Description
“A witty, scientifically accurate, and often intensely creepy exploration of sanguivorous creatures.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“Bill Schutt turns whatever fear and disgust you may feel towards nature’s vampires into a healthy respect for evolution’s power to fill every conceivable niche.”—Carl Zimmer, author of Parasite Rex and Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life
For centuries, blood feeders have inhabited our nightmares and horror stories, as well as the shadowy realms of scientific knowledge. In Dark Banquet, zoologist Bill Schutt takes us on a fascinating voyage into the world of some of nature’s strangest creatures—the sanguivores. Using a sharp eye and mordant wit, Schutt makes a remarkably persuasive case that blood feeders, from bats to bedbugs, are as deserving of our curiosity as warmer and fuzzier species are—and that many of them are even worthy of conservation.
Examining the substance that sustains nature’s vampires, Schutt reveals just how little we actually knew about blood until well into the twentieth century. We revisit George Washington on his deathbed to learn how ideas about blood and the supposedly therapeutic value of bloodletting, first devised by the ancient Egyptians and Greeks, survived into relatively modern times.
Dark Banquet details our dangerous and sometimes deadly encounters with ticks, chiggers, and mites (the latter implicated in Colony Collapse Disorder—currently devastating honey bees worldwide). Then there are the truly weird—vampire finches. And if you thought piranha were scary, some people believe that the candiru (or willy fish) is the best reason to avoid swimming in the Amazon.
Enlightening and alarming, Dark Banquet peers into a part of the natural world to which we are, through our blood, inextricably linked.
About the Author
Bill Schutt's latest nonfiction book "Bite: An Incisive History of Teeth, from Hagfish to Humans" received a rave review in The New York Times Bookshttps://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/13/bo..., a starred review in Kirkus Reviewshttps://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...and raves from Publisher's Weekly (https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781...) and elsewhere. "Bite"will be published on August 13, 2024 and can be preordered anywhere books are sold.Bill Schutt is a long-time research associate at the American Museum of Natural History and Emeritus Professor of Biology at LIU-Post. Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, he received his B.A. in Biology at C.W. Post, his MA at SUNY Geneseo, and a Ph.D. in Zoology from Cornell University. He has published over two dozen peer-reviewed articles on topics ranging from terrestrial locomotion in vampire bats to the precarious, arboreal copulatory behavior of a marsupial mouse. Schutt has written for the New York Times and Natural History magazine and his research has also been featured in those publications, Newsday, the Economist, Discover, and others. He is an active member of the North American Society for Bat Research."Pump: A Natural History of the Heart", published in 2021 was a critical success, with great reviews from Publisher's Weekly, The Wall Street Journal, Library Journal, Booklist, Kirk's Reviews and more.Published in 2017, Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History garnered rave reviews from The New York Times, Boston Globe, Publishers Weekly (Starred Review), The New Yorker, Scientific American and many more. Cannibalism was also a 2017 Goodreads Choice Award Finalist (Science and Technology) and a Chicago Public Library "Best of the Best books of 2017".Bill Schutt's first book, Dark Banquet: Blood and the Curious Lives of Blood-Feeding Creatures, was selected as a Best Book of 2008 by Library Journal and Amazon, and was chosen for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers program.Schutt's co-authored WWII thriller Hell's Gate (R.J. MacCready novel #1) was published to widespread critical acclaim in 2016 (with starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and Library Journal), as was The Himalayan Codex, a year later. The Darwin Strain, the final book in the R.J. MacCready trilogy debuted in Aug. 2019.Schutt’s TED-Ed video "Cannibalism in the Animal Kingdom" came as the 9th most viewed TED-Ed video of 2018 (and currently has over 3.3 million views). His followup, "A Brief History of Cannibalism", had 1.2 million views in the first two months and came in as the 5th most viewed TED-Ed video of 2019. Schutt's 3rd TED-Ed video, on blood transfusions, had a quarter million views in the first 10 days.Schutt lives in New York with his wife.For Interviews & Media, contact Katrina Tiktinsky - Publicity Assistant, Hachette Book Group, Katrina.Tiktinsky@hbgusa.comFor Speaking Engagements, contact Ashley Himes at Hachette Speakers Bureau, ashley.himes@hbgusa.comAgent for nonfiction: Gillian MacKenzie - Gillian MacKenzie Agency - gmackenzie@gmalit.comAgent for Fiction and Young Readers: Elizabeth Rudnick - Gillian MacKenzie Agency - erudnick@gmalit.com
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