens of a bona-fide field naturalist. .
Field journalist Richard Conniff examines the lives of two-, four-, six-, and eight-legged creatures from around the globe, providing adventure-packed accounts of his many ill advised forays into the animal kingdom. He pulls a 90-pound snapping turtle out of a Louisiana bayou, tracks leopards with !Kung San hunters in the Namibian desert, and travels through the Himalayas in pursuit of tigers and the mythical migur. All in a day’s work, he flings chicken carcasses into piranha-infested waters to clock how quickly they disappear before diving in himself, and then encounters a man stung by 120 different species of insects, ranking their pain the way Robert Parker ranks wine. Again and again, Conniff courts the most dangerous animals and lives to tell the tale. This collection offers a rare chance to accompany him on death defying treks and see life through the lens of a bona-fide field naturalist. .
299 pages, Hardcover
First published April 8, 2009
18 people are currently reading
556 people want to read
About the author
Richard Conniff
32 books83 followersRichard Conniff, a Guggenheim Fellow and winner of the National Magazine Award, is the author most recently of House of Lost Worlds: Dinosaurs, Dynasties, and the Story of Life on Earth. He writes for Smithsonian and National Geographic and is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times, and a former commentator on NPR's All Things Considered. His other books include The Natural History of the Rich, Swimming with Piranhas at Feeding Time, and The Species Seekers. He lives in Old Lyme, Connecticut.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
April 27, 2012
This is not a book to mow through in an afternoon or an evening. I'm sure you could (especially if you were trapped on a plane) but I got a lot more out of this book when I slowed down and started taking breaks to ponder and reflect in between each story.
Conniff has written for all sorts of cool places including National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and Outside. In this book, he features a range of stunningly interesting fauna and ideas. He seems to have consciously steered clear of the obvious animals (lions, elephants, wolves, cetaceans, and charismatic birds) in favor of their lesser known brethren: wild dogs, spiders, lemurs, horseshoe crabs, hummingbirds, cheetahs, ants, termites, jellies, piranhas, leopards, and all sorts of primates including yetis. (OK, so a few were fairly charismatic and well-known.)
He has a wonderful, wry way with words and a lovely, lucid writing style. I highly recommend this book, as one full of stories to savor.
Conniff has written for all sorts of cool places including National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and Outside. In this book, he features a range of stunningly interesting fauna and ideas. He seems to have consciously steered clear of the obvious animals (lions, elephants, wolves, cetaceans, and charismatic birds) in favor of their lesser known brethren: wild dogs, spiders, lemurs, horseshoe crabs, hummingbirds, cheetahs, ants, termites, jellies, piranhas, leopards, and all sorts of primates including yetis. (OK, so a few were fairly charismatic and well-known.)
He has a wonderful, wry way with words and a lovely, lucid writing style. I highly recommend this book, as one full of stories to savor.
July 10, 2009
Some of the essays I’ve enjoyed quite a lot but I tend to get fidgety when too much technical information is included, with the exception of the chapter on termites! I would enjoy reading essays here and there much more than reading the collection straight through. Some of the writing is in the same humorous vein as Mary Roach, the author of Stiff, Spook and Bonk. I had hoped that more of the essays would stress the high danger aspect that seems to be promised by the subtitle but with a few exceptions, it didn’t feel like truth in advertising to me.
July 10, 2009
My only complaint is that I was hoping he would go into some detail about the box jellyfish and its lethality, but that's ok. Great book to pick up, read, put down, and repeat as it's broken up in to perfectly sized portions each regarding a different animal or experience.
