Customer Reviews

Elephant Memories: Thirteen Years in the Life of an Elephant Family

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Moss' "Elephant Memories" provides intimate detail of her experiences with Amboseli's elephant herd in the 1970's-early '80s. Some of the material is dated as she has since learned new truths and details of elephant behaviors since this book was first published. One example was the discussion of the twin calves: Equninox and Eclipse. Moss was wondering if these male and female calves would be free-martens like cattle twins and unable to reproduce. Well, since those early days, the female has since matured and has had a calf. So the free-marten theory was disproved. But it was interesting to ponder. Basically, the story follows the lives of four closely related family groups--the "T" familes. In her research, she names most of the family members in one family starting with the same letter. So most of the "T" family members names start with the letter "T". I found the book to be entertaining, an elephant saga, yet informative, also. Moss teaches yet inspires empathy for these magnificent creatures. The celebration of elephant births and sorrow of their deaths with the continuation of their daily hardships--drought, killings, hunger and human encroachment are discussed in easy to read detail. "Elephant Memories" is part elephant soap opera and part Moss' speculations regarding her dealings with these pachyderms. There are two separate inserts of photos--one section is in black and white, the other is in color. For anyone who follows Moss' books and videos, it is a must to read this book. It shows photos of elephant's when she first started taking their photos up to the 13 years she researched them before publishing the book. It is interesting to see the "before" and "after" pictures of some of the younger elephants who then grew up. "Elephant Memories" is a great read. I've gotten a lot of detail in my own quest for elephant information by reading this book.

This is an excellent book. At first, the book seems confusing as the author continuously refers to the individual elephants on a first name basis when one has no idea of who these "people" are. As the names become more familiar and the individual stories develop, the strange names develop into a wonderful, although at times anthropomorphic story on the natural history of these gentle animals. As she warns us, the author takes the liberty of adding unwitnessed, fictional pieces to most stories, which can be confusing and at times blur the objective observations that she makes with subjective, although probably real, assumptions.
But this book is not a hard core technical text, despite glimpses of it being so in the beginning. The book is about remembering the wonderful social and behavioral characteristics of individuals that make up a population. From matriarchs to lonely males, from birth to death during periods of drought or at the hands of Masai warriors, this book gives a comprehensive insight into relevant issues affecting the survival of the African elephant. The author comes across as a human being, with emotions that go beyond the hard-core science. Although her prose is dry at times, this book is very enjoyable and opens a magnificent window into the world of the Amboseli elephants.

This is a wonderful book. Cynthia Moss takes the reader deep into the intricate social lives of Africa elephans in Amboseli National Park (Kenya), and leaves a profound impression. How very sensitive these animals are, and how endearing. It is entirely clear how these creatures have suffered at the hands of humans, but also nobody can read this book and not feel the urge to conserve this fantastic species. Also it may inspire some to travel to Amboseli to see the elephants 'in person' - an experience that you will never forget!

Cynthia Moss spent thirteen years in Amboseli National Reserve studying the elephants there. This book is the culmination of her work. Cynthia writes about the elephants as if they were her friends or her family. She is obviously as attached to them as one gets attached to a pet cat or dog.

Cynthia keeps family trees of the Amboseli elephants - noting births, deaths, etc. The names of members is the same family all begin with the same letter. That makes it very easy to keep track of each family as you are reading the book. Cynthia talks about the death of one of the elephants as if it were a part of her family.

That was a very sad section of this book. Ok, I admit it, I cried. Cynthia shows how the elephants care about each other just as humans do. They are sad, just like we are, when a family member dies.

In Elephant Memories, you get to learn about the everyday activities of the elephants, how they play, eat, drink, mate. You learn what the elephants do during the dry and rainy seasons, what they do to survive a drought.

A nice thing about the book is the chapters are written in such a manner that you could simply pick any chapter, read it, and still get a lot out of it. Each chapter is its own story - no need to read previous chapters. If you were interested in the births of elephants, you could read just that chapter with having read the previous ones. If you are at all interested in elephants, definitely read this book.

I was fascinated and then awed by the enormous task taken on by Cynthia Moss. What an amazing life she's had. To be able to track, put in family groups and study the behavior of African elephants is wonderful for the world to see how important these animals are. Our knowledge would have been still in the dark ages without people like her and others (Joyce Poole) who dedicate their life for these magnificent animals. I'm sure Echo and others regard her as one of them.

