Spineless Wonders: Strange Tales From the Invertebrate World by Richard Coniff (Henry Holt) is a marvelous book in which the author goes on about his subject with the enthusiasm and zeal of a convert--which he is. He only became enamored of the creatures after leaving his job as a journalist. Coniff dares the normal reader to resist the allure of this unusal universe, one that is perfect for lovers of nature and lovers of horror alike. In his introduction he says, "Formification is the feeling that ants and other creeping things are crawling over one's flesh. Much as we crave the thrill of horror movies ("bug" and "bogeyman" come from the same Welsh word, meaning "ghosts") so too, does good natural history writing give us the chance, vicariously, and often covertly, to find pleasure in this sensation." So you can read about flies, leeches (there's a man who so loves leeches that he started to farm them for medicinal use, creating a booming business), the giant squid, fire ants, and all manner of spineless creatures. Marvelously entertaining.
The Book of the Spider by Paul Hillyard (Random House) concentrates on all kinds of spiders. The interesting things to note are that spiders are among the most feared creatures and that they are all venomous (that's how they paralyze their prey), although relatively few are harmful to humans. An exception is the brown recluse, whose bite literally eats away at the skin, sometimes resulting in gangrene. There's a true, horrific story in the book about a housewife outside of L.A. who was bitten and suffered an extreme allergic reaction, first developing toxic shock syndrome and then falling into a coma. But most of the time, the book extolls the spider, teaching the reader how to love and appreciate --and even eat-- these creatures. (The blue-legged tarantula of Laos is supposed to be especially tasty--recipe included).
The Earth Dwellers: Adventures in the Land of Ants by Erich Hoyt (Simon & Schuster) is an in-depth look at the dramatic life of the ant. Hoyt accompanies field biologists Edward O.Wilson and William L. Brown, Jr., to the tropical jungle of Costa Rica to study different kinds of ants from birth to death. Not only does he study ant society, but perhaps more fascinating, the lives of individual ants as they scout, forage, fight wars, and sacrifice themselves for their queens. More detail and heavier going than the other books here, but fascinating.
Backyard Bugs text and photographs by Robin Kittrell Laughlin with a foreword by Sue Hubbell (Chronicle Books) is another wonderful book about bugs. In this one Laughlin, who has been interested in bugs since she was a child, decided to start photographing those she found in and around her home outside of Sante Fe, New Mexico. Friends from around the United States began to send her interesting bugs for her project and she eventually ended up with the 40 bugs in the book. The bug models are the center of attention on their white backgrounds. Laughlin describes how she came to photograph each bug (and tells how she released them all after they did their duty for her). A beautful, witty little companion volume to the above.
The Beauty of the Beastly by Natalie Angier (A Peter Davison Book/Houghton Mifflin) is by an award-winning science writer who grew up terrified of roaches. Now, in what can only be termed a testament to her growth, she demonstrates that she can offer these lowliest of creatures, if not love, at least a nod of respect. Her book is a collection of short, lively essays about the intimate lives of different beasties, a new theory of menstruation, why veggies are good for you, and other topics. According to her research, scorpions fully deserve their rotten reputation--"They're nasty and they're not afraid of anybody...strange lives, violent nights, and brutal loves"--hyenas not only possess unusual sexual organs but their behavior completely contradicts certain assumptions researchers have made about the effect of testosterone on aggressive behavior.
The Compleat Cockroach by David George Gordon (The Speed Press) is a book containing everything you ever wanted to know about the world's most universally despised creatures: their life cycle, the different types, how they mate, how they taste, their habits, and the best ways to rid your abode of them. Also, cockroaches in literature, in theater, and in the movies. Suitably illustrated.
The Devil's Mischief: In Which His Own Story is Told in Words and Pictures by Ed Marquand (Abbeville) is a clever celebration of the devil in all his cleverness rather than his uglier aspects. Abundant art, quotes, excerpts, and entire stories from such as Mark Twain, Charles Baudelaire, Vladimir Nabokov, William Thackeray, Billy Graham, and Mikhail Bulgakov.
The Devil: A Visual Guide to the Demonic, Evil, Scurrilous, and Bad by Genevieve Morgan and Tom Morgan (Chronicle Books). What's the first thing I saw when I opened this attractive volume? A photograph of one of William Wegman's weimaraners dressed in a red devil costume. Gorgeously designed, with an abundance of unusual illustration, the book begins with the origin of hell and follows the development of the Devil from an historical perspective; there's a chapter defining and describing all the types of demons and subcreatures; a guide to demons from all over the world; superstitions about the devil, and more. Highly recommended.
The Devil by Peter Stanford (Henry Holt) explores the history of what is now considered the mostly Christian view of the Devil. His book and the next book are interesting and useful reading on the subject.
A History of the Devil by Gerald Messadie' (Kodansha) researches the genealogy of the devil among the world's major civilizations. His conclusion: "We live under the sign of a nonexistent deity cobbled together twenty-six centuries ago by power-hungry Iranian Priests."
The Book of Dragons and Fabulous Beasts by Violet Wharton (credited only on copyright page) from Prospero's Library (Chronicle Books) is a charming and colorful little item with drawings and fine art in miniature and concise explanations of the minotaur, Chinese dragons, the kraken, the roc, etc. Great little gift book.
Even Weirder by Gahan Wilson (Forge) is a collection of the cartoonist's most recent grotesqueries. For lovers of the macabre.
Freak Show: Sideshow Banner Art by Carl Hammer and Gideon Bosker (Chronicle Books) is another marvelously packaged book by the press that has revolutionized book packaging (since its surprise bestseller, Griffin and Sabine). A pictoral and text history of the art of sideshow banners, those gaudy, sometimes creepy visual come-ons created to get the rubes in to see various freaks of nature in circuses and carnivals. A great American art form that's died along with the sideshow.
