Wonderfully humorous and hilarious factual account of one of the most bizarre "weapons" developed by the United States during WW-II.

I read this at about the same time I discovered Richard Rhodes' "The Making of the Atomic Bomb". The contrast between the seemingly insane bat bomb and the almost farcial nature of it's builder's quest contrasted wonderfully with the serious and dark tones of the Manhattan project. This book has parts that made me laugh out loud, which is something that few history books can do.

The story of prospecting the cave is priceless, and it gives me the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it...

BAT BOMB covers a quite unknown but important part of World War II history. It got good reviews, but the public seemed to neglect it (I don't know why). This book is not only an important history lesson, it is also a wildly entertaining read. Don't YOU neglect this book. Read it. You'll love it.

The author discovered what those of us with more than a few cats have always known--cats CAN exist happily in large colonies. The observations were intelligent and interesting, and the photos were luscious! I thoroughly enjoyed both the text and the illustrations.

The only nit I would pick is the authors own wild theories concerning the origin and and age of his "breed". Had he ever attended a cat show, he would have known that these cats closely resemble an already existing breed called the "Oriental Shorthair", which is a non-pointed variety of Siamese. The ancestors of these cats probably came from southeast asia! As it has been fairly established that the cat worshiped by the ancient Egyptions was probably either the Abyssinian or the Egyption Mau, I suspect these cats appeared with thier Asian trading partners.

He also made some minor mistakes concerning feline genetics that could have been avoided by picking up a basic genetic book, but in the area of behavior he was generally right on. I also found it interesting that he was brave enough to propose a generally politically incorrect view in these modern times (at least in the US)--that it might be OK for a semi-domestic animal to be born, live, breed, and die according to rules of Mother Nature; not neutered out of existence "for thier own good", according to the rules of men.

I don't care for cats in the least (mostly because I am allergic) but I really liked this book. The pictures and descriptions of Lamu are delightful. Lamu is a magical place, a must-see on the coast of Eastern Africa, and the author brings it to us in great detail. His theory that the cats of Lamu are descendents of a lost breed of cat from ancient Egypt is quite interesting. This is a wonderful book for cat lovers and/or Africanists.

Jack Couffer tells a remarkably unlikely story of WWII research into the use of bats to carry small incendiary devices into Japanese cities in "Bat Bomb: World War II's Other Secret Weapon".

A charming book whose prose is as delightful as its beautiful photos

Complete with appropriate monochromatic and full-color photo plates, Jack Couffer's "The Lions of Living Free" is a fervent, pleasant book detailing the trials and tribulations of producing the Columbia Pictures-Carl Foreman film "Living Free." Couffer, a novelist, zoologist, director and photographer, enthusiastically portrays the filming of "Living Free" on several levels, which, while allowing for a wider fan base for the book, also results in confusion, as this somewhat amateurish author attempts to reconcile his three plots.

On one level, the book tries to be a humorous memoir in the tradition of Steinbeck's "Travels with Charley" or Durrell's "A Zoo in My Luggage," with ludicrous incidents involving Susan Hampshire and Nigel Davenport, the film's stars. At times, the humor is redundant and unnecessary, however incidents like the one in which a crew member unwittingly manages to exchange marriage with Hampshire for a spear liven up the book's sometimes slow momentum.

The book also belongs to the lions of the film. Dennis, Dawn, Judy, Francis and Homerus each develop as engrossing characters, with individual personalities ranging from the sweetly capricious Dawn to Homerus' torpidity and greed. However, the fact that Jack Couffer attempts to depict the adventures of both the human and the animal members of the crew results in too little stage time for the most engrossing characters of all, the feline actors of the movie.

The one level on which Couffer's third excursion into the literary world works is as an account of his personal change, as he becomes entrenched in the wildlife, culture and political upheaval of East Africa. Here, his chronicle reaches its most poignant, as Jack Couffer contends with his unexpected affection for Masai tribesmen, violent ostriches and his home on Lake Naivasha. His grief at the death of Judy, a lion cub, and his longing for East Africa do an impressive justice to the setting's incongruity and exotic beauty - when it is not being obscured by forced humor and confusingly overlapping plots.