A Plague of Frogs: The Horrifying True Story

There are some excellent reviews already written on this book;but since none have been written for quite a while;let me do the honor of keeping the flame alive.I, also, found it an excellent read.I read a lot of books in the broad field of Natural History ;but many are written by naturalists and their strongest abilities are often not in writing skills.This book written by someone, more of a journalist, and hence is a much better read. While centered on the subject of frogs ,it does an excellent job of covering the whole subject of enviromental impact on life on the planet.He gives a detailed look at people involved and how their personalities have so much to do with identifying problems and finding solutions.He does not condem these people for the way they behave but tries to show why and in the end what, we have to expect.I think he has done a better job,being an 'outsider' than any of the scientists involved,could have done.Let the scientists do the reasearch and the writers tell the story!This is not said to criticize the scientists but to praise the writer. He points out that there are two types of errors that can occur when a problem surfaces: TYPE I Assume the situation is bad,if it turns out OK,nobody gets hurt,maybe some just embarrassment or credibility problems. TYPE II Assume not dangerous,turns out to be dangerous.This is a tragedy.No one wants to make a TYPE II error. As in many other books coming out today we are again being warned of the the problems man is creating with the enviroment.While most thinking people would agree that we are heading towards disaster,they think it is a long way off,the men in the white coats will come up with a solution (don't they always?);besides I,m not the problem.I still want that SUV;somebody else can solve the enviroment problem! Bill McKibben in "The End Of Nature" (1989) gives us lots of evidence that man has now the power to harm the enviroment beyond its ability to recover.It seems the warnings are not being heeded."In our lifetime there is no topic that will matter as much as our planet's survival and every discussion will begin with the premise of The End Of Nature". Just a couple of thoughts from Sowder's book: "This world is all we have.We've got no place to go." "The earth is changing,and the frogs are responding." "I think there's a lot we can't do anything about.The earth will take care of itself.Time is on its side.We don't have to save the world.We have to save ourselves." Just think about this. Who would have paid $1 for a bottle of water 25 yars ago ? Where will we be in the next 25;or is it 15,or maybe 10? To quote a line from Laurel and Hardy; "Now look at the mess you've got us in." Give this book a read,it's a warning for us all!' ;

This book is another in a series of books written about the subject of frog deformities. This book sheds an urgency on the problem in a dramatically written narrative, that hopefully will inform and concern most readers. While many people make light of the fact that the world has a frog problem, no one can dispute that global changes are affecting these animals at an increasing rate. Even if the problem is a "natural" one as some reviewers suggest, people should still be concerned that the world is rapidly loosing animals that have managed to survive for millions of years- certainly we should be doing something to change this; whatever the cause. I applaud the author for trying to get readers to see the problem as a global one, and a serious one. I would urge people to read this book, and come away from it prepared to do battle with the naysayers that have little concern for the future of frogs, the planet, and human life.

I must disagree with the reviewer who referred to William Souder's "A Plague of Frogs: The Horrifying True Story" as a `silly' book. This book was at once horrifying, fascinating, spellbinding, and thought-provoking. It also appears to be well-researched: Souder followed the story for more than three years and he references more than one hundred texts and technical papers at the end of the book. This is no 'silly' book. I cannot agree with the same reviewer who described the book as `biased journalism.' In my opinion, Souder presents an intriguing but balanced look at the problem and the efforts of scientists to understand it. Anyone with even a slight interest in our environment should read this book. You won't be able to put it down!When I saw the cover of the book, with its photograph of a deformed frog, I remembered seeing newscasts in the mid-90s about the discovery of large numbers of frogs with deformed legs. Missing legs, missing toes, extra legs, extra feet, underdeveloped legs and other anomalies were being discovered in frightening quantities. There were frogs with as many as nine legs. There were frogs whose feet were webbed to their torsos such that they could not extend their back legs and jump normally. I was at once intrigued and repulsed by the descriptions and photographs of some of these specimens. What DID cause these deformed frogs? I could not remember seeing a follow-up newscast with the resolution of the mystery of this outbreak or `plague.' I was hooked.After buying the book, I raced through it. Souder's style was similar to that of any good mystery writer - gradually relaying the story as it unfolded during the months and years that he followed it. But here, the story is true and the detectives are scientists. What I found most horrifying is that despite all of our knowledge and technology, this mystery defied solution. Surely with all of our advances in science we could solve this problem. Right?But the mystery persisted for months and YEARS. Souder teases the reader as the story unfolds. I kept waiting for the `answer' to be found. In the process, Souder revealed the debate and conflict among the various scientists - each of whom had areas of specialty and expertise that were possible `suspects' in the mystery. Were the deformities caused by parasites? How about man-made chemicals? Was this part of a naturally occurring cycle of occasional genetic bloopers? Or was something very amiss in the frog's environment? Souder's book reveals the sometimes petty squabbles between scientists and researchers, who, despite their intelligence, are just as human as you or I. He also shows us the lack of organization, overabundance of red tape and bureaucracy, and the lack of funding for solving this mystery. I don't want to give away the `answer,' so I'll just say that the ending was not what I expected. I'd still read the book again ... and probably will.

I thought this book was an extremely vivid and detailed account of an ecological disaster that is becoming all too common. Mr. Souder came and talked to a biology class of mine not too long ago and seemed to really know what he was talking about. This book reflects his exceptional journalism skills, which helps the reader understand things that scientists have done to try and solve this enigma.

Mr. Souder has the rare ability to bring abstruse science to life without bias or over-simplification. He is also a keen observer of the human species and its political interactions. This is indeed "the horrifying true story," one I wish would go away; yet the author's presentation is dispassionate, thorough, and as non-alarmist as possible for a subject this spooky. The book offers a good overview of current environmental science research in addition to its difficult detective story: what's responsible for these massive levels of gross deformities in frogs?