[mou] Program at Bell Museum

[Jim Williams]

Art of Cats Opening Party and Special Lecture
- Tuesday, September 16, 7 p.m.
- Bell Museum auditorium and galleries
- Reception and gallery viewing following the lecture
- $8 members, $10 nonmembers
- Call (612) 624-9050 for tickets

OPENING LECTURE (based on his new book)
- Big Cats: The Food Chain of Power and Glory
- by David Quammen
Large cats and other predators have long had prominent roles in human
cultures. Wilderness habitat loss has put the Siberian tiger and Asiatic
lion in danger of extinction and threatens other major predators. The
award-winning author of Song of the Dodo casts his expert eye on these
creatures' ecological, mythological and spiritual relationships with people=
.
Copies of Quammen's new book, "Monster of God: The Man-eating Predator in
the Jungles of History and the Mind" will be available for purchase. The
author will sign the books after the lecture.


You probably know that Quammen's previous best known work dealing with
Natural History was his 1996 book, "The Song of the Dodo" which attracted a
lot of ink and praise.  To know more about that book, Google the title
and/or go to the Smithsonian Magazine review at
http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues96/apr96/book_apr96.html

That review says in part:
"This is a book of physical adventure =8B travels in exotic and even dangerou=
s
places to see extraordinary creatures. It is also a book of intellectual
adventure, in which the excitement of new understanding builds over 600
pages until at last the baton is passed to the reader. This is only fitting
because the last sentence will leave more than a few readers on their feet,
punching the air with a fist and saying "Yes!" "

Quammen's newest book, "Monster of God:The Man-Eating Predator in Jungles o=
f
History and the Mind" was reviewed by Michiko Kakutani in the New York Time=
s
yesterday (8/26/03) <http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/26/books/26KAKU.html>.

One quote from the NYT--by no means at random--gives you an idea:

"...Mr. Quammen manages to make this elliptical narrative work, using his
instinct for storytelling and his tactile prose to create an emotionally
resonant mosaic. His firsthand accounts of visits to India, Australia,
Romania and the Russian far east (in search, respectively, of the Asian
lion, the saltwater and freshwater crocodile, the brown bear and the
Siberian tiger) give the reader a vivid picture of the remote landscapes in
which these animals live and their complicated relationships with indigenou=
s
peoples, and his historical asides underscore just how rapidly things have
changed in the last few decades, how social and political developments can
unleash all manner of unintended consequences on other species and our
shared habitat."

Quammen is delightful on the phone and in e-mail messages.  Not the least
bit stuffy.  His talk should be super.

The above written by Gordon Murdock, posted on his behalf by Jim Williams