The Natural History of the Rich: A Field Guide
(Non-fiction)

A tantalizing, droll study of the idiosyncratic existence of the very rich, through the unexpected lens of the naturalist.

Richard Conniff probes the age-old question "Are the rich different from you and me?" and finds that they are indeed a completely different animal. He observes with great humor and finesse this socially unique species, revealing their strategies for ensuring dominance and submission, their flourishes of display behavior, the intricate dynamics of their pecking order, as well as their unorthodox mating practices. Through comparisons to other equally exotic animals, Conniff uncovers surprising commonalties.

This marvelously entertaining field guide captures in vivid detail the behaviors and habitats of the world's most captivating yet elusive animal.

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Rats! : The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
(Non-fiction)

You've heard them all. You have even said them. But the next time you see a rat, you should give it a round of applause. Consider the facts: Rats can gnaw through lead, wriggle through a hole the size of a quarter, and survive high doses of nuclear radiation. Rats have also managed to exploit us humans to establish themselves around the world. We've unintentionally provided them with food, shelter, and transportation.

Armed with wit and scientific fact, award-winning natural history writer Richard Conniff gleefully delves into the fascinating and impressive world of the rat--one of the most successful animals on earth.
 

Spineless Wonders: Strange Tales from the Invertebrate World
(Non-fiction)

Leeches, fire ants, dragonflies and mosquitoes; slime eels, giant squids, earthworms and fleas--this gallery of creepy-crawlies is enough to give anyone nightmares--or formication, the sensation that something's crawling across your flesh. Yet in his new book, Spineless Wonders, author Richard Conniff succeeds in making his subjects interesting if not exactly attractive. Conniff, a journalist, knows all too well that most people do not share his admiration for the invertebrates of the world, and so he sets out to demonstrate just what marvels of engineering they really are. From discussions of just how these creatures are made and how they survive, he goes on to tell stories about the people who study them. From the scientist who ate the only known specimen of a new species to the leech-farmer in Wales, Conniff paints a vivid picture of invertebrates and the people who love them, making even that slime eel seem almost appealing.
 

Every Crreeping Thing: True Tales of Faintly Repulsive Wildlife
(Non-fiction)

In his introduction, Richard Conniff writes: "Despite the efforts of many earnest and life-affirming people to persuade me that the vampire bat is our friend and that Native Americans enjoyed true harmony with Brother Wolf, I have never quite overcome the gut feeling that fear of nature is normal ... It can also be pleasurable ... What I find really creepy and wonderful about nature are not its great terrors, but its weird unsuspected minutiae ... for instance, that some sharks practice sibling cannibalism in the womb, or that a mole will paralyze earthworms, ball them up in a knot, and seal them away in individual cells in the walls of its chambered mound, still living, to be eaten at leisure. I am captivated by the sight of a keyhole limpet ... which carries a sort of vicious pet under its shell, like an old lady's lap dog."
 

Ireland Stone Walls and Fabled Land: Stone Walls & Fabled Landscapes
(Travel)

Discover Ireland through the 240,000 miles of stone walls that help to make it one of the most admired landscapes in the world. Dividing the fields into indefinable snippets or breaking the landscape into a sun-dappled patchwork, they look as if they have been there forever, splashed ashore with the first settlers in Ireland 8,000 years ago. Conniff's text conveys the marvelous humor of the Irish and the legends the walls inspire. MacWeeney's photographs conjure up Ireland's endless beauty - from the Dingle peninsula to County Donegal, from Connemara and the Aran Islands to County Down. Together, they make this book a treasure.
 

The Devil's Book of Verse: Masters of the Poison Pen from Ancient Times to the Present Day
(Humor)

No person or subject is sacred in this satirical sampler -- from our leading statesmen:
"A politician is an arse upon
which everyone has sat except a man."

To the world's favorite cities:
"Cambridge people rarely smile
Being urban, squat and packed with guile."

To the season of joy (and humbug):
"May all my enemies go to hell,
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel."

In his foreword to The Devil's Book of Verse, Willard Espy writes, "The soul has few consolations to match an elegantly turned epithet. Mr. Conniff provides us with a whole devil's garden of them..."