Companion Animal Psychology Book Club May 2022

"The book brims with Roach’s irreverent humor, which particularly shines when she experiences human-animal conflict firsthand... A blend of modern science and history, with Roach’s flair for spotting hidden absurdities... As another entry in Roach’s canon of books, Fuzz stands tall (and hairy), educating as much as it entertains."― Bethany Brookshire, Science News.

Animal Book Club May 2022


By Zazie Todd, PhD

This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you.


This month, the Animal Book Club is reading Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach. 



From the back cover, 
"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."

Fuzz is available wherever books are sold. It and all of the previous book choices (and more!) are also available in my Amazon store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/animalbookclub.

Note that, for readers in the UK, the title is Animal Vegetable Criminal: When Nature Breaks the Law

The book club discussion starts on Saturday May 7th (the first Saturday of the month). The book club is open to people who subscribe to my free Companion Animal Psychology newsletter and/or my premium newsletter, The Pawsitive Post. Please feel free to sign up and join us!

Of course, you are also welcome to read alongside us without joining the group. 


Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and also has a column at Psychology Today. Todd lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, one dog, and two cats. 

Useful links:

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. As an Etsy affiliate, Doggy Geeks University affiliate and Marks and Spencer affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Follow me!

Support me