Gordon Grice–the journalist whose work has appeared in The New Yorker and author, most recently, of “Deadly Kingdom: The Book Of Dangerous Animals”–discusses how a boyhood fascination with snakes and spiders (influenced at least partly by where he was living) didn’t recede as he reached adulthood but rather grew stronger (ditto);
explains how the observation he offers early on, “to consider animal behavior without history is to misunderstand it,” serves as something of a credo of the book; addresses some specific portions “Deadly Kingdom,” including the underreported dangers of dogs and some of the more surprising revelations, among them how deadly certain butterflies/caterpillars can be; talks about the sweeping scope of the book and the process that yielded it; reveals how the nifty book jacket blurb from David Sedaris came to be, and more. [www.DeadlyKingdom.com]
COMEDY CORNER: Bill Engvall’s “Whale Watching” (snippet) (www.BillEngvall.com)
MUSIC: Medeski, Martin & Wood’s “Midnight Poppies/Crooked Birds,” M. Ward, Jordan Hudson & Mike Coykendall’s “Howlin’ For My Baby,” instrumentals
NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE: John Williams’ “Jaws: Main Title And First Victim”
