Fuzz

When Nature Breaks the Law

By: Mary Roach

Narrated by: Mary Roach

Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

One of Audible's Best of 2021

AudioFile Magazine's Best Audiobooks of 2021

An Instant New York Times Bestseller

#1 Los Angeles Times Bestseller

#1 Indie Hardcover Nonfiction Bestseller

A Washington Post and Publishers Weekly Best Nonfiction Book of 2021

Longlisted for the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction

Join "America’s funniest science writer" (Peter Carlson, Washington Post), Mary Roach, on an irresistible investigation into the unpredictable world where wildlife and humans meet.

What’s to be done about a jaywalking moose? A bear caught breaking and entering? A murderous tree? Three hundred years ago, animals that broke the law would be assigned legal representation and put on trial. These days, as New York Times best-selling author Mary Roach discovers, the answers are best found not in jurisprudence but in science: the curious science of human-wildlife conflict, a discipline at the crossroads of human behavior and wildlife biology.

Roach tags along with animal-attack forensics investigators, human-elephant conflict specialists, bear managers, and "danger tree" faller blasters. Intrepid as ever, she travels from leopard-terrorized hamlets in the Indian Himalaya to St. Peter’s Square in the early hours before the pope arrives for Easter Mass, when vandal gulls swoop in to destroy the elaborate floral display. She taste-tests rat bait, learns how to install a vulture effigy, and gets mugged by a macaque.

Combining little-known forensic science and conservation genetics with a motley cast of laser scarecrows, langur impersonators, and trespassing squirrels, Roach reveals as much about humanity as about nature’s lawbreakers. When it comes to "problem" wildlife, she finds, humans are more often the problem - and the solution. Fascinating, witty, and humane, Fuzz offers hope for compassionate coexistence in our ever-expanding human habitat.

©2021 by Mary Roach. (P)2021 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Roach is an observant and witty writer with an eye for detail and a passion for facts. As it turns out, she is also a remarkably skilled narrator with a pleasant mid-range voice. She reads with verve, and her phrasing and pacing keep the text moving while enabling our laughter or stunned amazement. Roach also re-creates accents, conversations, and speech patterns like the best mimic. What a delightful and informative listen.” (AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award Winner)

"An idiosyncratic tour with Roach as the wisecracking, ever-probing guide... My favorite moments, ultimately, weren’t the funny ones, but those that reveal a bit of scientific poetry." (Vicki Constantine Croke, New York Times Book Review)

"Bestseller Roach sheds light on nature’s malefactors in this often funny, always provocative survey...Roach’s writing is wry, full of heart, and loaded with intriguing facts...This eminently entertaining outing is another winner from Roach." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

Informative and interesting

Very interesting material presented in a way that is understandable and relatable. Author provides a look at many sides to the issues presented.

another hit

I always get roaches books whenever they come out because they're always entertaining. I recommend you do the same

clever

Mary Roach is a clever storyteller with a wonderful sense of humor. For the majority of USA history animals have been considered resources to be exploited or pest to be controlled. The author weaves her stories together in such a way that even the lowly rat is a sympathetic character. Mary Roach engages the mind as well as the heart in the telling of her exploits.

Truth is stranger then fiction & @ times funnier

Love it! Mary Roach has a way of writing & reading that leaves you both informed and amused about subject you never thought you wanted to know about! Bravo!!

What a gem!

I teach wildlife biology and have worked in animal control. This book will offer a humorous insight into a world few know about

Entertaining and educational!!

This is a great book! I was really only expecting to hear entertaining stories, of which there are plenty, but the educational aspect is great. I was previously unaware of Mary Roach (sorry, Mary!) so was unfamiliar with her writing style. She's a fantastic writer! I love that she's also the one who read the audio book. I definitely recommend this book!

Informative, entertaining, and thought provoking

It took me a while to get used to the author’s narration, but ultimately the book is better for it because Mary’s writing style has a wink and smirk element that could get lost with someone else. It almost felt like listening to a really good podcast with the episodic chapters that build thematically into a broader statement on the relationship between humans and animals, and what we owe the other. Recommended!

Fuzz

I enjoyed this book. Some parts were difficult to listen to, others made me laugh out loud. I learned a lot and gained the know how to prevent critters from gaining the upper hand. And was reminded how stupid and cruel we humans are and have always been. Thanks

The footnotes

Just like all of Mary Roaches books this is so well researched,interesting and funny. The only thing I didn't care for in this recording is that the footnotes were not read as they appear in the text as with other audio versions of her works.

Just when it’s needed

Mary Roach knows just when to lighten the mood on subjects that might otherwise bring me to tears. I wasn’t sure I’d make it through a book that I knew would involve animals dying, but she pulled it off.