Animal World

I picked up a brand new book that I’m anxious to read, but priorities for existing projects are trumping my desires so it may be a while before I get to dig into “Kicked, Bitten, and Scratched: Life Lessons at the World’s Premier School for Exotic Animal Trainers” by Amy Sutherland. Who knew that California’s Moorpark Community College trained animal trainers? Well, I guess Ms. Sutherland knew. She spent a year following around the students and, I imagine, the animals. A blurb on the back says “Sutherland introduces us to the controlled chaos of a training zoo, wherein students and beats strive to maniupulate eah other.” These are the kind of books I love, narrative nonfiction — true storytelling — that give you a look inside a world you never knew existed.