Customer Reviews

Donkey see, donkey do. - By: R. Viney, 02 May 2008
Ahahahahaha, now this is more like it. Rabid amazonian fans of spiders would have read about my slight disappointment on Michael J. Roberts' "Spiders of Britain & Northern Europe (Collins Field Guide)". It was fine for what it was, but much like Jeanette Winterson taught us that oranges are not the only fruit, someone needs to pass on an urgent message to Mr Roberts that spiders are not the only mammal, & devoting so much time, energy & time to writing a field guide screams volumes about his personal life.

I have quite a library of donkey-related books - "Donkey: The Mystique of Equus Asinus", "Donkeys: Their Care & Management", "Downhill All the Way: Walking with Donkeys", "The Donkey Companion", "J.W.R. - A Donkey's Face" & "Looking After a Donkey (Donkeys)" are all part of my valuably insured collection. Donkeys have always struck me as the most socialist of animals -in comparison to the low key Thatcherism of tree frogs & the rabid Stalinism of the meerkat - they posess a stubborn gentleness that hasn't gone unnoticed by trained eyes.

Now, Janet Baker-Carr has really produced something magical here - if it was possible to bottle her brain, I'd certainly be tempted to try it. This book will make you laugh & cry, then laugh again with it's delicately told woven vignettes of truth - "When she dies, they stand on her grave & bray a sad requiem on & on into the night" - powerful stuff. (However I must take issue with her stand on mules - a mule is not a donkey. IT IS AN ABOMINATION.)

An Extravagance of Donkeys? More like, An Embarassment of Riches!