RaveThe New York Times Books Review... [a] smart, passionate and seditious book aimed at erasing [Richard] Owen’s lingering influence and showing us the wonders he missed when he dissed small mammals ... As her narrative advances and expands, these stories cross and mesh with those of many small mammals whose evolutionary ingenuity was largely ignored until recently, and her thesis starts to emerge: To advance solid science, social justice or both, attend the overlooked and underrepresented. Panciroli never states this explicitly and doesn’t really bring it out to be seen until a bit past the book’s middle ... how wonderfully explosive a book about these diminutive creatures can be.
Richard O. Prum
RaveThe New York Times Book Review...true to his argument, Prum seeks to prevail less through brute force of attack than by making his case with clarity, grace and charm. Like a bowerbird arranging its display for potential mates, he seeks not to best his chesty, chattering rivals, but to persuade the open-minded. The result is a delicious read, both seductive and mutinous ... He nimbly mines both the animal and human literature to show how, for one human trait after another, adaptationist explanations miss the mark while aesthetic explanations hit home.
