Pests

How Humans Create Animal Villains

By: Bethany Brookshire

Narrated by: Courtney Patterson

An engrossing and revealing study of why we deem certain animals “pests” and others not—from cats to rats, elephants to pigeons—and what this tells us about our own perceptions, beliefs, and actions, as well as our place in the natural world

A squirrel in the garden. A rat in the wall. A pigeon on the street. Humans have spent so much of our history drawing a hard line between human spaces and wild places. When animals pop up where we don’t expect or want them, we respond with fear, rage, or simple annoyance. It’s no longer an animal. It’s a pest.

At the intersection of science, history, and narrative journalism, Pests is not a simple call to look closer at our urban ecosystem. It’s not a natural history of the animals we hate. Instead, this book is about us. It’s about what calling an animal a pest says about people, how we live, and what we want. It’s a story about human nature, and how we categorize the animals in our midst, including bears and coyotes, sparrows and snakes. Pet or pest? In many cases, it’s entirely a question of perspective.

Bethany Brookshire’s deeply researched and entirely entertaining book will show readers what there is to venerate in vermin, and help them appreciate how these animals have clawed their way to success as we did everything we could to ensure their failure. In the process, we will learn how the pests that annoy us tell us far more about humanity than they do about the animals themselves.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Amazing

This book was so well written! I absolutely loved it, the author cuts no corners in researching and elaborating explaining concepts. Can't give it enough praise!

Very informative book

I enjoyed the way this author built the story and especially liked the bear stories.

Learned a lot

I deducted one star from the narrator for bad pronunciation of unfamiliar words. When it’s read by a professional, those should be taken out. It’s just disrespectful to people who are not American, an affliction which the author tried so hard to avoid.

Wonderful Words... story, science and wisdom

Probably the best book of its type I've read since Guns, Steel and Germs. A picture of our "Pests" from the past, the now and possible future. A rose by any other name is still a rose, but my pest is not always your pest.

Knowledgeable and Insightful Look Into Society

As a personal friend of the author, I love that she writes like she speaks—articulately and matter-of-factly, among other adverbs— but also, that the narrator "got" her voice--timing, inflection, humor--such that listening just sounds like my friend talking to me about a subject she knows well. I absolutely loved it!