September 26, 2022
that was a ride!!
this wasn't what i expected it to be, i thought it would be all about the author's firsthand experiences with animals but it's basically a compilation of conniff's articles for nature/wildlife magazines so the scope of the topics, though generally about ~creatures~, is quite wide. it was very fascinating to read about them, from nomenclature, cheetah hunting, jellyfish research to a walk by the river with a spider expert, misconceptions on piranhas, and search for bhutan's migoi; from research to conservation.
fun, informative, humorous, interesting.
sometimes it can be a bit dull but it doesn't rly last a long time before i find another fascinating or funny anecdote or trivia.
this wasn't what i expected it to be, i thought it would be all about the author's firsthand experiences with animals but it's basically a compilation of conniff's articles for nature/wildlife magazines so the scope of the topics, though generally about ~creatures~, is quite wide. it was very fascinating to read about them, from nomenclature, cheetah hunting, jellyfish research to a walk by the river with a spider expert, misconceptions on piranhas, and search for bhutan's migoi; from research to conservation.
fun, informative, humorous, interesting.
sometimes it can be a bit dull but it doesn't rly last a long time before i find another fascinating or funny anecdote or trivia.
March 28, 2011
This is one of the most enjoyable pieces of nature writing I have read in a long time. Each essay was incredibly interesting and often funny. I really appreciated the variety as well, he covers everything from charismatic megafauna like leopards and lemurs to cringe inducing aniamls like mites, ants and jellies. I would recommend this book to anybody who has an interest in the natural world.
September 2, 2012
For some reason, I have been leaning towards memoirs and other first-person non-fiction. I quite enjoyed this collection of animal-related essays. The author is a nature writer (Nat. Geo., Outside, etc.) who relates his experiences in a humorous but informative way.
October 13, 2009
I have always enjoyed Richard Conniff's stories in Smithsonian magazine so I bought this book. It is a series of essays that he wrote telling tales from his writing adventures. I now have a new appreciation for the mites that live in my eye lashes.
January 16, 2011
Love the individual chapters on different animals, especially--of course--the cheetah one. I never thought I could be so entranced by a description of a spider spinning a web, but Conniff has a way of making it fascinating.
March 5, 2018
Richard Conniff reminds us in a firsthand way that we live in a much broader animal ecology than we think we do. We are seriously outnumbered, and in some cases, out-strategized, especially by insects — ants, bees, mosquitos, you name it. With ants in particular, it seems like we are living in their world, not vice versa.
The book is a collection of essays. It is oriented mainly around the theme of the broader ecology we are part of but rarely pay sufficient attention to. It’s not about scientific understanding so much as just understanding at a layman’s level what’s going on in the worlds and minds of the animals that live around and among us.
Some animals’ reputations are overblown. Piranhas turn out not to be the voracious leg-nibblers we thought they were. Cheetahs can be, and sometimes are, domesticated. Spiders are certainly great web-spinners, but their kill rate isn’t very good.
On the other hand, hummingbirds may look delicate and fairy-like, but, as Conniff says, they may be among the meanest of warm-blooded animals on earth — “fighter pilots in small bodies”.
Conniff is very easy on the brain. He’s easy to read, he’s engaging, he’s self-effacing, . . . He seems like a guy you’d love to know. And, unlike some of the animal whisperers we see on television, he’s not all about himself. Many of the stars in this book are like Justin Schmidt, who has turned his experiences being stung by venomous insects into an authoritative “Justin Schmidt Pain Index, a connoisseur’s guide to just how bad the ouch is on a scale of one (‘a tiny spark’) to four (‘absolutely debilitating’)."
This is an entertaining book — the kind you learn from, but you learn painlessly. That said, it isn’t “thorough”, in the sense of going deep into the science of the animals and behaviors he discusses. It sticks to the easier roads.
Having read this book, I’m anxious to read Conniff’s “The Ape in the Corner Office” to get his word on us humans.
The book is a collection of essays. It is oriented mainly around the theme of the broader ecology we are part of but rarely pay sufficient attention to. It’s not about scientific understanding so much as just understanding at a layman’s level what’s going on in the worlds and minds of the animals that live around and among us.
Some animals’ reputations are overblown. Piranhas turn out not to be the voracious leg-nibblers we thought they were. Cheetahs can be, and sometimes are, domesticated. Spiders are certainly great web-spinners, but their kill rate isn’t very good.
