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Books That Influenced Me The Most

Discussion in 'TV, Movies, Books about Zoos & Wildlife' started by gentle lemur, 27 Apr 2017.

  1. Pertinax

    Pertinax Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    The interesting thing is that when I first read it( I still have it) as probably a teenager, I was immediately sceptical of many of the claims, though a few examples like the Atlas Bear for example, did seem more plausible. My views have not changed that much.
     
  2. Jurek7

    Jurek7 Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    On the Track of Unknown Animals :) I liked that book. But 60 years later, none of animals in Heuvelmans book turned to exist, and all actually discovered new animals were not in that book. In the last 10 years, cameras in mobile phones killed the possibility of seeing an unknown animal and not providing a photo proof.

    Jeremy Cherfas, Zoo2000.
    https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-2000-Look-Beyond-Bars/dp/0563202815
    It was the only book about zoos in the local library, and first hint that zoos are something to be interested in. Although at that time I could not quite understand the difference between originality of animals and nature and fakeness of zoo exhibits.

    Robert Mash: How to Keep Dinosaurs
    https://www.amazon.com/How-Keep-Dinosaurs-Robert-Mash/dp/0297843478
    It would fit perfectly the 'fantasy zoo' threads. However, it is satire, not zoology. All dinosaurs are completely unsuitable as pets or livestock. Most of the books humor is description of complicated ways to make dinosaurs semi-manageable and disasters falling on would-be keepers: from geeks to publicity-hunting celebrities.

    All Yesterdays, Unique and Speculative Views of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals by John Conway, C. M. Kosemen and Darren Naish.
    https://www.amazon.com/All-Yesterdays-Speculative-Dinosaurs-Prehistoric-ebook/dp/B00A2VS55O
    For the contrast, science-based imagination: dinosaurs like imagined in the 2010s, not in Spielberg movies.
     
  3. Pertinax

    Pertinax Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    That's true- none of the featured animals in the book have since been proved to exist, while none of the species new to science that have been discovered were mentioned either...