Category: Reviews

BOOKS: Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:

Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching
by Michael Greger, M.D.
Lantern Books (1 Union Square West, Suite 201, New York, NY 10003),
2006. 465 pages, hardcover. $30.00.

Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching, by Humane Society of
the U.S. director of public health & animal agriculture Michael
Greger, M.D., is at once a meticulously researched timely warning
about the potential threat to humanity from the H5N1 influzenza
virus, and a book that will not be read and heeded by nearly enough
people–even after a strain of H5N1 apparently jumped from factory
farms in Hungary into the facilities of the British turkey producer
Bernard Matthews in February 2007, underscoring most of Greger’s
major points.

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BOOKS: Fox & Cat

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:

Fox, by Martin Wallen, & Cat, by Katherine M. Rogers
Reaktion Books Ltd. (33 Great Sutton St., London
EC1M 3JU, U.K.), 2006. 206 pages each,
paperback. $19.95.

Fox and Cat are the most recent editions
to a Reaktion Books series now including 21
titles.
Martin Wallen, an English professor at
Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, presents
not a book about fox behavior by an expert on
animals, but rather a study of the relationship
between fox and human as gleaned from books,
history, and film. Although Wallen offers a
taxonomical look at the fox family tree, he
mostly deals with myths, folk tales, and
allegories.

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BOOKS: Forensic Investigation of Animal Cruelty

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:

Forensic Investigation of Animal Cruelty:
A Guide for Veterinary & Law Enforcement Professionals
by Leslie Sinclair, DVM, Melinda Merck, DVM,
& Randall Lockwood, Ph.D.
Humane Society Press (c/o Humane Society of the U.S., 2100 L St.,
NW, Washington, DC 20037), 2006. 262 pages, paperback. $59.95.

Cruelty investigators and shelter veterinarians who take
their jobs seriously will read Forensic Investigation of Animal
Cruelty cover to cover, then wear it to tatters re-reading and
referencing it. The $59.95 price tag is steep for a paperback book,
but the information within it can save the cover cost many times over
in resolving even one cruelty case, by saving investigative time,
helping investigators to avoid false alarms and dead ends, bringing
more perpetrators to justice, and winning more convictions on
stronger charges.

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BOOKS: We Thank You, God, For These: Blessings & Prayers for Family Pets

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January-February 2007:

We Thank You, God, For These:
Blessings & Prayers for Family Pets
by Anthony F. Chiffolo & Rayner W. Hesse, Jr.
Paulist Press (997 Macarthur Blvd., Mahwah, NJ 07430), 2006.
$16.95, paperback. 204 pages.

When Anthony Chiffolo and Rayner Hesse first tried to market
their idea of producing a book of prayers, stories, poems, and
quotes about deceased pets, rejection was disheartening. One
response began “Once we stopped laughing, we were able to send you
this letter.”
Yet the book is is a gold mine of useful material, including
scriptural references and even a complete memorial service for a
loved animal. Not overly maudlin and sentimental, it is
uplifting in providing solace for humans who grieve for their animal
companions. The number and variety of relevant quotations included
reveals how normal it is to grieve for a favorite animal.

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BOOKS: Please Don’t Eat The Animals: All the Reasons You Need to Be a Vegetarian

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January-February 2007:

Please Don’t Eat The Animals:
All the Reasons You Need to Be a Vegetarian
by Jennifer Horsman & Jaimie Flowers
Quill Driver Books (1254 Commerce Way, Sanger, CA 93657), 2006.
128 pages, paperback. $12.95.

Jennifer Horsman and Jaimie Flowers have combined to produce
an excellent summary of the arguments in favour of vegetarianism.
With well-researched statistics and up-to-date scientific
information, Horsman and Flowers deal concisely with the four pillars
of vegetarianism, namely health, environment, animal welfare and
philosophy/religion. This would be the perfect booklet to hand to
the ubiquitous sceptic who asks “Why are you a vegetarian?” No
reasonable, open-minded reader could fail to discover hundreds of
good reasons why he/she should become vegetarian. It is a pocket
battleship of debating material to throw at those who assert than
eating meat is an inalienable right.

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BOOKS: Firehorse

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January-February 2007:

Firehorse by Diane Lee Wilson
Margaret K. McElderry Books (c/o Simon & Schuster, 1230 Ave. of the
Americas, New York, NY 10020), 2006. 325 pages, paperback.
$16.95.

Researching the Great Boston Fire of 1872, Firehorse author
Diane Lee Wilson discovered the diary of a 14-year-old girl who had
lived in Boston at the time. The book is woven around that girl’s
hopes and dreams.
The Great Fire broke out after a horse flu epidemic that
spread across North America had immobilized Boston’s fire horses.
Firefighting equipment had to be pulled by volunteers on foot. This
is often cited as the leading reason why the fire got out of control,
but the city commission which later investigated the fire found that
fire crews’ response times were delayed by only minutes.

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BOOKS: The Case Against Bullfighting

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2007:

The Case Against Bullfighting
by Michael A. Ogorzaly
Author House (1663 Liberty Drive, Suite 200, Bloomington, IN 47403), 2006
248 pages, paperback. $14.95.

Michael Ogorzaly, who died at age 58 on
October 14, 2006, suffered a broken neck as a
college student, when a car in which he was a
passenger was involved in an accident. Confined
to a wheelchair thereafter, Ogorzaly completed
his education and went on to teach Spanish and
Latin American history at Chicago State
University. When Bulls Cry was his second book,
addressing a topic which had become one of his
focal concerns.

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BOOKS: Altruistic Armadillos, Zenlike Zebras

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January-February 2007:

Altruistic Armadillos, Zenlike Zebras:
A Menagerie of 100 Favorite Animals
by Jeffrey Mousaieff Masson
Ballantine Books (1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019), 2006
429 pages, hardcover. $ 27.95.

This is a collection of 100 short essays, each about a
different animal. Beyond describing the appearance and habits of the
subject animals, psychologist turned author Jeffrey Mousiaieff
Masson wants to know what kind of “person” each animal is.
Seeking personality in animals is a challenge, requring
much research, but Masson has proved equal to it.

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BOOKS: Just A Dog: Understanding Animal Cruelty & Ourselves

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January-February 2007:

Just A Dog: Understanding Animal
Cruelty & Ourselves by Arnold Arluke
Temple University Press (1601 N. Broad St., Philadelphia,
PA 19122), 2006. 221 pages, paperback. $22.95.

Arnold Arluke in Brute Force: Policing Animal Cruelty (2004)
studied the sociology of humane investigators. Just A Dog summarizes
that work, then comparably examines the sociology of juveniles who
commit cruelty, animal hoarders, shelter workers, and the
marketers who use cruelty cases to raise funds and reinforce the
stature of humane societies. Veterans of humane work will find few
if any surprises in Arluke’s often plodding analysis, but the less
experienced may find the 35 pages about marketing and fundraising an
invaluable introduction to the art of balancing public
expectations–and especially donor expectations–with reality.

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