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Rats: Observations on the History & Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants
Azioni libro
Inizia a leggereDescrizione
New York Public Library Book for the Teenager
New York Public Library Book to Remember
PSLA Young Adult Top 40 Nonfiction Titles of the Year
"Engaging...a lively, informative compendium of facts, theories, and musings."-Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
Behold the rat, dirty and disgusting! Robert Sullivan turns the lowly rat into the star of this most perversely intriguing, remarkable, and unexpectedly elegant New York Times bestseller.
Love them or loathe them, rats are here to stay-they are city dwellers as much as (or more than) we are, surviving on the effluvia of our society. In Rats, the critically acclaimed bestseller, Robert Sullivan spends a year investigating a rat-infested alley just a few blocks away from Wall Street. Sullivan gets to know not just the beast but its friends and foes: the exterminators, the sanitation workers, the agitators and activists who have played their part in the centuries-old war between human city dweller and wild city rat.
Sullivan looks deep into the largely unrecorded history of the city and its masses-its herds-of-rats-like mob. Funny, wise, sometimes disgusting but always compulsively readable, Rats earns its unlikely place alongside the great classics of nature writing.
With an all-new Afterword by the author
New York Public Library Book to Remember
PSLA Young Adult Top 40 Nonfiction Titles of the Year
"Engaging...a lively, informative compendium of facts, theories, and musings."-Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
Behold the rat, dirty and disgusting! Robert Sullivan turns the lowly rat into the star of this most perversely intriguing, remarkable, and unexpectedly elegant New York Times bestseller.
Love them or loathe them, rats are here to stay-they are city dwellers as much as (or more than) we are, surviving on the effluvia of our society. In Rats, the critically acclaimed bestseller, Robert Sullivan spends a year investigating a rat-infested alley just a few blocks away from Wall Street. Sullivan gets to know not just the beast but its friends and foes: the exterminators, the sanitation workers, the agitators and activists who have played their part in the centuries-old war between human city dweller and wild city rat.
Sullivan looks deep into the largely unrecorded history of the city and its masses-its herds-of-rats-like mob. Funny, wise, sometimes disgusting but always compulsively readable, Rats earns its unlikely place alongside the great classics of nature writing.
With an all-new Afterword by the author
Azioni libro
Inizia a leggereInformazioni sul libro
Rats: Observations on the History & Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants
Descrizione
New York Public Library Book for the Teenager
New York Public Library Book to Remember
PSLA Young Adult Top 40 Nonfiction Titles of the Year
"Engaging...a lively, informative compendium of facts, theories, and musings."-Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
Behold the rat, dirty and disgusting! Robert Sullivan turns the lowly rat into the star of this most perversely intriguing, remarkable, and unexpectedly elegant New York Times bestseller.
Love them or loathe them, rats are here to stay-they are city dwellers as much as (or more than) we are, surviving on the effluvia of our society. In Rats, the critically acclaimed bestseller, Robert Sullivan spends a year investigating a rat-infested alley just a few blocks away from Wall Street. Sullivan gets to know not just the beast but its friends and foes: the exterminators, the sanitation workers, the agitators and activists who have played their part in the centuries-old war between human city dweller and wild city rat.
Sullivan looks deep into the largely unrecorded history of the city and its masses-its herds-of-rats-like mob. Funny, wise, sometimes disgusting but always compulsively readable, Rats earns its unlikely place alongside the great classics of nature writing.
With an all-new Afterword by the author
New York Public Library Book to Remember
PSLA Young Adult Top 40 Nonfiction Titles of the Year
"Engaging...a lively, informative compendium of facts, theories, and musings."-Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
Behold the rat, dirty and disgusting! Robert Sullivan turns the lowly rat into the star of this most perversely intriguing, remarkable, and unexpectedly elegant New York Times bestseller.
Love them or loathe them, rats are here to stay-they are city dwellers as much as (or more than) we are, surviving on the effluvia of our society. In Rats, the critically acclaimed bestseller, Robert Sullivan spends a year investigating a rat-infested alley just a few blocks away from Wall Street. Sullivan gets to know not just the beast but its friends and foes: the exterminators, the sanitation workers, the agitators and activists who have played their part in the centuries-old war between human city dweller and wild city rat.
Sullivan looks deep into the largely unrecorded history of the city and its masses-its herds-of-rats-like mob. Funny, wise, sometimes disgusting but always compulsively readable, Rats earns its unlikely place alongside the great classics of nature writing.
