- Hardcover: 240 pages
- Publisher: Lyons Press; 1 edition (Oct 5 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1599219425
- ISBN-13: 978-1599219424
- Product Dimensions: 19.9 x 15.3 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 399 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #527,267 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
Review
"In this delightful book, the Crocodile Hunter meets James Herriot for an engaging look at the trials and tribulations of being a veterinarian in South Africa. Aronson’s . . . collection of stories is totally entertaining, and his deep commitment to wildlife and conservation comes through clearly. Readers will enjoy venturing into the African bush with Aronson but will be grateful to do so from the safety of their lounge chairs. . . . This fascinating book is hard to put down; it will be enjoyed by a wide variety of readers of many ages."
—Library Journal (starred review)
Product Description
The heart-wrenching and adventure-filled stories of a South African wild animal vet and his colleagues
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Vets in the African Bush,
By
This review is from: Tales of an African Vet (Hardcover)
Reason for Reading: I enjoy travel books and although I am not an animal activist I enjoy memoirs of vets along the lines of James Herriot and Gerald Durrell. This book simply caught my attention.Roy Aronson has been a veterinarian in Cape Town, South Africa for twenty-five years and while he sees his fair share of cats and dogs, he's also had some unique African wild animals brought into his office. Plus he has friends who are vets on Wildlife Reserves and they often call him in to assist or simply to have a look-see at an interesting case and thus Aronson has led an eventful life caring for wild animals both clinically and in the bush. Each chapter of this book is a separate vignette and there is also no real chronological progression either making this an easy book to pick up, read a chapter and come back to again later. While a couple of cases take place in Aronson's practice most of the stories take place out in the African bush on wildlife reserves or the Pretoria Zoo. He also goes out to farms, specifically fish farms, both trout and koi, and an alligator farm. Each chapter was interesting telling tales of elephants, lions, hedgehogs, snakes, rhinos, cheetahs, gemsboks, and many more. Each story usually involves some sort of danger, either to the animal or the animal handlers, so there is a sense of excitement to the reflections along with the author's apparent love for animals of all species. He also spends some brief time, without preaching, on educating against needless slaughter/poaching of animals for inane reasons. For example, rhinos are still killed in the wild for their horns which are sold for tremendous amounts of money to be ground into powder to make teas which supposedly are an aphrodisiac. The author has sampled said tea and can vouch for its ineffectiveness. Through such types of education of the masses, the author feels the slaughter can be stopped. An interesting read that I really enjoyed. The author's voice was friendly and informative but was lacking an element of humour which I think would have made the book just that bit more enjoyable. He did have a sense of humour, of a sort, but if fell rather flat, leaving funny scenes without the laugh. Overall, though, an entertaining read.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews) 12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
tales of an African Vet,
By les - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Tales of an African Vet (Hardcover)
A delightful collection of short stories taking place in the coutry of my origin. I could almost smell the bush and taste the dust of Africa on my tongue. Each story stands alone but the autobiographical threat that runs through the book enables me to have a great glimps not only of African wildlife but the life of the vet that tells the stories. Well worth the time and the money. Buy it. Read it
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
I felt like I was there!!!,
By Susan Shapiro "Susan" - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Tales of an African Vet (Hardcover)
I just finished reading this amazing book. I was upset when it ended. I wanted more, more more!! Dr Aronson has an incredible way of writing a story that makes you feel you were there with him. His explanations when using medical jargon makes it easily understandable for the lay person. The stories flow beautiful. I can almost hear him telling the stories. His awe and humility come through in the stories and I felt I could identify very strongly with his feelings during each experience.As an animal lover, and avid zoo-goer, I am thrilled to have a deeper understanding of and respect for the animals, and the people who respectfully take care of them. There are so many aspects to the book which made it worth reading, a definite MUST read for any animal lover and one who wants to know more about a Vet's life. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!! 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic book!,
By Katie Kopinski - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Tales of an African Vet (Hardcover)
As someone who loves animals, I found "Tales of an African Vet" to be very inspiring. Roy Aronson's passion for his work and wildlife is clear and I enjoyed that he also taught the reader valuable information relating to his career. Aronson could have used technical descriptions, but chose to write in a way that would be easier to understand.Each chapter consists of different stories, which makes it a good book for those that don't have a whole lot of time to read during the day. However, I found it difficult to put the book down because of how well-written it is; as I read, I could imagine myself watching each story take place. This is definitely a must read! |
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
