A humorous and vastly illuminating autobiographical account of the incredible life of Daniel P Mannix, or should one say, the life of the incredible Daniel P Mannix – from the beginning – how his love of animals began and grew into a life-long passion.
With an eye for the absurd, impeccable timing, and exceptional attention to detail, the author whisks you through the highlights of his eventful career: catching skunks with a burlap bag as an eight year old, dressed in dinner clothes and patent leather pumps; discouraging unwelcome debutantes by putting a ten-foot alligator in the swimming pool; fainting while standing at attention at a prestigious navel academy and becoming the first cadet in four generations to be discharged; beginning married life with the love of his life, Jule, in a New York City apartment as Aguila the bald eagle terrorizes the dog and shreds the furniture; living next door to Elizabeth Taylor who, as a girl, was “ beautiful, delightful, and completely reckless” and, as a result, was almost killed by his Mexican green rattlesnake; and sharing his home with an otter, “a delirious inchworm”, who bathed in the toilet and slept on the bed after carefully drying himself on the pillow. LOL
This is the kind of book you can't put down – the kind of book that makes you hoot and howl and nudge the nearest friend or family member in order to retell stories that beg to be shared and re-told over and over again. Not to be confused with James Harriot's book of the same title written almost 25 years later, this is a rare look at one man's endeavor to study and understand animals of the wild; now available in digital form to entertain and educate a new generation.
With an eye for the absurd, impeccable timing, and exceptional attention to detail, the author whisks you through the highlights of his eventful career: catching skunks with a burlap bag as an eight year old, dressed in dinner clothes and patent leather pumps; discouraging unwelcome debutantes by putting a ten-foot alligator in the swimming pool; fainting while standing at attention at a prestigious navel academy and becoming the first cadet in four generations to be discharged; beginning married life with the love of his life, Jule, in a New York City apartment as Aguila the bald eagle terrorizes the dog and shreds the furniture; living next door to Elizabeth Taylor who, as a girl, was “ beautiful, delightful, and completely reckless” and, as a result, was almost killed by his Mexican green rattlesnake; and sharing his home with an otter, “a delirious inchworm”, who bathed in the toilet and slept on the bed after carefully drying himself on the pillow. LOL
This is the kind of book you can't put down – the kind of book that makes you hoot and howl and nudge the nearest friend or family member in order to retell stories that beg to be shared and re-told over and over again. Not to be confused with James Harriot's book of the same title written almost 25 years later, this is a rare look at one man's endeavor to study and understand animals of the wild; now available in digital form to entertain and educate a new generation.