With an all-new Afterword by the author
Informazioni sull'autore
Recensioni
Recently, I went to New York City with my son. It was the first time I had ever been to New York City, although I had been all around it several times. Two of the things I wished to see were the Tenament Museum and a New York City Rat. (At least one rat makes an appearance in almsot every book I've read about New York City.) We were only in the city for two days before going to Croton on Hudson, but we knew we'd hit the museum and we kept looking for rats. When we went to the museum we needed to use a couple of their lockers for our backpacks, and of course being who I am, we were early so we looked around the Tenament Museum shop. I looked for a book about the Triangle Shirt Factory fire and couldn't find one I hadn't already read (that's often the fate of someone who is interested in labour history/ethics) but there was this book entitled "Rats" by Robert Sullivan. I immediately picked it up and started to read the cover. A staff member of the store approached me and said, "I know this sounds strange, but the staff recommends this book very highly." One of his colleagues joined us and said "I loved that book."In the hotel that night I began to read the book and I was immediately engrossed. For four evenings (about 20 minutes each evening) I began to devour the book of "Rats". I don't normally read nature books, (and the title doesn't lead a reader to believe it's a nature book) but this is about rats in their natural habitat.Rats are absolutely fascinating and Mr. Sullivan shares his experiences with them using charm, wit, affection and objectivity in a way to delight the reader. I learned interesting facts about rattus norvegicus. They are thigmophilic and can't vomit?I also learned that they are not indigenous to North America, and they are not the friendly pet rats that we usually consider. However, the most interesting point is the closeness the rat has with humanity and the similarities in our two species.This books is more than a natural history. It is a history of the struggles of humanity and humanity's interaction with itself and other species, including rats. It is full of little stories as well as myths and legends. Although focused on New York City itself, it also includes the impact of the life of the rat world wide.What I did not anticipate was how easily the book could be put down because of unexpected circumstances, and then picked up and enjoyed without losing a beat. I've also learned that if I ever get to New York City again, there's a better way to look for rats than we were doing.
Not for the squeamish, this one. Sullivan stakes out a New York City alley and observes its rats, interspersing his own anecdotal take on the critters with perspectives from rat scientists, exterminators, street people, &c. Reminded me of a Mary Roach book without the humor, or Andrew Blechman's book on pigeons from a few years ago.
Rats by Robert Sullivan is a fascinating study of rats and their cohabitation with humans. One particularly interesting section was on rats and plague, which, as you may know, is spread to humans by the rat flea. Apparently the Japanese were the first to experiment with the use of plague as a biological weapon during WWII under the direction of General Shiro Ishii. He discovered that the best was to infect a city with plague was to fill clay bombs with infected fleas. An attack was successfully conducted against the Chinese city ofChangde. A clue that the outbreak was caused by humans rather than rats was that the rats began dying of plague weeks after the humans, a reverse of the normal situation.
General Ishii also practiced vivisection on live humans. He was never tried for war crimes, apparently having made a deal with the Americans who got copies of his notes and papers which formed the basis for the early American attempts at creating biological weapons. He retired a respected medical man.
The United States began experimenting with biological weapons in the early fifties and tested their weapon distribution methods on unsuspecting Americans. In one case, Navy planes sprayed the eastern Virginia coat with microbes similar to Anthrax but "thought to be harmless," and as late as 1966, soldiers dressed in civilian clothes dropped light bulbs filled with the microbes on the tracks in New York subways in order to measure how the microbes dispersed -- all without the knowledge of the public or Congress.
General Ishii also practiced vivisection on live humans. He was never tried for war crimes, apparently having made a deal with the Americans who got copies of his notes and papers which formed the basis for the early American attempts at creating biological weapons. He retired a respected medical man.
The United States began experimenting with biological weapons in the early fifties and tested their weapon distribution methods on unsuspecting Americans. In one case, Navy planes sprayed the eastern Virginia coat with microbes similar to Anthrax but "thought to be harmless," and as late as 1966, soldiers dressed in civilian clothes dropped light bulbs filled with the microbes on the tracks in New York subways in order to measure how the microbes dispersed -- all without the knowledge of the public or Congress.
Rats are not my favourite topic, but Mr. Sullivan made then fascinating, albeit still a bit repulsive. Rats have affected humans a lot more than most other things in history, and for that reason if no other they should be read about. This is a great read.