On the other hand, hummingbirds may look delicate and fairy-like, but, as Conniff says, they may be among the meanest of warm-blooded animals on earth — “fighter pilots in small bodies”.
Conniff is very easy on the brain. He’s easy to read, he’s engaging, he’s self-effacing, . . . He seems like a guy you’d love to know. And, unlike some of the animal whisperers we see on television, he’s not all about himself. Many of the stars in this book are like Justin Schmidt, who has turned his experiences being stung by venomous insects into an authoritative “Justin Schmidt Pain Index, a connoisseur’s guide to just how bad the ouch is on a scale of one (‘a tiny spark’) to four (‘absolutely debilitating’)."
This is an entertaining book — the kind you learn from, but you learn painlessly. That said, it isn’t “thorough”, in the sense of going deep into the science of the animals and behaviors he discusses. It sticks to the easier roads.
Having read this book, I’m anxious to read Conniff’s “The Ape in the Corner Office” to get his word on us humans.
November 5, 2016
The title is a tad misleading, in that not all the chapters involve the author doing "dumb stuff" with animals, or even other people doing said dumb stuff. Certainly, tracking a yeti, sitting a mere few feet from a big cat and swimming with piranhas (pronounced pir-an-yas, not pir-annas) qualify as dumb stuff to do. But many of the other chapters are more recollections and lessons — explanations of some of the research being done by some of the world's foremost animal experts. So in that sense, a reader might be a tad disappointed.
With that said, this book is like a layman's guide to naturalism. It reminds me somewhat of Boinski's "On the Move" or Alcock's "Animal Behavior," except not quite so "sciencey." And it's great. I like that the 20+ chapters read like individual essays. This is a book that, if you were so inclined, you could read leisurely, over the course of many weeks or months. (I finished it in a week, although I did bounce between chapters out of order.)
I will admit that some personal bias might be involved here. Three of the chapters deal with primates, and Conniff just happens to focus on two of my favorite primatologists — de Waal and Pat Wright, who I had the immense privilege of studying under at SUNY Stonybrook. Her primate identification course is a proving ground for any student even considering primatology. It is entirely Dr. Wright's fault that I cringe every time I hear someone refer to a gibbon as a "monkey." So honestly, that chapter alone made me love this book.
With that said, this book is like a layman's guide to naturalism. It reminds me somewhat of Boinski's "On the Move" or Alcock's "Animal Behavior," except not quite so "sciencey." And it's great. I like that the 20+ chapters read like individual essays. This is a book that, if you were so inclined, you could read leisurely, over the course of many weeks or months. (I finished it in a week, although I did bounce between chapters out of order.)
I will admit that some personal bias might be involved here. Three of the chapters deal with primates, and Conniff just happens to focus on two of my favorite primatologists — de Waal and Pat Wright, who I had the immense privilege of studying under at SUNY Stonybrook. Her primate identification course is a proving ground for any student even considering primatology. It is entirely Dr. Wright's fault that I cringe every time I hear someone refer to a gibbon as a "monkey." So honestly, that chapter alone made me love this book.
November 24, 2023
A series of stories of the authors experiences with animals. Conniff is entertaining, and does provide some insight.
Once chapter, "A Little Sneaky Sex" describes sneaker male behavior which subverts the normal process of the male with the strongest attributes mating with the females. First noticed in dung beetles but now known to occur in hundreds of species, lesser males use a variety of techniques to work around the dominant male's control of the females and fertilize them.
Other chapters are less informative, but all make for interesting reading.
Once chapter, "A Little Sneaky Sex" describes sneaker male behavior which subverts the normal process of the male with the strongest attributes mating with the females. First noticed in dung beetles but now known to occur in hundreds of species, lesser males use a variety of techniques to work around the dominant male's control of the females and fertilize them.
Other chapters are less informative, but all make for interesting reading.
March 10, 2024
Boy, do I wish I knew this author, personally. I would LOVE to just sit and listen to his stories. I picked up this book cause, first of all, I love non-fiction and because I love animals. Also it has a GREAT, title and a better sub-title.
