Carnivorous Nights - by Margaret Mittelbach & Michael Crewdson (Paperback)

About the Book

Comic travel writing in the tradition of Bill Bryson, the first mainstream book about Tasmania is perfect for armchair explorers and nature lovers. Along with descriptions of bizarre species and Tasmania's surprising history, the book is laced with Rockman's evocative artwork--originally crafted from organic materials picked up on this postmodern safari.

Book Synopsis

Packing an off-kilter sense of humor and keen scientific minds, Margaret Mittelbach and Michael Crewdson, along with renowned artist Alexis Rockman, take off on a postmodern safari. Their mission? Tracking down the elusive Tasmanian tiger. Tragically, this mysterious, striped predator was hunted into extinction in the early part of the twentieth century. Or was it?
Journeying first to the Australian mainland and then south to the wild island of Tasmania, these young naturalists brave a series of bizarre misadventures and uproarious wildlife encounters in their obsessive search for the long-lost beast. Filled with Rockman's stunning drawings of flora and fauna originally crafted from river mud, wombat scat, and even the artist's own blood, Carnivorous Nights is a hip and hilarious account of an unhinged safari, as well as a fascinating portrayal of a wildly unique part of the world.
Carniverous Nights is:
One of the New York Public Library's "25 Books to Remember from 2005"

A New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age, 2006 selection

Review Quotes

"A transfusion of youthful energy is delivered in this winning book by a pair of zany New York wildlife journalists."
-The New York Times Book Review

"Informed, colorful, often comical . . . hugely readable."
-San Francisco Chronicle

"A rollicking safari . . . informative and entertaining."
-The Oregonian (Portland)

"An adventure in extreme sleuthing . . . The true beauty of this volume is its depiction of the Tasmanian landscape in the raw. . . . Kudos are due the authors for the generous pace of their gaze [and] hilarious introspection."
-Los Angeles Times

"A thrilling adventure . . . an irresistible work of armchair travel, not to be missed. Highly recommended."
-Library Journal (starred review)

"A wonderful romp, part science and part Bill Bryson."
-Booklist

About the Author

MARGARET MITTELBACH and MICHAEL CREWDSON regularly join forces for The New York Times and other publications, employing their dry wit to reveal nature in the strangest of places. Their previous book, Wild New York, uncovered the unsung natural wonders of the city that never sleeps. They give frequent talks and lectures on wildlife, and live in Brooklyn.

Alexis Rockman's artwork examines the history of how nature is portrayed, and is in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and London's Saatchi Collection. He has also contributed artwork to several books, including Future Evolution, by Peter Ward, a prediction of the future of the global ecosystem. He lives and works in New York and has traveled around the world experiencing the wild firsthand.