Customer Reviews

The Boilerplate Rhino: Nature in the Eye of the Beholder

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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.

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.

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!

Boilerplate Rhino is another collection of magazine columns, like "Natural Acts" (1985), "The Flight of the Iguana" (1988) and "Wild Thoughts from Wild Places (1998). Quammen is an excellent nature essayist, with just the right recipe of fact, whimsy, self-deprecation and seriousness. His ruminations will have you alternately howling with laughter, moaning in anguish, barking angrily and purring with satisfaction -- and along the way you'll add a snootful of useless facts to your cocktail chatter.

His "Song of the Dodo" (1996) was a tough slog due to the weight and mass of four long books rolled in one, but the 20-minute essays here are just the right length.

Reading the fascinating twenty-six essays that make-up this book is the closest I have come to riding a rhino. David Quammen's fantasies are exhilarating; and he knows how to pen them down.
The lives of these essays revolved around those of octopus, beetles, and bats: before assuming a cosmic dimension.
This book is a fine collection of fictions, which will please most fantasy lovers.
However, some parts of it appeared more or less shallow. Still, it's worth the time that any willing reader would like to invest on it.

Quammen is a delight to read. His writing is lively, clear, workmanlike (in the very best sense of the word), with that spring in the literary step that a writer has or doesn't have, but has to be born with -- and I speak both as a fellow writer and as a professional editor. There is no in-between: Quammen is a real writer. His work is always infused with delight and usually makes me laugh out loud at least once per essay. His books teach without being obnoxiously didactic. These essays are full of wonder, information, and delight, and they are a pleasure to read -- and it doesn't get better than that!

Having read "Song of the Dodo", I was slightly disappointed. This is a collections of columns originally written for "Outside" magazine. Quammen admits to writing many of them at the last minute before the Outside deadline, and sometimes this haste shows through. The short format doesn't allow him to do much more than scratch the surface of any one topic. But within the limitations of the format, the pieces are very readable, interesting and sometimes funny.

Quammen has compiled a thoughtful and entertaining collection of his essays for THE BOILERPLATE RHINO. You don't need to be a nature buff or of a scientific mind to enjoy what he's written. This was a bit of an impulse buy due to a bargain price, but I was pleasantly surprised. I look forward to reading more of Quammen's work!

There's really little wonder why Quammen is one of the greatest writers of the natural world. He brings out his experiences, and the science of things so eloquently and entertainingly. You'll finish The Boilerplate Rhino - which is really a collection of 25 of his best column articles from Outside magazine - in a few sittings .
Quammen's nose for news keeps him on his toes in discovering the reality of the natural world. He won't rest till he's seen or investigated or read up tremendously (Quammen is immensely well read) on a subject he gets a little keen on. THAT is what keeps the reader hooked onto his writings, experiencing an involvement, thereby taking yet another step into the beautiful world we still know so little about.
You will enjoy The Boilerplate Rhino as Quammen takes you on his journeys into places as far out as the Sundas to as intimate as your very own backyard.

Reading Quammen is like meeting a fascinating fellow in a bar who is really smart, tells great stories and is fun to listen to. Quammen's area of storytelling is the world of nature, from ants to rhinos. Some nature books are heavy slogging (EOWilson's "Consilience" comes immediately to mind) but Quammen writes page-turners. The chapters in the book appeared earlier as columns in Outside magazine.