Merde: Excursions in Scientific, Cultural, and Sociohistorical Coprology [Anglais] [Relié]

Ralph Lewin is a marine biologist who knows the value of poop. After all, the denizens of ocean bottoms receive much of their nutrients by eating the expelled waste of animals above. But marine food chains are only one part of this faintly disgusting story. Lewin goes into detail about the minutiae of the subject, from shapes, sizes, colors, smells, and textures of various droppings to the social importance of defecation among different species. He describes how animals deal with it and analyses human attitudes toward the stuff--from production to disposal. And it's all done with a wry sense of humor and a true scientist's curiosity about the world. An entire chapter is devoted to the famous dung beetle:

The beetles clearly treat dung as a valuable commodity, sometimes fighting over choice bits; males of certain species may present prospective mates with small pellets as nuptial offerings.

While Merde is a delightful, informative introduction to an overlooked branch of science, we wouldn't recommend quoting from it at mealtimes. --Therese Littleton

This is not a book for every personal library ... but it is never dull.

Lewin has chosen an unlikely subject, "the feces, the matter of coprology," and made a grand run with it. Inasmuch as he is a marine biologist (professor of marine biology at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography of the University of California at San Diego), the subject is some distance from his usual line of work, but he has researched it thoroughly. The result is that the reader will learn as much as, or perhaps more than, she might want to know about coprology and will be entertained while doing it. Examples: Camel dung makes a fine fuel because it is so dry that it will ignite instantly. Hippocrates asserted that pigeon droppings were an effective remedy for baldness, "although whether this claim was based on personal experience is not recorded." An adult salmon, on a protein-rich diet, produces about a kilogram (dry weight) of feces in a year; an elephant excretes almost 50 times that much every day.

...a beguiling little compendium of arcane information.... Lewin is immensely knowledgeable about his subject and is able to observe and describe his raw data in admirable detail.

"Perhaps the finest word ever spoken by a Frenchman," wrote Victor Hugo of General Pierre Cambronne's defiant cry--"Merde!"--to the English at Waterloo.

Merde is an unusual (very unusual) and witty investigation into a subject you may always have wondered about--but didn't know quite what to ask.
        
History, biology, anthropology, culture, animal behavior--all of these are the real subjects of Merde. Why can some animals do it on the run, and others can't? Why does camel dung make good fires? What are the fascinating stories of the dung beetles?
        
Myths and legends, physical features, health and disease, uses for construction and as fertilizers--even nutritional values!--Ralph Lewin writes about them all in the most ingratiating and sophisticated and yet scientific way. Merde is also full of personal adventures and observations, as well as anecdotes and examples.
        
The scattered literature on this subject is voluminous, but until now no one has perused and compiled it all and given it a personal touch, so to speak. It will be hard not to talk about this treasure trove of a book after you've finished it--or perhaps even when you're in the middle of it.

A professor at the University of California takes an unusual and witty investigation into the cultural, anthropological, and mythological aspects of coprology.

"Perhaps the finest word ever spoken by a Frenchman," wrote Victor Hugo of General Pierre Cambronne's defiant cry--"Merde!"--to the English at Waterloo.

Ralph A. Lewin is professor of marine biology at the Scripps Institution of Oceanogra-phy at the University of California at San Diego. He has also taught at several marine-biology labs, was an instructor and special lecturer at Yale, and has lectured on algae, marine microbiology, and biotechnology in various countries, including England, France, Japan, China, and Brazil. His previous publications, several hundred of them, have been mostly academic and technical. He lives in La Jolla, California.