The life of a globetrotting animal doctor, ungussied and enthusiastic. This is not so much a memoir as a diary of five missions Karesh undertook in aid of rare wildlife. A veterinarian for the Wildlife Conservation Society, Karesh often finds himself in the remotest patches, there to work with indigenous people and the local political structure to determine the overall health of a wildlife population, train biologists, and do research on and minister to the animals. While Karesh obviously loves his work, in principal and in practice, it fast becomes clear that it’s an arduous, risky, and uncomfortable business. Not just because he sleeps most nights on damp ground in strange places with dangerous animals, but because of the humans, the most violently unpredictable of creatures, bureaucratic martinets and teenagers waving AK-47s—far worse than jumped rhinos. Karesh tells his story in an unadorned voice, as much an educator as a veterinarian. He wants readers to get a full picture of the places he goes, and to that end he doesn’t confine himself to conservation matters alone, but saturates the pages with topical sidebars that have an impact on his work. These include the spread of HIV in Africa and the constant low level of terror that comes from simply living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; satellite tracking of elephants and pygmy culture; the role of coca and the evolution of an oxbow lake, and dozens more. Whether he is determining if peccaries maintain the natural architecture of the Bolivian woodlands, gauging the health of macaws in the forest canopy of Peru, or poking his finger in the eye of Birute Galdikas’s orangutan project, Karesh is a humble man, with a respectfully guarded openness. Anyone contemplating the life of a roving veterinarian should commune with these pages. Likely 95 percent will reevaluate their career options. (b&w photos throughout, 16 pages color photos)
Pub Date: June 11, 1999
ISBN: 0-446-52371-2
Page Count: 384
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1999
The book is not entirely negative; final chapters indicate roads of reversal, before it is too late!
It should come as no surprise that the gifted author of The Sea Around Usand its successors can take another branch of science—that phase of biology indicated by the term ecology—and bring it so sharply into focus that any intelligent layman can understand what she is talking about.
Understand, yes, and shudder, for she has drawn a living portrait of what is happening to this balance nature has decreed in the science of life—and what man is doing (and has done) to destroy it and create a science of death. Death to our birds, to fish, to wild creatures of the woods—and, to a degree as yet undetermined, to man himself. World War II hastened the program by releasing lethal chemicals for destruction of insects that threatened man’s health and comfort, vegetation that needed quick disposal. The war against insects had been under way before, but the methods were relatively harmless to other than the insects under attack; the products non-chemical, sometimes even introduction of other insects, enemies of the ones under attack. But with chemicals—increasingly stronger, more potent, more varied, more dangerous—new chain reactions have set in. And ironically, the insects are winning the war, setting up immunities, and re-emerging, their natural enemies destroyed. The peril does not stop here. Waters, even to the underground water tables, are contaminated; soils are poisoned. The birds consume the poisons in their insect and earthworm diet; the cattle, in their fodder; the fish, in the waters and the food those waters provide. And humans? They drink the milk, eat the vegetables, the fish, the poultry. There is enough evidence to point to the far-reaching effects; but this is only the beginning,—in cancer, in liver disorders, in radiation perils…This is the horrifying story. It needed to be told—and by a scientist with a rare gift of communication and an overwhelming sense of responsibility. Already the articles taken from the book for publication in The New Yorkerare being widely discussed. Book-of-the-Month distribution in October will spread the message yet more widely.
The book is not entirely negative; final chapters indicate roads of reversal, before it is too late!Pub Date: Sept. 27, 1962
ISBN: 061825305X
Page Count: 378
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1962
APPRECIATIONS
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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