The Man Who Ate the Zoo
Frank Buckland, forgotten hero of natural history
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- £9.99
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- £9.99
Publisher Description
Frank Buckland was an extraordinary man – surgeon, natural historian, popular lecturer, bestselling writer, museum curator, and a conservationist before the concept even existed.
Eccentric, revolutionary, prolific, he was one of the nineteenth century’s most improbable geniuses. His lifelong passion was to discover new ways to feed the hungry. Rhinoceros, crocodile, puppy-dog, giraffe, kangaroo, bear and panther all had their chance to impress, but what finally - and, eventually, fatally - obsessed him was fish.
Forgotten now, he was one of the most original, far-sighted and influential natural scientists of his time, held as high in public esteem as his great philosophical enemy, Charles Darwin.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Girling delivers a delightful tribute to Frank Buckland (1826 1880), an eccentric natural history pioneer in Victorian England who, despite his contributions as a popular science writer, lecturer, and curator, is now little known. Buckland's primary goal was to identify previously unused or unknown plant and animal species as new food sources for England's poor, and he carried this interest in strange foodstuffs into his personal life. He earned a reputation at school for cooking unique breakfasts for his classmates that included marmots, doves, and frogs; later in his career, he treated lecture attendees to rhinoceros pie. Buckland's scientific curiosity had no boundaries his studies extended to cobra venom, with nearly disastrous results, and an unusual postmortem to identify the cause of his father's death. His studies turned, finally, to his life's work fish. The book's detail is extraordinary, especially for an obscure historical figure, and Girling's straightforward style, peppered with humorous anecdotes, makes for lively reading. Buckland was clearly ahead of his time, identifying looming problems of pollution and overfishing. Sadly, he "died too soon" to receive the credit due to him, but this affectionate biography provides some overdue credit to a fascinating pioneer.
