Overview
What began as a utopian environment, where mice had sumptuous accommodations, had all the food and water they could want, and were free from disease and predators, turned into a mouse hell. Science writer and animal behaviorist Lee Alan Dugatkin introduces listeners to the work of rodent researcher John Bumpass Calhoun. Dugatkin shows how an ecologist-turned-psychologist-turned-futurist became a science rock star embedded in the culture of the 1960s and 1970s. As interest grew in his rodent cities, Calhoun was courted by city planners and his work was reflected in Tom Wolfe's writing and the children's book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. Listeners see how Calhoun's experiments led to his concept of ""behavioral sinks"" with real effects on public policy discussions. Overpopulation in Calhoun's mouse (and rat) complexes led to the loss of sex drive, the absence of maternal care, and a class that included ""the beautiful ones,"" who spent their time grooming themselves while shunning socialization. Calhoun saw this collapse as a harbinger of the ill effects of an overpopulated human world. Dugatkin offers a riveting account of an intriguing scientific figure. Considering Dr. Calhoun's experiments, he explores the changing nature of scientific research and delves into what the study of animal behavior can teach us about ourselves.
Full Product Details
Author: Lee Alan Dugatkin ,
Jonathan Todd Ross
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Imprint: Tantor Audio
Edition: Unabridged edition
ISBN: 9798228604858
Publication Date: 03 June 2025
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Audio
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Author Information
Lee Alan Dugatkin is an evolutionary biologist and historian of science in the department of biology at the University of Louisville. His books include The Altruism Equation: Seven Scientists Search for the Origins of Goodness and Mr. Jefferson and the Giant Moose: Natural History in Early America. Jonathan Todd Ross, a graduate of the NYU/Tisch School of the Arts, has narrated over 120 audiobooks across a wide variety of genres, including fiction, nonfiction, self-help, YA, biography and memoir, children's literature, and romance. He's won an Audie Award (Restart by Gordon Korman), received numerous YALSA and Earphone Awards (Swindle by Gordon Korman, Fake Mustache by Tom Angleberger, and more), and made all of his middle school bullies regret every mean thing they ever said to him when he narrated Tom Brady's The TB12 Method. Jonathan loves narrating all genres, bringing the author's words to audio-life.
