The Boilerplate Rhino: Nature in the Eye of the Beholder [Paperback]

David Quammen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 17, 2001

In 1981 David Quammen began what might be every freelance writer's dream: a monthly column for Outside magazine in which he was given free rein to write about anything that interested him in the natural world. His column was called "Natural Acts," and for the next fifteen years he delighted Outside's readers with his fascinating ruminations on the world around us. The Boilerplate Rhino brings together twenty-six of Quammen's most thoughtful and engaging essays from that column, none previously printed in any of his earlier books.

In lucid, penetrating, and often quirkily idiosyncratic prose, David Quammen takes his readers with him as he explores the world. His travels lead him to rattlesnake handlers in Texas; a lizard specialist in Baja; the dinosaur museum in Jordan, Montana; and halfway across Indonesia in search of the perfect Durian fruit. He ponders the history of nutmeg in the southern Moluccas, meditates on bioluminescent beetles while soaking in the waters of the Amazon, and delivers "The Dope on Eggs" from a chicken ranch near his hometown in Montana.

Quammen's travels are always jumping-off points to explore the rich and sometimes horrifying tension between humankind and the natural world, in all its complexity and ambivalence. The result is another irrepressible assortment of ideas to explore, conundrums to contemplate, and wondrous creatures to behold.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

David Quammen, a highly regarded popular-science writer (Song of the Dodo) and novelist, brings a range of qualities to his work as an interpreter of nature: a journalist's talent for finding a good story and telling it well, a scholar's conviction that facts matter, and an amateur naturalist's passion for learning about the way things work. For 15 years, Quammen put these qualities to good use in his Outside magazine column "Natural Acts." The Boilerplate Rhino gathers 26 of those columns between book covers, and to good purpose: every one of them is a keeper. Quammen writes of such matters as the entirely reasonable human fear of spiders (which he shares) and snakes (which he does not); of the work of such groundbreaking theoreticians and thinkers as E.O. Wilson and Henry David Thoreau; of the history of American lawns; the life of the durian fruit; the commodification of nature by way of television documentaries; the strange scholarly fortunes of Tyrannosaurus rex; and the landing patterns of cats in free fall. (Really.) A single theme underpins these scattered pieces: namely, how humans "in all their variousness, regard and react to the natural world, in all its variousness." Quammen explores this theme with good cheer and hard-won knowledge, and his essays teach his readers much about the world. --Gregory McNamee --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Rippling with verve, this fourth collection of essays culled from the latter half of Quammen's tenure as a columnist at Outside magazine (1981-1996) displays yet again how dexterously he fulfilled his monthly mandate "to demonstrate that evolutionary biology, theoretical ecology, and the incisive contemplation of nature can provide piquant entertainment for people in dental waiting rooms." Among his obsessions this time around are spiders and snakes, sperm and (somewhat more equivocally) eggs; reflections of nature in the eyes of artists and writers (the title alludes to Albrecht D?rer's woodcut of a rhino armored like a feudal German knight, one of the world's first mass-produced images); and durian, a thorny yellow-green fruit the size of a rugby ball, which "smells like a jockstrap" but yields a pulp that's "creamy and slightly fibrous, like a raw oyster that's been force-fed vanilla ice cream" and that envelops another recurring motif: the nutmeg. As ever, it's a delight to watch Quammen (Song of the Dodo) take off in pointy-headed pursuit of the answer to a question that he has just twisted his brain to produce, such as why owls don't have penises or what is the terminal velocity of a plummeting cat. Nor is he above sticking his neck out and turning his meticulous gaze on his own foibles (why, Quammen wonders, is he a cringing arachnophobe, when he is also an avid snake fancier?). While one occasionally catches a glimpse of the "pinched worried ruthless countenance" of a man on a relentless monthly deadline, that sight only humanizes his formidable eye, ear and intellect. Agent, Ren?e Golden. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (April 17, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743200322
• ISBN-13: 978-0743200325
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #852,620 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Understanding science, April 3, 2000

