If the scenes from a book stay with you for decades then it is a sign that the book must be really good. Konrad Lorenz won a noble prize for his work on animal behavior. He explained that one of his principles for studying animal behavior was to study them in the wild and not in captivity since that so strongly impacted their behavior. King Solomon's Ring talks, in popular language, about his studies of fish and birds in particular explaining the sometimes embarrassing lengths he went to in order to perform his studies. The result is an endearing and frequently amusing look at the animal world suitable for readers of any age.

I had read this book when I was a kid and found Konrad Lorenz's stories about how he studied animal behavior to be charming. The illustrations are also perfect for the book although not effectively reproduced in the ebook edition. ( )

7/10/22

L'ho trovato un po' sopravvalutato, se devo essere sincero. Capisco che Lorenz è stato il pioniere dell'etologia moderna, e vederlo fare da babbo alle papere è indubbiamente interessante e simpatico, ma alla fine ti resta quell'impressione di riciclo delle stesse due nozioni. ( )

King Solomon's Ring is considered a classic on the subject of animal behavior. Konrad Lorenz was an ethologist (someone who studies animal behavior) who raised many animals at his home to study. Although he raised the animals and kept them at his home, he gave them free range of his home and the world around him in order to get a more realistic view of their behavior in their natural environment. In this book, Lorenz tells the reader about his observations of a number of animal species. The writing of the books is observational rather than scientific and very accessible to someone without a science background. One thing I found especially interesting is how World War II seemed to have affected Lorenz. He was German and much of his research was done in the 1930s and beyond. Although the book is about his observations of the animals, there are times when he allows how the war affected him to seep into the writing. For example after observing two doves tear each other apart in when he put them together in a cage for breeding purposes he writes, "Only in two other instances have I seen similar horrible lacerations inflicted on their own kind by vertebrates: once, as an observer of the embittered fights of cichlid fishes who sometimes actually skin each other, and again as a field surgeon, in the late war, where the highest of all vertebrates perpetrated mass mutilations on members of his own species." I would recommend this book to anyone interested in animal behavior or animals in general. There is a fun section on dogs and how their behavior is influenced by their wolf or jackal ancestors. ( )

King Solomon’s Ring by Konrad Lorenz, an Austrian ethologist, is not your typical science book in that it is written with a less-scientific audience in mind. Complete with minimal illustrations from Lorenz, the book does not read like a scientific experiment that can be precisely duplicated, but more like a series of observations and anecdotes from a man who invited the wild into his home. Unlike King Solomon, Lorenz claims not to need a magic ring to learn the language of animals and to communicate with them. While there are discussions of domesticated and wild dogs, among other animals, Lorenz mainly focuses on the behaviors of the water shrew, his aquarium fish, and the Jackdaw.

While considered a premier examination of animal behavior and discussing in detail the phenomenon of imprinting, on some occasions he appears to anthropomorphize these animals, making them seem more human than they are, particularly when discussing their mating rituals. Lorenz also is very descriptive of the animals and their interactions with one another and with the humans who lived in the home and surrounding neighborhood. These descriptions, while interesting to a scientist, may border on tedium for others.

Read the full review:http://savvyverseandwit.com/2012/11/king-solomons-ring-by-konrad-z-lorenz.html ( )