Finished this one over the weekend. It was enjoyable and touched on many aspects of rats, including their natural history, history of rats in New York City, profiles of exterminators and their methods, and rats' role in carrying disease. There is certainly a lot to learn. It's amazing that a creature that most people don't think about, unless in disgust, is so firmly rooted in life alongside humans. The author does not love rats, and maybe that was why the book didn't excite me more than it did. I have to admit I've never lived in a city in close proximity to rats and I don't seem to have that instinctive repulsion or fear that most people have, although the author's descriptions of rat bites and rat attacks are sobering (and reminded me of the evil rat in Lady & The Tramp, which I have always thought unfairly demonized the poor rodent - guess I was wrong). Still, I believe a creature that is so adaptable and obviously intelligent deserves our respect and even a bit of admiration. It seems we tend to hate those animals who do the best job of living with us -- rats, pigeons, mice, etc. -- when their adaptability, evolution, and tendency to reproduce and drive out other species makes them more like us than other, rarer creatures. There was very little in this book about environmental concerns, either. The matter-of-fact discussion of the exterminators and the chemicals they use, which are described as very hazardous, did not venture into discussion of how those poisons are affecting groundwater, air quality, etc., although there was some discussion of accidental and intentional human poisoning using rat poison. Guess that was too much for the scope of this book, but it was a constant thought in the back of my mind as I read. I also wish the book had some photos, although they might have been unappealing to most readers. I admire the author's tenacity and willingness to submerge himself in the world of rats for a year, but it doesn't seem that he gained any great wisdom or new understanding.
I used to think I had obsessions. Not compared to this guy. Fascinating book, but lots of ewwwwing! and oooohging over it whenever members of my family would see it. I wanted to pass it to my exterminator when I was done. Couldn't find it anywhere. Maybe a family member lost it accidentally on purpose.
Everything you wanted to know about New York's rats (rattus norvegicus) but were afraid to ask can be found in this entertaining booklet. Some people have truly strange hobbies. The author obviously enjoyed hanging out in New York's seedier and abandoned alleys to observe rats feeding on the wastes of consumer society. The most important finding of the book is that the rat population is controlled by its access to a food supply. Rat traps don't work (due to the risk-averse and conservative nature of rats). Poison only temporarily checks the rat population. Cleaning up, closing architectural sins and locking away food and waste is the only way to solve pest problems.While Sullivan points out that rats may pop up anywhere, pest problems are good indicators of both poverty and failed public healthcare problems. New York's infrastructure is clearly and visibly worse than many a comparable big city, due to massive underinvestment and focus on developers instead of the people. Taking better care of the people in need, making back alleys nicer, safer and cleaner would, however, necessitate a shift in political priorities. At least, New Yorkers are today spared the cruel entertainment of rat-baiting, whose eradication by a political struggle is ably told by Sullivan. Recommended for a good introduction to both the animal and a darker side of the Big Apple.
If you've ever wondered what secret life all those creatures you see scurrying along subway tracks or around the garbage bags of any city in the world, then this book is for you. Even if you're not, actually. Because sure, rats are gross, disgusting animals. But as they are part of the daily life of many city dwellers worldwide, their history is quite close to that of the human being, and their behavior can tell a great deal about ours.Sullivan's book is full of informative facts, funny anecdotes and many forgotten bits of history; a very entertaining read.
An interesting look into a world that's all around us, but that we rarely know how to see. Thorough, at times even bordering on the obsessive, but it works for the topic. Suffers a bit when he tries to get all high-flown and Thoreauvian. You can imitate Thoreau without "imitating Thoreau" if you know what I mean. But those parts are ignorable, and the substance of the book and the entertainingness of the stories it tells carry it through.
Engrossing and horrible book about the lives of the rats who live(d) in a specific downtown New York City alley. I learned far more than I wanted to know about our fellow city-dwellers, and a lot of it really icky. Nonetheless, I couldn't put it down until I finished it.
This book sorely lacked any type of visual aid such as a map of New York or photographs of newspapers or even the rats themselves. Besides that, it was an interesting idea which showed how much history can be tied into one little alley.
I had expected a lot more from this book. I have had plenty of contact with rats over the years and it was good to know more about them. I had underestimated their reliance on man for so much of their food. It has led me to be more careful to not provide for them.
What's most interesting about this book is how much of it is not actually about rats. I enjoyed some of the historical detail, but the connections with the world of rats was tenuous. I read the book on the strength of a single mention of Jack Black, Queen Victoria's rat catcher -- I wanted more details. I got no more details.
I was about a paragraph and a half into Rats[/url] when it occurred to me “this reads like a New Yorker article.” Inspecting the author bio on the jacket, it turns out Robert Sullivan is a “frequent contributor to New Yorker”. So that’s why there are trenchant observations on the history of the alley in New York where Sullivan sets up to observe rats; compelling accounts of Sullivan’s conversations with exterminators, public health workers, and casual passers-by; a politically correct history of the New York sanitation workers strike in the 1960s; and stream-of-consciousness musings that include John James Audubon, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Daniel Defoe. There’s not very much about rats, though. We do learn that Rattus norvegicus was a relatively late (early 18th century) arrival in the New World; that there are no rats in Alberta; that a rat requires about two ounces of water a day; and that rats really can crawl and swim up through the S-trap in your toilet bowl, and that one old rat (missing a paw, at that) in an unnamed government building in Washington, D.C. was so cunning about traps and poison bait that it finally had to be taken out by a stake-out sniper with a rifle and night-vision equipment. This isn’t a bad book at all; it was a quite enjoyable read and Sullivan is a good writer. But I need to go find some dull texts on rodent biology now.
