Customer Reviews

America's Neighborhood Bats: Understanding and Learning to Live in Harmony with Them

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Dr. Tuttle has set out to redeem the reputation of the bat clan and if people would just read this book I believe he would succeed. This book is packed with information that will help dispel the fear and misunderstanding with which people view bats, but at the same time it is by no means too technical to be readily understood (I first read it when I was about fourteen iirc and enjoyed it as much then as I do now.) I would recommend this book to anyone anywhere who is the least bit interested in nature and also to anyone who is fearful or concerned about bats in their nieghborhood.

I bought this book just because I was curious about bats. I had always thought they were "bad", until I visited a conservatory in Wyoming that had a bat house and explained how important they are. That was a surprise to me.
This book opened my eyes to how beneficial bats really are. It talks about the facts, myths and misconceptions about bats... what's true, what's not. It tells what to do if a bat comes into your house, and how to evict them if they have taken up residence in your attic or somewhere else you don't want them to be.
The book is well-written and an "easy" read. It has lots of good photos, and tells about some of the different species of bats and where they live. I recommend it for older children (maybe 10 and up) and adults. Well worth the money.

This is a very informative, well wriiten and beautifully photographed book on bats. The book includes beautiful color photographs of the most commonly seen bats in America. One of the most appreciated sections is the "Beginners' Key To American Bats", a well written, easy to comprehend section on identifying common bats of the region and placing them in their proper groups. Very important if you intend to build bat houses and hope to attract occupants and just general knowledge.
The book includes several other interesting chapters besides identification. It shows how bats navigate with radar. It addresses the many negative myths of bats, it explains how beneficial bats are in nature. If you want or need to know anything at all about these interesting creatures, THIS is the book and Merlin Tuttle is the expert to seek out. And even if you only need to know enough about bats to humanely evict them from your belfry, this book comes with even that information!
The author has dedicated his life to these interesting mammals. Even without knowing that fact, you can see from the entertaining way Mr Tuttle writes, how much he cares. All of his books are excellent. Check them all out!

Always wondered what Florida bats were doing when they flew over my head in early evening. Purchased a bathouse and this book to better understand their behavior and where to better locate the bathouse. Objective was to encourage bats to enjoy our ample supply of insects. Good placement allowed for bats to take residence within two weeks. Eat up fellows and invite your friends!!!

want to learn about taking care on those pesky insects around the house. get the bat book and learn about them. after reading the book you'll want to build a couple of bat house so you can have them around

Bats have had a big public relations facelift over the past 30 years. Dr. Merlin Tuttle founded Bat Conservation International and enlisted the help of bat enthusiasts all over the world to transform our view of one of the most maligned mammals into recognizing them as the complex, interesting, and ultimately harmless keystone species that they are. I just heard Dr. Tuttle talk (again) at the Field Museum, and I felt I should revisit this book in the hopes of encouraging even more people to jump on the "batwagon."

This is a great primer on what bats are, how they help us, and how we can help them. I'm sorry to say that BCI no longer offers this in their online catalogue, but you can still order it from Amazon. The photographs (Tuttle uses falconry techniques to capture what have become very familiar pictures of bats in flight)are captivating. Because this is a short and basic book, anyone interested in bats will find it necessary to do a little more in-depth research. As a layperson who would still like more detail, the text is a little too brief.

One problem with the physical book itself is that the binding is not that great, and several of my pages have come unglued.

There is no way to overstate bats' importance to the planet. They save countries--including the US--billions of dollars a year in pest control. They pollenate plants that sustain us, and they are barometers of the Earth's health.

Unfortunately, North American bats are now facing a new and devastating challenge in White Nose Syndrome, a fungal disease that interrupts hibernation. When they wake up, they exit caves to find food (not available in the winter) and they freeze or starve to death. WNS is affecting HUGE bat populations in several states and it continues to spread at a horrifying rate. BCI and the conservation community is working desperately to contain WNS and eradicate it, but they need help from the public sector.

Learning about bats is a good start for this support.

This book contains very simple plans for building a basic bat house. A lot of people who grow food organically have skipped the pesticide issue by attracting these insectivores.

It also importantly addresses the rabies issue. Bats CAN carry rabies (as can most mammals), but their role in rabies transmission is much more complex than the media would have us believe. It's highly unlikely that even a rabid bat is a threat to people, unless a person deliberately handles an obviously ill bat. (Even then, rabies transmission is pretty low; although the protocol is to treat the person for rabies, he may not have become infected.)Which is not to say public health officials should take a chance. Still, it's interesting that livestock can become rabid and nobody is calling for the eradication of all cattle based on the rare positive case.

Merlin Tuttle is an amazing person, and if you get the chance to hear him speak, do so. He's very inspiring.

But if you don't think you'll get to see him in person, at least read this book.

Then join BCI, and help make the world safer for our little fuzzy friends.

A good book for folks wanting to learn about our night-time visitors. Well worth buying.