Moss takes you on an incredible journey into the lives of African elephants and allows you to take a bird's eye view of the research she has done. The book, while captivating, can seem a little discombobulated to some, however. The book divides itself into the different years Moss is writing about, each chapter being a different year. This set up, however, is a bit confusing as the chapters do not limit themselves to that particular year, but instead discussed a myriad of years all while focusing on a particular topic. That said, you do see progression in the timeline as the book reads on.

The only downside I saw to this book was the fictional retelling of circumstances that she was not witness to. She describes the deaths of a few elephants as well as some mishaps involving the elephants in near poetic detail, though she never actually saw what happened, or she only witnessed the very end of the circumstance. She does not note where the fictionalization begins, and you only understand what parts are ficionalized after reading on and seeing where she says "I don't know what happened." These are merely assumptions made on the part of the author and though they could have very real merit, it can hurt the integrity of the book when read by someone who is looking for a purely factual account of African elephants. While Moss does warn that she does make assumptions, it would have been better if she noted right before each fictionalized story that it was an assumption. That said, the stories do involve true elephant behavior and shows the audience how elephants may react in certain situations.

There is an incredible amount of insight in this book. You become attached to certain elephants, feel joy over new births, celebrate victory over hardship, and mourn the deaths of these creatures. It teaches the reader about their behaviors, environment, and most of all, the conservation of these majestic animals.

I have only started reading "Elephant Memories: Thirteen Years in the Life of an Elephant Family", but have enjoyed what I have read so far. A very good read.

My daughter, who is 9 years old and a huge elephant fan, loves this book! It was delivered in good shape. We are reading it together and are really enjoying the saga of this elephant family.

This is the Elephant book I've been waiting for! I love Elephants and have read several books about these magnificent animals. However, most books either focus on Elephants in human history (Elephant Destiny is a good book for this), photographs (such as Karl Ammann's recent Elephant Reflections), or the memoirs of conservation biologists who study Elephants (The Elephant's Secret Sense: The Hidden Life of the Wild Herds of Africa unfortunately fell into this category). Cynthia Moss' Elephant Memories: Thirteen Years in the Life of an Elephant Family is different - it is 100% about Elephants, their lives, their struggles, and personalities. Aside from some essential context about her research, Moss removes herself from the narrative and tells the story of the Elephant families in Amboseli National Park, Kenya.

While we know Elephants are intelligent and can communicate, we can't speak to them directly to learn about their lives. However, Cynthia Moss comes extremely close. She provides an account of Elephant life in the same way a sociologist might depict a lost human tribe. Moss gives each Elephant a name and describes his or her personality. At the beginning of the book, Moss includes a family tree of the Elephants in the book. Each chapter covers a separate topic ("Migration," "Mating," etc.). At the end of the chapter, Moss includes a list of the family members whom she discussed during that chapter so readers can follow who survived. By the end, the reader will come to know some Elephants particularly well, the "TC" and "TD" family, including Teresia and Slit Ear.

If Cynthia Moss is still writing on Elephants, I would love to see if she has any updates about the Amboseli Elephants. This particular book ends in the late 1980s, with a 1999 afterward. This is informative, but with increased tourism in Amboseli and global warming (which is melting the glaciers on Mt. Kilimanjaro) within the past decade, I worry that the Elephants will face future threats.

I've written hundreds of reviews for Amazon, and I don't think I've ever said this about a book, but I think Elephant Memories deserves 6 stars. It presents years of important scientific to the general public in an original, well-written, and light-hearted manner. Moss never dumbs down the science, but rather shows how it helps us understand these animals better.

If you like this book, you should definitely watch Echo and Other Elephants, a documentary hosted by David Attenborough and starring Cynthia Moss and her Elephants at Amboseli. Wildlife Wars: My Fight to Save Africa's Natural Treasures, a book by former Kenya Wildlife Services Director Richard Leaky, is also a good book to read since it discusses the Kenyan government's policies to protect Elephants and includes some of people Cynthia Moss worked with in Amboseli.

If you love this book, I highly recommend a trip to Amboseli National Park in Kenya. I visited recently and was able to get very close to these Elephants (see my pictures of them at http://web.mac.com/freedom4/Doms_Travel_Site/Africa/Pages/Amboseli_%28Kenya%29.html). Just make sure to read Elephant Memories before you go.

IT IS AMAZING TO ME THAT MAN DOESNT KNOW OR CHOOSES NOT TO ACKNOWLEDGE HOW INTELLEGENT AND WONDERFUL THESE BEAUTIFUL CREATURES OF GOD ARE AND THIS BOOK MAKES IT REAL CLEAR.