Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants

by Robert Sullivan

Book Overview

New York Public Library Book for the Teenager New York Public Library Book to Remember PSLA Young Adult Top 40 Nonfiction Titles of the Year "Engaging...a lively, informative compendium of facts,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1582343853
• ISBN13: 9781582343853
• Release Date: April 2004
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Length: 242 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Hi Rat!

The title is backward, this is primarily a book about observation. I think the author said it best in the afterword when he remarks only half-joking that his next books will be about pretty flowers, as many readers couldn't come to grips with the topic of study. Why not study rats? They are as valid a topic as any other and far more interesting than most. However, that the author chose to center the observation on rats is, surprisingly, almost an aside. What is utterly fascinating is the depth of knowledge that can be gained from disciplined observation and research--even if it largely takes place in a forgotten, grimy, rat-infested alley. This book is a journey to understanding--not just of rats, but of the city in which the author lives. Of course, New York is the stand in for modern civilization itself. Curiously, the author has uncovered a disturbing truth--we are very similar in many respects to rats in terms of resourcefulness and adaptability. It is also a wonderfully personal book in that the author maintains an often hilarious, personal dialogue with his reader. The writing is carried off so well that one may easily forget that there is real craft involved. Our author brings a mordant wit to his observations; the humor hits you fast and on many levels. What appears to be merely a fascinating glossary of ratty facts ends up becoming a surprisingly deep commentary on the nature of history itself; from the rise and fall of civilizations to the witness of even the Rat King being brought low by the inevitable exterminators. It strikes me that the author didn't quite realize the power of his observations until well after he completed the book as well as a multi-city book tour. For this reason, the afterword is required reading. I could go on, but suffice it to say that this book deserves five solid stars. The writing is praiseworthy and a pleasure to read. Mr. Sullivan takes his reader from loud laughter to profound reflection--and does it in the context of a rat report. Well done and highly recommended.

Fascinating!

I admit to a squeamish fascination with big city rats -- probably my only real "fear". This book will make your skin crawl, but is superbly written. I remember a NY Times review comparing it to "Walden Pond". I was skeptical. While I never read Thoureau's masterpiece I can appreciate the comparison. Mr. Sullivan, (a brilliant writer for someone who looks so young), spent a year camped out in a squalid alley off of Fulton St. I was so taken with the book I actually had to search for the spot on a trip to NYC. The alley itself was scary...rat heaven. I made myself walk from one end to the other. (Made it through unscathed but remembered so many of the details he describes. Nothing went unnoticed by his uncanny eye). Sullivan weaves our fascination with this depised creature and it's place in the history of New York. I love the accounts of the early Irish and the raucous bars and "rat fights" that provided wagering as sport. I found the book spell-binding. He meets up with all sorts of characters...the lower strata of society. Rat dwellers themselves. The book is imbued with social commentary. Even if you can't bear the thought of reading an entire book about rats, Sullivan is a world-class writer and this is a great read. He really put himself out there and did what few of us would have been brave enough or persistent enough to do. This guy is going to go far in the literary world -- a place far removed from the Rats of New York City. First rate! Peter Bosco New Britain, CT