No illustrations; no maps (a handicap, since Sullivan spends a lot of time discussing New York current and historical geography). No index. No footnotes or formal bibliography, although there’s an end matter “Notes” section that lists Sullivan’s sources (but also where he bought his binoculars and night vision goggles).
No illustrations; no maps (a handicap, since Sullivan spends a lot of time discussing New York current and historical geography). No index. No footnotes or formal bibliography, although there’s an end matter “Notes” section that lists Sullivan’s sources (but also where he bought his binoculars and night vision goggles).
A beautifully written, highly engaging book on err.. rats. Well it's not just about rats, it's a wonderful mix of social politics, history and science too. Sullivan chose to concentrate on rats ‘ relationship with humanity and this keeps this book from being dry, instead it's fun and full of life. He knows when to digress with a fascinating aside, concentrate on personal accounts or recount history. It's packed full of interesting things but even though there's a wide remit it fits together remarkably well. I thought it a well researched book and luckily the author doesn't need to show off, his judicious use of facts and his ability to clarity makes this lots of fun.Of course there's a caveat people expecting to have a book based solely on rats will disappointed, others who already have a good knowledge of New York or USA history may have seen some of it before and be bored. Although Sullivan writes in such an engaging fast paced manner that that this may not matter. The was one minor fault for me (although it did not detract from the book). Sullivan's attempts to tie the book together thematically, to reach a conclusion to his obsessive year seemed false, interesting yet strained.Still I would highly recommended this book to ..well just about anyone.
One of my favorite things to do as a reader on vacation is read a book with local flair. You may have noticed my lead to books: The Big Bam by Montville and Pigeons by Blechman. This trip I brought along, Rats: Observations on the History & Habitat of the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants by Robert Sullivan, as our 2007 guidebook. Robert Sullivan, author of The Meadowlands and A Whale Hunt, is currently a contributing editor to Vogue and constant contributor to the New Yorker. In 2004, the year Rats was published, I heard Sullivan on NPR and as a guest of David Letterman. I remember thinking he sounds sane and looks normal, but what is wrong with this man. No one, in his right mind, willingly gives up a year of their life to observe rats in their natural habitat. I am happy to say, after reading Rats, author Sullivan is like most Americans. He still gets a little freaked-out working around and in proximity to rats, even after a year of “observing.” Let us start with the whys. Sullivan thought the rats of New York City, although a quarter to half a million strong, were mostly ignored by nature writers. If they appeared in print it was to shock newspaper buyers into full subscriptions. Yet, for all the potential diseases they carry, they have had little consequence on humans in the last eighty years. Throughout history, where humans created community, so too did rats. As our fictitious Hansel and Gretel skipped into the woods, it wasn’t song birds but rather hungry rats that ate their bread crumbs. For America, it was the rattus norvegicus or Norway Rat, who arrived, “in the first year of the Revolution.” From which they ambled after the settlers into the country, as Sullivan quips, “a manifest infestation.” In the summer of 2001, Sullivan set up camp outside the entrance to Eden’s Alley. In an L-shaped corridor connecting Gold Street and Fulton, the oldest section of Manhattan, he began his shift at five in the evening where he observed through a night-vision monocular until morning broke. The yearlong experiment included the tragic September 11th loss that fall, when volunteers worked to contain the rats and the pestilence they harbor from Americans. This is a fascinating read about a disgusting animal many humans would rather ignore. Would it surprise you, John James Audubon spent his later years walking the streets of lower Manhattan, similar to our neo-naturalist Sullivan, looking for rats.
The setting is New York City, then and now. Sullivan decides to do a nature study of the New York City rat. He stakes out an alley – Edens Alley—two blocks away from the World Trade Center, buys some night vision paraphernalia, and observes rats for at least a year. The reader learns the particulars of the rat: Incisor length (2 inches, grows 5 inches per year); reproductive habits (screws 20 times or more per day; 21 day gestation period with females immediately fertile upon delivery); food preferences (dislikes vegetables, loves chicken pot pie); vital statistics (about a foot long); recreational habits (gnawing); diseases it carries (almost all of them). The reader learns about the history of New York as it pertains to rats—the streets and alleys, the famous rat outbreaks, the activists who used rats in their causes. We also learn about exterminators and poisons. We see the World Trade Center disaster through the eyes of the exterminators and New York City Dept. of Health. We get a recap of the Black Death, as well as of the plague in America (San Francisco, Joseph Kinyoun, Rupert Blue). We get quotes from Thoreau. We get both blatant and subtle parallels between the rat world and our world. We vicariously get to trap live rats. It’s exciting, it’s exhilarating, it’s a good read!