Torture Garden: A Photographic Archive of the New Flesh From Bodyshocks to Cybersex edited by David Wood (Creation Books) is a lot less interesting than it sounds, although the cover photograph of a red-haired woman in bondage gear with exposed breasts and lots of thingies in her nose is quite striking. Torture Garden is a London fetish club that opened in 1990. The book is a large-format trade paperback with lots of photographs of people dressed up as if for a sexual Halloween party. The more interesting photographs are the close-up portraits of people with odd piercings (I mean like spikes in their facial cheeks and bones through their noses) by Alan Sivroni. Some of the stuff looks faked--at least I hope so, particularly the guy whose face seems to be skinned with its muscles exposed. I don't believe someone would survive that very long without infection setting in. Interesting quotes throughout about the body, the new flesh, sexuality, and so on.
Infamous Manhattan: A Colorful Walking History of New York's Most Notorious Crime Sites by Andrew Roth (Citadel Press) is perfect for the native or tourist who wants to stroll down the avenues with a sense of the criminal history of each location. Listings and brief descriptions of restaurants and bars where mob hits have taken place, the bar on which Looking for Mr. Goodbar is based, the bar where Jennifer Levin was picked up by her murderer, Robert Chambers, and more. Informative and fun--even if you'd don't want to visit New York City.
Amok Journal Sensurround Edition: A Compendium of Psycho-Physiological Investigation edited by Stuart Swezey (Amok). Eight outre' chapters covering subjects from autoerotic fatalities to self-trepanation (drilling a hole in your skull as a means to a permanent "high") and self-mutilation to amputee fetish. The subjects are covered in a serious but nonacademic manner with case histories, texts by experts, and occasional testimony or interviews with the participants. (Apparently, though, there are few survivors of repeated autoeroticism via hangings and other dangerous practices.) Also, an interview with Gualtiero Jacopetti, the maker of the documentary, Mondo Cane. Fascinating, often disturbing reading and photography.
Thirteen by Jonathan Cott (Doubleday) examines the number 13--the superstitions revolving around it, the famous people obsessed with it (Schoenberg). One of the more interesting chapters involves the Philadelphia Friday the Thirteenth Club, founded in 1936; when its thirteen members meet, they torment the superstitious and the phobic by publicly walking under ladders, breaking mirrors, and more. Entertaining.
Medical Blunders by Robert Youngson and Ian Schott (Robinson) sounds like it should be filled with tales of scalpels left in patients' stomachs, wrong teeth pulled, and so on--one-time screw-ups. Yet that's not exactly what it is about: The book is more concerned with "quacks" and medical tragedies of massive proportion throughout history--for example, the Greek physician Galen decided that bloodletting was a great method of healing. He had no knowledge of anatomy because at the time no one was allowed to dissect human corpses. His mistaken belief killed thousands of people for centuries. A depressing but informative chapter on Walter Freeman's enthusiastic embrace of lobotomy as the cure for far too many mental problems, human experimentation, etc. These are ongoing, deliberate actions based on outrageous ignorance rather than "accidents," which is how I would define a "blunder."
The Customized Body by Ted Polhemus and Housk Randall (Serpent's Tale) continues where Modern Primitives (Re/Search) left off. Divided into chapters on body painting and make-up, piercing, tattooing, hair and nails, shoes and feet, masks, body modification, and gender transformation, the engrossing commentary and photography by Polhemus and Randall, respectively, draw the reader/viewer into a world theoretically accessible to anyone (that is, if you don't want a 9 to 5 job). The piercings go way beyond mere nipple and genital piercings--here are people with sticks and spikes stuck into their noses, their cheeks, their lips, with plugs in their ears, and many earrings or studs. Then there's Pearl, a man who has, by corsetting himself for four years, reduced his waist from 30 to 17 inches. He can only use the top half of his lungs to breathe, enabling him to speak little above a whisper; to obtain nourishment, he must eat small amounts of food at frequent intervals. His obsession can be traced, in part, to his grandmother. He enjoyed helping her lace up her corsets, he says, and dressing up in her clothes. A fascinating read.
La Jeteé by Chris Marker (Zone Books) presents the photographs used to create the revered 22-minute experimental film made in 1962. The basis for the recent feature film, Twelve Monkeys, La Jeteé was produced, frame by frame, with still photography; there was just one tiny movement within the entire film. I saw it recently and found it pretentious, the antithesis of good filmmaking, though an interesting experiment. Perhaps not so surprisingly, the book is far more successful--the still images work. Check it out to see what all the fuss was about.
America's Strangest Museums: A Traveler's Guide by Sandra Gurvis (Citadel Press) is a terrific guide for travelers bored with the usual, organized state by state. My only complaint is the use of terrible puns. Check out the Nut Museum, for which a nut is part of the price of admission and the exhibits often get stolen by chipmunks and squirrels; the Crayola Hall of Fame, which honors those colors recently taken out of commission; and the Mütter Museum, exhibiting anatomical abnormalities (this facility has discontinued its marvelous calendars as "presenting the wrong image," according to the executive director of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, owner of the museum--spoilsport!)
Paris out of Hand by Karen Elizabeth Gordon (author of The Transitive Vampire) in collaboration with Barbara Hodgson and Nick Bantock, creates a very weird and amusing fake guide to Paris. Take your dog to the Patte à la Main (Paw in Hand) for a snack and learn the French for "My Airedale is foaming at the mouth. What did you put in his ragout?" A beautiful little gift for your favorite traveler.
Copyright (C) 1997 by Omni Publications International, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.