Week_4_2/4/2016_Zooland

     The book I chose from Pius Library is called 'Zooland'.  Zooland is written by Irus Braverman and is about the institution of captivity.  This hardback book measures out at roughly seven inches by five inches with a photo of a bear inside of what seems to be a cage at the zoo, under large, orange letters spelling out 'ZOOLAND'.  At 264 pages long, this book gives off a more novel-y feel although it is non-fiction.  The text is in Times New Roman, and the contents of the book move from Introduction, through seven chapters, finally to notes, bibliography, and index.  The margins and paragraph size are very different than other non-fictions that I've read or seen.  The book is a tad larger than a regular non-fiction book, and it reads like one as well, which is why I found this book so interesting.  Roughly every 20 pages there is a picture, something I find non-fiction books to have much more than fiction-books, though this book has less pictures than the typical non-fiction in my opinion.
     The audience this book is aiming towards is, in my opinion, young to middle aged adults who care about animals.  Though this is a pretty large audience, it is clear this is the audience because of many reasons.  First, the length and contents of the book clearly show it is not for a younger audience.  The words, though few of them being unknown to a younger audience, are composed in such a way that might make it hard for say a middle-schooler to fully understand and retain.  For example, phrases such as "[Timmy's story] calls attention to the uniqueness of the zoo's collective form of management and especially to the importance of captive reproduction for this management" may be hard for a child to understand (Braverman 6).  Secondly, the book says under it's title, "The Institution of Captivity", which means it is clear that the book is about animals in captivity.  The writing style of the book doesn't exactly sway towards one opinion of pro-captivity or against captivity, but rather explores the idea of captivity and how "the human stance of domination and the control toward animals has been redefined" (Braverman 5).  Because of this, the audience isn't just people who are for or against captivity.  Instead, the audience can be anyone who cares to take the time to read about animals in captivity in general.  The introduction tells the story of a gorilla named Timmy, and how he was captured and taken across the world to finally arrive in the United States, along with the few other surviving baby gorillas to be put in zoos.

Call number: QL 76.5 .N7 B73

Braverman, Irus.  Zooland, The Institution of Captivity. Stanford, California: Stanford University
     Press, 2012.  Print.