Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Book Learning #29


Rats. Observations on the history and habitat of the city's most unwanted inhabitants. By Robert Sullivan.

A fascinating read. Not just the rats themsleves but an unsavory history of the city we live in, of how rats affect our daily lives and how we affect theirs. Sullivan goes in for some cool history of the sanitation dept and living conditions on some of the tougher neighborhoods. He also hangs out with a lot of pest control folk. All good stuff.
My favourite bits were the comparisons of Brooklyn and Manhattan rats (Brooklyn ones are generally more chilled out) and the list of rat foods (they love mac n' cheese). Also some good myth busting- there are not as many rats as there are people.
All in all, not bad. I still hate the fuckers though.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I read this, too. But more out of love of rats rather than hatred. It only made my love grow and blossom.