Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law

Mary Roach

Sep 2021 · W. W. Norton & Company

About this ebook

An Instant New York Times Bestseller
#1 Los Angeles Times Bestseller
#1 Indie Hardcover Nonfiction Bestseller
A Publishers Weekly Best Nonfiction Book of 2021
Longlisted for the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction

Join "America’s funniest science writer" (Peter Carlson, Washington Post), Mary Roach, on an irresistible investigation into the unpredictable world where wildlife and humans meet.

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.

Ratings and reviews

Mary Roach returns once again, bringing her sense of irony to a potentially dry subject in Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law. Inspired by humorous anecdotes and old legal records, the author uncovered many stories of animals being ridiculously anthropomorphized worldwide. Roach is well known for her series of catchy single-word titles (Stiff, Gulp and Bonk), that expose our misconceptions and human hubris. This time, she wanders the globe to explore consequences that occur when humans and animals collide. Fuzz is a report of her discovery of many unfortunate remnants of some outdated procedures and ill-conceived attitudes. Roach has a clear message here: Practice tolerance and accommodation, rather than defaulting to attempts at elimination and extinction for our non-human counterparts on Earth. She goes on to describe the many mishaps and failures of “pest” control that have been tried, with both comic and tragic results. Roach seeks to remind us that we humans are mere tenants of this planet along with our coinhabitors, with no greater claim to territory or possession than any other creature. A warning must be given to those who avoid reading about animal cruelty or abuse. The book sometimes gets mired in the nitty-gritty of chemicals and methodology, and too descriptive of the gory details. Despite some uneven parts, Fuzz tackles a controversial topic in a light-hearted but insightful way. Mary Roach shadows those tasked with managing the animal encounters and presents them with candor and respect. With her gentle humor she can expose our own folly in pursuing a pointless quest for dominance that is unachievable and undeserved. Thanks to the author, WW Norton, and Edelweiss for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

A wonderful, well researched yet entertaining reading, that really gave me some great insight on how complicated resolving human-animal conflicts are.

About the author

Mary Roach is the author of five best-selling works of nonfiction, including Grunt, Stiff, and, most recently, Fuzz. Her writing has appeared in National Geographic and the New York Times Magazine, among other publications. She lives in Oakland, California.