Deer (Animal)

I was very, very, excited about Reaktion's upcoming book on deer, so excited that I pre-ordered it a year before its release date. When I got the book and began reading it, I was sorely disappointed not in the style or in the historical content of the book, but in the lack of variation when talking about deer. The author decided to focus the book on the various practices and cultural repercussions of hunting deer. While deer hunting IS a big part of societies from antiquity until now, I was hoping Reaktion's book would surpass the viewing of deer as solely a game animal, and hilight other important aspects of the animal that didn't involve it's killing.

I purchased this for my Kindle Reader on my tablet and cell phone. I bought it for my husband for his birthday as he is a deer hunter and photographer of deer. I prefer to only "hunt" with my camera. It is a good book, full of information, done very well. Reading this book is very enjoyable and the fact that I can have it on my tablet and on my cell phone makes it easier for me as I am on the go all the time and cannot just sit and read a book. The author is knowledgeable about deer, the history of the species and related animals. The book is well arranged and interesting. It is a good read. Holly

Great book.

As always in this series, before you buy note that it is not a natural history or a field guide. It has aspects of both, but is as much about deer in culture as anything. That said, this book is very nicely illustrated and quite well written.Chapter 1 looks at the deer family--various species, some natural history, and provides a good sense of variety and environments in which the animals occur. Chapter 2 looks at survival, which some readers will like and some perhaps find slow. Chapter 3 looks at exploitation: deer hides, antlers, trophies, more or less deer as a commodity and a kind of raw material for human use. Chapter 4 looks at hunting and antlers. Chapter 5 describes the deer as symbol (think of books like The Yearling). Chapter 6 looks at deer in North America. Chapter 7 looks at deer and people today.Along the way, the book considers a lot, including how the exploding population sees whitetails munching in people's rose gardens, some of the history as well as natural history (deer parks and such).

The author writes well and clearly knows an immense amount about deer. I wanted to know about deer natural history and my interest drifted a little over the cultural and artistic dimensions. Not sure what audience this is aimed at. I very much learnt some new an interesting things about deer. Others may be more eclectic in their interests and appreciate the broad vista of Mr Fletcher's approach!

This book is hard to put down when you begin reading and that tells you something you just don't want to finish it to quickly, packed full of really interesting facts about deer and there importance in the life of us humans, written by a man who really knows his stuff I have other books written by this author he knows what he's talking about.

A little gem of a book, full of interesting detail and adding to the general store of knowledge about deer, thoroughly to be recommended.