Elephantoms: Tracking the Elephant - Softcover

Watson, Lyall

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393324591 ISBN 13: 9780393324594

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2003

Synopsis

A scientific safari and personal memoir celebrating the enigmatic dignity of the world's largest land animal. As a child in South Africa, spending summers exploring the wild with his boyhood friends, Lyall Watson came face to face with his first elephant. This "entertaining and enchanting" work (Washington Post Book World) chronicles how Watson's fascination grew into a lifelong quest to understand the nature and behavior of this impressive creature. From that moment on, Watson's fascination grew into a lifelong obsession with understanding the nature and behavior of this impressive creature. Around the world, the elephant? at once a symbol of spiritual power and physical endurance? has been worshipped as a god and hunted for sport. "Watson's insights and speculations are dazzling, but what lends them power is his extraordinary knowledge of evolutionary biology and animal behavior, ethnography and South African history" (Wade Davis, National Geographic Society). "Like a shaman, Watson conjures up the spirit of the massive beast" (Publishers Weekly), documents the animal's wide-ranging capabilities to remember and to mourn, and reminds us of its rich mythic origins, its evolution, and its devastation in recent history. Part meditation on an elusive animal, part evocation of the power of place, Elephantoms presents an alluring mix of the mysteries of nature and the wonders of childhood. Line drawings

About this title

Review

"An absorbing, beautifully written memoir focusing on one of the most amazing animals that has ever lived."

"This compelling book is filled with warmth, wisdom and depth.... I could not imagine a better introduction to these mysterious and wondrous creatures than this fine and loving book."

This compelling book is filled with warmth, wisdom and depth.... I could not imagine a better introduction to these mysterious and wondrous creatures, than this fine and loving book. --Jeffrey Masson, author of When Elephants Weep"

An absorbing, beautifully written memoir focusing on one of the most amazing animals that has ever lived. --Desmond Morris, author of The Naked Ape"

Elephantoms is above all a celebration of scientific and intuitive wonder, a work of mystery and delight. --Wade Davis, author of One River"

Much more evocatively than any zoologist has ever managed, Watson makes the elephant a force of nature... "

[R]econnects us to something old and fundamental inside ourselves: a wordless brotherhood with the nonhuman, a lost intuitive understanding. "

[P]rovides a wonderful overview of creatures that remember, mourn, and even draw pictures. "

Watson is at his peak literary style....impressive. --B. A. Brittingham"

Readers need not share Watson's level of fascination to find this book interesting....entertaining and enchanting. --Stephen Mihm"

Synopsis

As a child in South Africa, spending summers exploring the wild with his boyhood friends, Lyall Watson came face to face with his first elephant. This work chronicles how his fascination grew into a lifelong quest to understand the nature and behaviour of this impressive creature.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0393324591
• ISBN 13: 9780393324594
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 264