The Man Who Ate the Zoo

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AlivelyandfascinatingbiographyofFrankBuckland,'theforgottenmanofVictorianscience',surgeon,naturalhistorian,bestsellingwriterandearlyconservationist-aneccentricgiantofhistimeFrankBucklandwasanextraordinaryman-asurgeon,anaturalhistorian,asell-outlecturer,abestsellingwriter,amuseumcurator...andaconservationist,beforetheconceptevenexisted.Eccentric,revolutionary,popular,prolific,hewasoneofthenineteenthcentury'sauthenticgeniuses.Hewasobsessedbyfoodsecurityandfindingwaystofeedthehungry(thebookrecountshismanyunusualexperiments),andbyprotectingourfisheries(hecanbecreditedwithsavingBritishfishfromcommercialextinction).Hewasoneofthemostoriginal,far-sightedandinfluentialnaturalscientistsofhistime,heldashighinpublicesteemasCharlesDarwin.
TheManWhoAtetheZooisnoconventionalbiography,butratherajourneybackintoBuckland'slife,ahuntforthisforgottenman.ItsetsBuckland'sthinkingandachievementsinaroundedhistoricalcontext,butviewsthisVictorianadventurerfromamodernviewpoint.Itisbotharollickingyarn-engaging,funnyandprovocative-andacelebrationofthegreatageofnaturalscience,oneman'sgeniusandwhat,evennow,canbelearnedfromhim.