Just in time for the Christmas trade, the perfect gift for the sort of animal fanciers who go to any and every zoo they can reach. In it, the author discusses zoo history, reports her recent observations of public animal collections in England, all over the U.S., Australia, Russia, Japan, and some interesting private collections, too. The author's personal journalism is a regular feature of the New Yorker, where much of this book first appeared and the pleasant conversational style carries a lot of information most easily: the various methods of animal display, zoo architecture, their research programs, the backgrounds and special concerns of zoo directors, the acquisition and care of the rarer animals as well as the zoo crowd pleasers. There is no better current book for general readers and 34 pictures are promised, although more pictures and a higher price would have been reasonable. Zoos are attracting the leisure time of increasing numbers of people according to the gate counts reported here and any trip to the zoo will be enhanced by a trip through this book first.

For the sort of animal fanciers who go to any and every zoo they can reach--zoo history and first-hand observations ranging all over the U.S., Australia, Russia and Japan. Much of this appeared first in the New Yorker but it's not parochial; the pleasant conversational style carries a lot of information most easily--the various methods of animal display, zoo architecture, their research programs, the backgrounds and special concerns of zoo directors, the acquisition and care of the rarer animals as well as of the crowd pleasers. There is no better current book for the general reader.