Almost perfect

Robert Sullivan relates his experiences as he delves into rats, with the focus being on the role that rats play in history and modern culture rather than dwelling on the nuances of rat behavior. He spends nights in a forgotten alleyway in New York, watching the rats as they emerge from their burrows to take advantage of the local restaurant waste. He spends time with exterminators (or "pest control specialists," as the industry leaders prefer), whether they work for small companies or large ones. And, apparently, he spends time at the library, digging up historical information that is at times so obscure that you wonder how he ever found it as it relates to his subject. But Sullivan's book, peppered with literary quotes from the likes of Thoreau and Emerson, is ultimately less about rats and more about people. The rats are a fascinating hook, and every time a rodent skitters across the page, Sullivan invites us to squirm along with him. But more often, the reader is treated to quirky episodes in American history, in which the rats play some sort of role. The black plague, the era of Gangs of New York, the American Revolution, the labor movement, and anti-Chinese sentiments at the turn of the century are just some of the subjects of Sullivan's stories, and he tells them all with a master's flair. The Good and the Bad: This is one of the best nonfiction books I've ever read, edging out Hillenbrandt's Seabiscuit, and rivaling Kurlansky's Cod and the works of Bill Bryson. Sullivan knows how to tell an interesting story, and he has chosen a subject which rivets our attention no matter how it is presented. Putting the two elements together leads to a lot of compulsive page-turning. Sullivan has that rare ability to reach deep into the history books and pull out the most engaging anecdotes, and yet find the connection to his story that merits the inclusion. He also possesses the rare ability to insert himself into the story without dwelling on himself. While much of the book involves his personal interactions with the world, he never strays into the grandstanding that so many authors seem to find impossible to resist. The book is mostly tangents, and there are footnotes that lead to tangents from the tangents, and endnotes that add yet another layer of side stories. But that's okay, because this is a journey that is far more pleasurable than any destination could be. If I had to pick a nit about this one (and I like to present a little criticism on everything I read), I would say that I was surprised that there weren't more personal stories about people who aren't related to the rat industry, and their dealings with rats. He relates the rat story of an acquaintance who finds a rat in his bathroom, and it is one of the most entertaining sections in the book. I can't help but think that there are other stories out there that would have been worthy of inclusion. Similarly, I would have liked to have le

All Bait, No Switch!!

A very quirky and intriguing read! Rats combines the observations of 'urban wildlife', NYC history and a social portrait of the pest control industry *well as it relates to rats!*. Mr. Sullivan takes on a creature that is maligned, misunderstood and indeed little studied because, well, we're talking about rats. His take on the natural history of the animal itself is interwoven with the story of the alley in which he watched his subjects and peppered with first hand experiences gleaned from NYC's pest control specialists. Especially intriguing for me was the portion of the book which discussed the unsung & unpraised pest controllers that came from all over the country to help with the 9/11 clean up. They helped contain a potentially volatile population explosion of the rodents and even though I live far from ground zero, they have my gratitude and thanks. The book is well worded and will engage the reader's interest and hold it. Pick it up if you are a NYC, history or wildlife enthusiast.

Rats, Sure, But Mostly Humans

Last year when I visited New York City I went running in Central Park, and the very first squirrel I saw was no squirrel at all, but a rat. According to Robert Sullivan, this would have been a good sign of the prosperity of the colony from which that rat had emerged. Rats go out at night, usually, and one edging out during the day means that the colony is pushing out beyond its usual boundaries. Sullivan has made a hobby out of rat-watching, and has written a peculiar and fascinating book about his adventures with his own rat pack, _Rats: Observations on the History & Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants_ (Bloomsbury). It isn't only (or even mostly) about his observed colony in an alley a few blocks away from Wall Street, but about city rats in general and their history of living with us. Because of this, Rats isn't really about rats, but about the humans who have imported them and given them garbage to live on and then have been annoyed when they flourish and stupefied when they refuse eradication. Sullivan found a cobblestone passageway near City Hall called (note the irony) Edens Alley. His fascination for it was founded on the rats' fascination for the provided food, bags of garbage from a market and two restaurants. He spent night after night in the alley, with night-vision glasses and a folding stool. Nights spent there, he spent days doing research, which has lead to some surprising facts; since rats are important to us as pests, there has been a great deal of research done on them, much of it practical and some of it less so. For instance, rats can become immune to poison; even the first anticoagulant medications that were put into bait no longer work in many places, so using them just gives the rats a free meal. Rats are not limited to being pests; they also have been entertainment. In the middle of the nineteenth century, you could go to Kit Burns's Sportsman's Hall to see rat fights. They have played their roles in the unionization of the sanitation workers, and in the civil rights struggle.It is surprising at first to find that the World Trade Center plays a large role in this book. Sullivan talks to an exterminator who says he isn't an exterminator; he is a "pest control manager," reflecting the realistic view that rats will never be exterminated, but might be controlled from time to time, and even excluded from some areas. He had the contract for the WTC after the first bombing in 1993. Office workers evacuated the building, but they left the food they had out on every story to the delight of the rats. "We did top to bottom," he says of the rat clean-up. When the towers fell in 2001, there had been restaurants in the buildings, and restaurants nearby with food out which had to be abandoned, but not by the rats. It was impossible to do any rodent-proofing; the rats could come and go as they pleased. But one firm put out thousands of bait stations, and with good reason. When the technicians descended i