Tales From the Bookshelf - Flattened Fauna

And now for a really strange tale from the bookshelf...

Flattened Fauna, Revised: A Field Guide to Common Animals of Roads, Streets, and Highways

by Roger M. Knutson

Paperback: 96 pages
Publisher: Ten Speed Press; Revised edition (September 1, 2006)
ISBN-13: 978-1580087551

Product Description

Are you among the millions of people whose only opportunity to observe wildlife comes after it has been run over and pressed into a patty by big rigs, then desiccated by the elements until even flies don’t recognize it? This is the field guide for you! FLATTENED FAUNA fills an important gap in our natural history knowledge and fosters a heightened respect for the ecology of the paved environment.

Okay, let me give you a little back story on this one!
In 1987, my best friend helped me drive from Arkansas to Oregon in what was the most humorous road trip imaginable. Along the way, we saw many dead animals on the road, and out of sheer boredom, started keeping track of the flattened fauna. The amount of little fuzzy Frizbees in Wyoming, which we could only assume were at one time rabbits, was astounding! Dead armidillos, cows, dogs - you name it, we saw it.
A week after arriving in Oregon, she shows up at my door with this book. We laughed so hard, we cried.
Flattened Fauna is dark humor at its best. Yes, the author goes to great lengths to help us identify those lumpy shapes on the road! But the subject matter alone should tell you this is done with a twisted sense of humor. (I am also an animal lover, but I found nothing offensive in the book.)

So if you aren't disturbed by the thought of identifying that patch of fur you just passed on the road and have a wicked sense of humor, this book is worth checking out!

8 out of 10

Purchase from  Barnes and Noble or  Amazon

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