This book will definitely keep you interested, even if you don't like creepy-crawlies. I will definitely be reading more of his books !!
This book will definitely keep you interested, even if you don't like creepy-crawlies. I will definitely be reading more of his books !!
June 6, 2018
Highly engaging. The first book I've read by Richard Conniff and I look forward to reading more.
March 3, 2020
Interesting tidbits about animals/insects/fish. The writer has a sense of humor. My favorite chapters were on spiders, bees/wasps & hummingbirds.
Read
September 15, 2021Fun and entertaining. I learned quite a few interesting things about several animals. This is a good light read.
June 20, 2024
A few of the stories I enjoyed, but most of them were of no interest to me. it is a personal opinion. Maybe other people will give it a better rating.
Read
July 21, 2010Richard Conniff, a winner of the National Magazine Award and writer for Smithsonian, National Geographic and other magazines has collected many of his best travel and nature writing essays in Swimming with Piranhas at Feeding Time: My Life Doing Dumb Stuff with Animals. He takes the reader from Botswana to the Amazon to Madagascar to the top of his head as he chronicles his adventures in the wild. Yes, he does swim with piranhas and no, they do not eat him, in fact all piranhas are not alike and most do not attack as we have been lead to believe.
His subjects range from the two-legged to the eight-legged. Some of the best stories are those of insects and the men and women who study them and what happens to Conniff when he enters a study or gets involved over his head. Conniff is an engaging writer, often putting himself into situations of great jeopardy, yet always ending in a humorous fashion, at least to the reader. If you are looking for armchair adventure, here”s a book for you. --Maeve
From ICPL Staff Picks Blog
His subjects range from the two-legged to the eight-legged. Some of the best stories are those of insects and the men and women who study them and what happens to Conniff when he enters a study or gets involved over his head. Conniff is an engaging writer, often putting himself into situations of great jeopardy, yet always ending in a humorous fashion, at least to the reader. If you are looking for armchair adventure, here”s a book for you. --Maeve
From ICPL Staff Picks Blog
March 3, 2011
I've enjoyed reading Richard Conniff's articles in the New York Times and decided to check out his books. Conniff leads an interesting life of adventure and natural history study to many parts of the word most people never have an opportunity to visit, such as Africa, and places close to home such as the coastal U.S. and New Orleans. In Swimming with Piranhas... Conniff uses dry wit and humor to engage the reader in his adventures to study natural history. Who wouldn't be intrigued by "When I first heard about the Termite That Ate New Orleans I happened to be in the middle of building my own termite food court-a new wood-frame house on the coast of Connecticut-and it seemed to be time to find out more about the enemy." (Conniff, p. 122) The reader laughs as they keep turning the pages, learning more about termites (fact and fiction) than the local pest control person could imagine! I am looking forward to reading his other books.
June 2, 2010
Essays on everything from quantifying the pain of various insect bites, to tracking African wild dogs, to some of the absurdities of the scientific naming system. An entertaining writing style, coupled with profiles of some of the best known members of the animal kingdom (with a few lesser-knowns thrown in), make this a winner.
The same tarantula hawk's venom has a totally different effect on humans. "If you get stung by one," Schmidt says, "you might as well lie down and just scream. The good news is that by three minutes it's gone. If you really use your imagination you can get it to last five minutes. But that's it, you get on with your life." Clearly, Schmidt has given more thought to the nature of stinging than is entirely healthy...
Would be perfect for a high school book talk.
The same tarantula hawk's venom has a totally different effect on humans. "If you get stung by one," Schmidt says, "you might as well lie down and just scream. The good news is that by three minutes it's gone. If you really use your imagination you can get it to last five minutes. But that's it, you get on with your life." Clearly, Schmidt has given more thought to the nature of stinging than is entirely healthy...
Would be perfect for a high school book talk.
