Cane Toads and Other Rogue Species: Participant Second Book Project by Karl Weber

Cane Toads and Other Rogue Species: Participant Second Book Project Reviews

• 
  Katey

  I picked this up while I was carpetbagging at a local Borders that was closing. Usually the words on a book "an inspiring companion to the acclaimed film" would make me shun it, but it was dirt cheap and I just so happened to want to know more about cane toads. I didn't know this until I saw the book, however.
  
  I haven't seen the movie, but this book, despite the first short part, doesn't even specifically address cane toads or the movie; it very much is about invasive species of all kinds. It's a series of essays, each one focusing on a part of the invasive species problem or environment. Lots of Big Brain people. Very eye opening, even if you are mildly aware of some of the biggest invasive species (the Burmese python in the Everglades and brown tree snake in Guam are mentioned in more than one essay), and the devastation they are wreaking on the native species. In one essay, it even goes in-depth about what the US govt. should do to try to fight this problem.
  
  So while we all count down the inevitable 6th mass extinction, perhaps we can all do our part to help slow it down. Something easy, like not letting your stolen, wild animal you have in captivity (aka imported exotic pets) loose in the wild, or not sneak in prohibited produce to island nations. It's sad to say that a lot of damage has been done through just those two things, and that's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
• 
  Greyson

  Odd book. A companion to Mark Lewis' Cane Toads: An Unnatural History that is mostly a collection of repetitive essays on the perils of invasive species. Perhaps geobiology and the general consciousness has come a long way, because these scientists/science educators in the mid-aughts are speaking like invasives are a new concept. In which case -- well done on the education front.
  
  The highlights here are an essay on Hawa'ii and its now-largely-extinct large animal population (including many flightless birds!), a policy action brief for the Federal gov't in the "What Can We Do?" section, and David Quammen's absolutely extraordinary 1998 Planet of Weeds essay slightly expanded from its initial publication in Harper's. At best, the rest are mediocre as a sum total.
• 
  Elaina

  I bought this book because my son was doing an essay for his English class. I thought this book would show more about Cane Toads than it did. Not much information I could find in this book. Some of the things were interesting in it.
• 
  Ruth

  I thought that this book would be more about cane toads than it was. It turned out to be a series of essays by various invasive species experts about many kinds of invasive species including brown tree snakes, various plants and mollusks. The story of how cane toads were introduced to Australia in hopes of the toads eating canegrubs (which were a pest in the sugar cane plantations) and how they eventually proliferated sets the stage for discussions on other invasive species. There are chapters on invasive species in Hawaii, oceans, and ballast water in ships.
  
  I thought that this book was informative and I would like to see the documentary that this book supplements. This is a great book for the non-scientific person to learn about how species have been dispersed across the world and the danger that they pose to native plants and animals.
• 
  Gwen

  This is a series of essay regarding rogue species and their impact on the world. Prior to each essay there is a bio for the author. Although some of the essays are written at least 10 years ago, they are still relevant if not more so. On essay mentioned Ebola spreading who knows where soon. What was all over the news in 2014? Scary.
  
  Included rogue species were animal and plant. The end has what is being done about this issue in terms of policies. I found this rather boring and too technical for my liking.