List of unusual animal anecdotes
I’ve been working on that for the last month or so with the help of my wonderful intern. And I think there might just be an awesome book there. Almost every single one of those sources in the article comes from books in my library or articles I tracked down.
I’m not sure it’s even possible to comprehend the spectacle that is 260 fighting lions, or a dying elephant flinging legionaries into the air like rag dolls and watching their shields fall in perfect symmetry. Or, what it would feel like to repel into Harlem apartment and find yourself face to face with a 400 pound Bengal tiger and an alligator the size of a 4th grader. My little puppy regularly shocks me with her cuteness and creativity, so I can only begin to imagine a private white elephants, baby tigers and okapis. We talk about violent breeds of dogs, but just a century and a half ago, kings had lions as house pets. The Romans, despite their violence, seem to have understood this much better than us. There is something there that is very surreal, deeply biological and awe-inspiring that has never quite been captured in text aside from rare glimpses and passages.
If it’s something that interests you, it’s there for you to edit or add to. It still has a long way to go but hopefully it sticks around. And if you get a chance, read Pliny’s Natural History – it’s stunning.
I agree about the prospect of a book for all those interesting anecdotes. Typically you see things like that on the end of the aisle or by the check out counter in a Barnes and Noble or even Target. I often see animal-related stuff published with an inspirational theme, so perhaps you could go with something like ‘persistence’ or ‘dedication in the face of adversity’ or something like that. Good work, Ryan.
Maybe I’m a little dense, but what purpose does devoting so much time to a project like that have besides the sake of the project itself?
Not dense at all. I never implied it was done for any other reason. I did it because I wanted to. We’ll see if anything comes of it.
Good for you for dedicating so much time to something you genuinely find interesting; a lot of people talk and write about the role of Web 2.0 in the emergence of prosumers, but you really practice what you preach.
Have you seen Tyler Cowen’s post asking for ‘What is your dream book?’ — http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2008/08/what-is-your-dr.html
Seriously, you have an intern?
“Not dense at all. I never implied it was done for any other reason. I did it because I wanted to. We’ll see if anything comes of it.”
I would say he’s dense for insinuating anything else in the first place. Even if it had been done completely and solely for fun, to keep your intern busy, or whatever, what is he asking? Does he not understand what Wikipedia is? Or does he not understand what a cool collection of information that is? (not to mention how awesome that book could be)
That was an awesome read, if you guys need any help with a similar project I’ll have nothing but time.
Hey man, don’t know if you read this blog, but here here is a list of the best science books that they put up
http://cosmicvariance.com/2008/08/29/the-thousand-best-popular-science-books/
That’s really cool man.
Well done.