By 

ton (Den Helder, The Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Boilerplate Rhino: Nature in the Eye of the Beholder (Hardcover)

Most scientists can't write. That's because they are scientists, not writers. If they try to write then they probably write in the evening after walking the dog and just before they fall asleep. They then think: "Let's explain this very difficult theory in a very difficult way to very few people. That's a pity because science can be interesting. At least that's what I think after reading this and other books by mr. Quammen. David Quammen is a writer and he writes before walking the dog. I discovered his books after being forced by my girlfried to read his "The song of the dodo", a book about island biogeography. Don't feel ashamed, I also didn't know what island biogeography was. "Dodo" went on for over 600 pages about Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace, Indonesia, evolution and extinction. And I loved it. Even the difficult bits because David Quammen can write and explain complicated theories. His prose makes you want to go out and buy a microscope or visit the Galapagos islands.

In "The boilerplate rhino" Quammen writes about a species of bat that are eaten on Guam, slime molds, why we worry about dolphins in canned tuna and not about the tuna in canned tuna, racing lizards, rattlesnakes and the importance of nutmeg. It's another fascinating combination of rarities in good prose and explaining difficult things without making you feel dumb. Buy this book and you probably will want to eat the fruit called Durian which tastes wonderful but smells like a jockstrap.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant jewel for your bookshelf, August 15, 2000

By 

Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Boilerplate Rhino: Nature in the Eye of the Beholder (Hardcover)

Can you name your State Bird? If not, you might start searching for your answer here. If you can, you might find another suggestion in this collection of superb essays.

What lofty arrogance gives any of us the presumption in offering any form of judgment of a David Quammen book? It is a rare writer who comes so alive on the page for us. More than mere facts are here; he brings both personal meaning and human values to their simple disclosure. He seductively captures a readers' attention with an element, then expands our view of life as he opens horizons for us. It's a dull reader who comes away without reflecting on their values. Quammen deftly draws the reader into his world; walking through spider- infested forests, climbing inaccessible slopes, or scrambling about a library. Here is a writer of unrivaled skill whose human values permeate every essay.

This latest work is offered as the 'swan song' of his career with Outside magazine. It will be lamentable if he fails to generate more examples of his delightful and instructive prose. He did this with fine proficiency in SONG OF THE DODO. Numerous topics in this collection lend themselves to just such an enlargement. How many beetle species roam our planet with us? What happened to the owl's spatula? Can a cat truly fly? What powers are hidden in the nutmeg in your Christmas eggnog? Quammen addresses such questions, but answers are not always forthcoming. More work is to be done, and few, if any can accomplish it as does Quammen.

Quammen has been improperly labelled a 'nature writer', a misnomer applied to one who so thoroughly researches his material. He queries field scientists, laboratory techs, the garage operators and himself. A proper label would be 'science journalist' if that truly promotes his role. Whatever he might lack in academic training, he more than overcomes in the depths of his inquiring mind. He exhibits no limits to his observations nor in the methods of dealing with them. The result reflects the breadth of his readership - anyone will find something in his work.

We can only hope that these pages will not remain empty overlong of new works by this talented author. His insight is welcome, his story telling unmatched. Buy and read this book. If it is your first, you are certain to follow it with his other works. They are a blessing to any library and will nuture any mind.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A huge pleasure to read D. Quammen for the first time!, May 17, 2000

By 

Kelli (Spencer, IA, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Boilerplate Rhino: Nature in the Eye of the Beholder (Hardcover)

I picked up this book without knowing anything about David Quammen. The cover art was attractive and once I read the dust jacket, I thought it would be perfect reading for the plane. I was SO pleased! Every story was fascinating and done with such a friendly sense of humor. David Quammen's enthusiasm and wonder about the world around him is infectious and entertaining. I will be reading much more by this talented author!