| Zoo: The Story of London Zoo | 
 enlarge | Author: J Barrington-johnson
Publisher: Robert Hale Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £15.99
Buy New: £8.29
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Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 396725
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.6 x 7.4 x 0.6
ISBN: 0709073720
Dewey Decimal Number: 590.73421
EAN: 9780709073727
ASIN: 0709073720
Publication Date: January 31, 2005
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New. Shipped from UK Mainland. Delivery is usually 2 - 3 working days from order by Royal Mail, International Delivery is by Airmail.
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| Customer Reviews:
Could be better August 6, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
A better title for this book would probably be 'The Development of London Zoo'. The main angle of its approach is how the zoo was built up from its early beginnings as an animal display to the nucleus of a vast conservation organisation that it is today, with particular focus on the development of buildings and of finance.
For me this was the wrong approach to take. I would have preferred greater emphasis on the animals within the zoo and the development of conservation initiatives implemented. More detail of the ways the animals were kept and the success of breeding programmes would, I think, have been of greater interest.
One aspect of the book which I was impressed by was the attention given to various zoo personalities. There are many excellent anecdotes about individual animals as well as proper coverage given of the major human contributors to the zoos progress without whom the zoo may never have become what it was.
One drawback is that although the book is written chronologically the author skips between dates very frequently so it is easy to get confused about what period of the zoos history he is referring to. It is difficult to write the stories of individual structural developments without this but it could have been improved by better editing or placing less attention on buildings.
Another disappointment is the reluctance to confront difficult issues. There is very little coverage of the unsuitable conditions the animals were kept in in early years, and none at all on the question of the zoos long-lasting use of wild-caught animals - a highly controversial matter. It would have been nice to see these issues addressed rather than being deflected with the claim (albeit an fair one) that the zoo was covering new ground and had to learn from its mistakes.
This is a good book and does give a concise history of the zoo in a suitably sized volume. However I believe it could have been more interesting had t been approached from a slightly different angle. If you have an interest in the history of animals in captivity you'll probably like this. But if you're looking for a book on conservation efforts in zoos look elsewhere.
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