July 3, 2009
Well-written, insanely informative and lots of fun. Conniff is wry, self-deprecating and endearingly goofy. For me, the standout chapter was The Value of a Good Name. If you have the slightest interest in nomenclature and science, you owe yourself this slice of real-life hilarity. I learned things about Piranhas (including the fact I've been pronouncing it wrong all these years), how to find spiderwebs (fill a sock with cornstarch- shake gently over your yard- boggle at the fecundity), what happens when your botfly hatches out of your skull at a baseball game, and what Gerald Durrell drank for breakfast. Wonderful anecdotes abound.
Conniff isn't in this for the depth, but he sure makes the surfaces sparkle.
Highly recommended.
Conniff isn't in this for the depth, but he sure makes the surfaces sparkle.
Highly recommended.
September 12, 2013
I really liked this one - it covered so many different animals and was packed with fun factoids. Sadly, I wasn't able to keep the book long enough to make note of all these fun facts before this one was due back at the library.
However, I'm not as scared of spiders as I once was (though the egg-laying thing on/in other animals is terrifying), piranhas probably won't eat you, and jellyfish will eat other jellyfish. Also, you probably shouldn't Google image some of the more obscure species Conniff writes about before bed. Particularly when the species is a sort of fish or bug.
Overall, a really fun and informative read.
However, I'm not as scared of spiders as I once was (though the egg-laying thing on/in other animals is terrifying), piranhas probably won't eat you, and jellyfish will eat other jellyfish. Also, you probably shouldn't Google image some of the more obscure species Conniff writes about before bed. Particularly when the species is a sort of fish or bug.
Overall, a really fun and informative read.
September 30, 2009
I sure wish I had this book for a textbook back in the Biology days. Conniff really knows how to teach readers about science. He's been through so much with animals for research for writing his articles. Each chapter is about a different animal. My favorite was the first one about wild dogs in Africa and I think the chapters about monkeys were close behind. Who doesn't want to learn more about termites, leopards, cheetahs, and dung beetles? I'm not really sure if I can find any students to read this title straight through, but it's definately a better book than what I was expecting.
December 8, 2014
this collection of previously published essays about the animal world is quite interesting. conniff's informal tone pulls you into each situation without the distraction of scientific jargon. he has essays devoted to jellyfish, hummingbirds, wild dogs, insects! i found some of the information quite enlightening. an easy read. you can read the essays out of order and still come away with a sense of cohesion.
June 16, 2014
Coniff is a good writer, very eloquent and it shows in the language - effective in conveying the mood, and humorous. However there were more misses than hits for me in this collection of essays about various animal groups from microbes to mammals. Also, I often found the insights into his day to day work experience, his notes from the field if you will, more interesting than the main articles themselves.
December 30, 2009
Richard Conniff's live has taken him around the world, reporting on animals and the people who study them. He's had some opportunities to do "dumb stuff" (as he puts it), like allowing himself to be bitten by fire ants or stung by jellyfish. But he also presents his experiences in a way that is not only entertaining, but gives us some of the fascinating science behind the creatures.
September 8, 2010
It sounds like it should be some kind of 60s personal revelation story or poetry collection, but what it actually is is a collection of essays by one of the leading natural history writers. From wild dogs in Africa, to jellyfish in Monterey Bay and, yes, pirhanas in South America (and many points in between, including your very own head), it's an entertaining look at the world we live in.
August 3, 2011
Misleading description of this book makes the reader assume it will be about encountering dangers in the wild. This is not the case. It is more of an account of one man's small adventures and the wonders of the animal kingdom from spiders to wild dogs. Not a page turner but had an interesting highlight here and there.
February 11, 2012
The title of this book is a bit misleading as it is not strictly about the author's adventures with wildlife, but more like his encounters with wildlife and the people that study animals. He goes into detail about various researchers and their subjects, but I do wish he had included more amusing/amazing anecdotes.
August 31, 2015
Not everyone gets the chance to sit down with wild dogs, take a dip with piranhas, or chase lemurs through the forest. And I imagine that some might not want to even if they were afforded the invitation. But if you like to imagine such adventures, at least, you'll enjoy Conniff's entertaining and intelligent essays on wildlife and those wild enough to study it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews