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The Man Who Ate the Zoo
The Man Who Ate the Zoo

The Man Who Ate the Zoo

Frank Buckland, Forgotten Hero of Natural History

NATURE

400 Pages, 5.75 x 8.75

Cloth, $32.95 (US $32.95)

Publication Date: November 2016

ISBN 9781784740405

Rights: US

Penguin Random House UK (Nov 2016)
Chatto & Windus

Sorry, this item is temporarily out of stock
 

Overview

A lively and fascinating biography of Frank Buckland, "the forgotten man of Victorian science", surgeon, natural historian, bestselling writer and early conservationist – an eccentric giant of his time

Frank Buckland was an extraordinary man – surgeon, naturalist, veterinarian, popular lecturer, bestselling writer, museum curator, and a conservationist before the concept even existed.

Eccentric, revolutionary, prolific, he was one of the nineteenth century’s most improbable geniuses. His life-long passion was to discover new ways to feed the hungry. Rhinoceros, crocodile, puppy-dog, giraffe, kangaroo, bear and panther all had their chance to impress, but what finally – and, eventually, fatally – obsessed him was fish. He can justly be regarded as the godfather of fish-farming and the progenitor of marine research and fishery protection. Forgotten now, he was one of the most original, far-sighted and influential natural scientists of his time, held as high in public esteem as his great philosophical enemy, Charles Darwin.

The Man Who Ate the Zoo is both a rollicking yarn – engaging, funny and provocative – and a celebration of the great age of natural science, one man’s genius and what, even now, can be learned from him.

Reviews

"Hugely entertaining." —Jeremy Paxman


"[A] tumultuously entertaining biography . . . [An] irresistibly engaging book." —Sunday Times


"A rollicking ride through eccentric Victorian England. Frank Buckland is the most engaging of subjects . . .Girling's infectious enthusiasm for his subject shines through." —the Times


"Girling brings to rip-roaring life a fascinating Victorian figure of whom few have ever heard; I so wish I could invite Frank Buckland over for dinner." —Dave Goulson, author, A Sting in the Tale


"An irresistibly engaging account of the life of the David Attenborough of the Victorian era." —Sunday Times

Author Biography

Richard Girling is an award-winning environmental journalist. For his work in the Sunday Times he was named Specialist Writer of the Year in the UK Press Awards in 2002, and was shortlisted for the same award in 2005 and 2006. He was Journalist of the Year at the Press Gazette Environmental Press Awards in 2008 and 2009. He has written seven books - most recently, The Hunt for the Golden Mole.