Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law

I got this book from my local library as a recommendation "in the style of" one of my favorites, Bill Bryson. Unfortunately Bryson's chief subjects - travel, the English language, and cultural history - are more in line with my own interests than Mary Roach's scientific subjects. I chose this book assuming it would be full of strange, off-the-wall encounters with animals, Cocaine Bear-style. What I got was just as violent but far more troubling. I know much more now about the "humane" killing or culling of animals than I ever wanted to. It was interesting, and even informative, but ultimately, it became a bit depressing. I probably wouldn't rush to read another of Roach's books, but I might recommend her to someone who's more into science.

I had not read Mary Roach in a few years, so I was delighted that her new book dealt with nature colliding with humanity. A subject that fascinates and horrifies me. There is her usual humor here but she mostly takes an informative dive into many areas, where animals and even trees, cross deadly paths with people. She covers bears, mountain lions, deer, elephants, albatross, macaques and mice. She also offers some solutions, for a better co-existence with this wildlife. A good, solid read and Roach does a fine job narrating the audiobook.

Most of what you expect to get from a Mary Roach book is here: a curious person investigating areas they don't know much about, conversations with experts in areas it perhaps had not previously occurred to you there would be experts in, and lots of engaging/funny anecdotes you will want to repeat to those around you.

That said, a lot of what humans do in the name of animal control is just depressing, and some of that wore on me after a while. Also, this felt less structured than Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, still my favorite book of hers that I've read, and I sometimes wondered where we were going and why.

Mary Roach investigates human-animal interactions of all kinds, from bears breaking into houses in Aspen, Colorado to Macaques stealing food in Delhi to gulls destroying the Pope’s flowers to the attempted eradication of invasive species in New Zealand.

It’s been awhile since I’ve read a Mary Roach book. Her writing is just as funny as ever, and her footnotes just as long. I love the way she leaves no question unanswered, even if it’s completely irrelevant to what she was just investigating. She’s a much more human-focused writer than many authors who write about animals, so she brought a bit of a new perspective, but also might leave a little to be desired for readers who are really into animals. I enjoyed how she pushes back show more against the usual western ideas that we should control all of nature (for example, many people believe that farmers should keep birds away from their plants because the birds will eat all of the crops, but investigations have shown that birds eat so many insects and rodents that they actually save more crops than they eat). I would say it’s a quick enjoyable read (boy does she know how to lead from one chapter to another) but not groundbreaking. show less

I really enjoy Mary Roach's work -- not so much because of her humor, although there were definitely some funny moments in this book, but because of her ability to explain big scientific problems and current work in a way that I find easy to understand.

This is kind of a tough book, in the sense that it is about the deaths of animals, often on a horrifically large scale, which I find distressing. What I appreciated about it is that it is equally a book about trying to find alternatives to the deaths of animals, and particularly a book that illustrates the utter futility of trying to exterminate "pests", as it has been proven ineffective over and over again. I love the way Roach brings history into the narrative, and the way she links it show more to current science and concerns. I was really excited about the portion of the book on New Zealand, as I have often wondered if there was a better solution to the mass poisoning of forests that they practice in order to try and preserve their native species.

Fascinating.

Advanced Readers's Copy provided by Edelweiss. show less

This is my third Mary Roach book. I don’t think there is a dud in the stable. She writes like the journalist she is but in a completely entertaining way. Her style is funny and very conversational. As a reader you get the feeling early on that you somehow know her. And don’t let her levity fool you. She’s among the best science writers out there. This book filled my head with all kinds of useless yet fun information about how humans get along with (or don’t) animals of all kinds. Maybe the most disgusting story Roach told was of her friend who picked up a discarded water bottle from the floor of her truck after a particularly dehydrating run. After noticing an unusual taste, the friend realized there was a decomposing mouse in show more what was left of the water. A call to an on-demand nurse told her she probably didn’t have to worry about disease (she didn’t swallow), but she might need a shrink. That story was one Roach told to illustrate how small an opening a mouse can get through. A mere listing of the dimensions of the opening isn’t good enough for Mary Roach. No, she has to come up with the grossest story she can dig up to make her point. That’s what makes her so good. I actually enjoyed “Stiff” more than this book, but I recommend “Fuzz” to anyone who wonders about how we’ve managed to live with these creatures for so long. show less

The subtitle here is more gimmicky than accurate. Obviously it's not about nature "breaking the law," because that's an inherently ridiculous concept. What it is about is the ways in which humans and animals (or, sometimes, plants) come into conflict with each other, and the ways in which humans respond to those conflicts.

My initial impression of this one is that, while it was readable and interesting enough, certainly, it wasn't nearly as entertaining as many of Mary Roach's earlier books. After a while, I realized that at least part of the problem was that even someone who once made reading about corpses an oddly enjoyable experience, couldn't (and, let's face it, probably shouldn't) do the same for stories about people getting mauled show more by bears or children being killed by leopards. After the first few chapters, though, she turns to some slightly less somber topics -- monkeys stealing things, seagulls vandalizing the Pope's flowers, weird tactics for scaring birds -- and things get rather more fun, especially Roach's trademark weird, hilarious footnotes. Well, mostly it gets more fun, anyway. The chapter about research into humane forms of pest control, perhaps ironically, is quite distressing.

Rating: I wavered just a little on this, but even when she's writing about things that are genuinely disturbing (as opposed to just kind of gross), Mary Roach is always worth reading. show less