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Animal Series
Frog
From the metamorphosing fairytale Frog Prince and The Tale of Jeremy Fisher, to dissections in science class, to television’s Kermit, frogs are ever-present in our childhoods. Just what is it about this slimy creature that captures our imagination? While much attention has been paid to the scientific qualities of the frog, little has been said about the large role played by this slippery amphibian in art, literature and popular culture.
Charlotte Sleigh’s witty, readable Frog provides an entertaining and sometimes shocking account of this much-loved, and much-misunderstood animal. Sleigh provides answers to many questions, including why frogs have been so prominent in fairy tales, and also scientific experiments throughout the years, and just what place the frog holds in religion. The many faces of the frog are also explored, such as the devilish and comic; the sophisticated and chauvinist; the revolting and delicious. The author weaves the natural history of the frog together with their mythology in a way that has not been done before.
Featuring many fine images of frogs from nature and culture, Frog will appeal to a wide audience – from those who keep these remarkable amphibians in their homes, to those who recall stories from their childhood with affection, to those who regard them as a tasty dinner.
Charlotte Sleigh is Senior Lecturer in History of Science at the University of Kent, Canterbury. She is the author of Ant (2003), also published by Reaktion Books.
Charlotte Sleigh’s witty, readable Frog provides an entertaining and sometimes shocking account of this much-loved, and much-misunderstood animal. Sleigh provides answers to many questions, including why frogs have been so prominent in fairy tales, and also scientific experiments throughout the years, and just what place the frog holds in religion. The many faces of the frog are also explored, such as the devilish and comic; the sophisticated and chauvinist; the revolting and delicious. The author weaves the natural history of the frog together with their mythology in a way that has not been done before.
Featuring many fine images of frogs from nature and culture, Frog will appeal to a wide audience – from those who keep these remarkable amphibians in their homes, to those who recall stories from their childhood with affection, to those who regard them as a tasty dinner.
Charlotte Sleigh is Senior Lecturer in History of Science at the University of Kent, Canterbury. She is the author of Ant (2003), also published by Reaktion Books.
- GenresNonfictionScience
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
2 people are currently reading
112 people want to read
About the author
Charlotte Sleigh
18 books10 followersDr. Charlotte Sleigh is Lecturer in the School of History at the University of Kent at Canterbury. (2003)
Charlotte Sleigh studied at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge. She had a one-year visiting assistant professorship at the University of California, Los Angeles, before taking up her post at Kent in 2000, where she is now senior lecturer in history of science.
Charlotte has been known as ‘the ant woman’ for some time now on account of her research into the history of myrmecology, the science of ants. She has researched how social and cultural perspectives have shaped the ways in which scientists have looked at ants, resulting in two books (Ant, Reaktion, 2003, and Six Legs Better, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007) and a number of articles.
Keen to shake off her insectan title, and to be known for other areas of expertise, Charlotte is currently working on a book about science and literature to be published by Palgrave. Besides this, her research interests encompass the life sciences over the past 150 years. She has given public lectures and appeared on a number of radio and TV programmes, speaking with varying degrees of authoritativeness on a number of history of science-related topics.
Charlotte’s teaching at Kent includes science and literature, Victorian science and society, the history of animals, and the history of the body in the twentieth century. She is co-director of the MSc in Science, Communication and Society, run jointly with Biosciences. This unique degree combines practical training in science communication with insights from the humanities on the history, sociology and ethics of science.
Charlotte Sleigh studied at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge. She had a one-year visiting assistant professorship at the University of California, Los Angeles, before taking up her post at Kent in 2000, where she is now senior lecturer in history of science.
Charlotte has been known as ‘the ant woman’ for some time now on account of her research into the history of myrmecology, the science of ants. She has researched how social and cultural perspectives have shaped the ways in which scientists have looked at ants, resulting in two books (Ant, Reaktion, 2003, and Six Legs Better, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007) and a number of articles.
Keen to shake off her insectan title, and to be known for other areas of expertise, Charlotte is currently working on a book about science and literature to be published by Palgrave. Besides this, her research interests encompass the life sciences over the past 150 years. She has given public lectures and appeared on a number of radio and TV programmes, speaking with varying degrees of authoritativeness on a number of history of science-related topics.
Charlotte’s teaching at Kent includes science and literature, Victorian science and society, the history of animals, and the history of the body in the twentieth century. She is co-director of the MSc in Science, Communication and Society, run jointly with Biosciences. This unique degree combines practical training in science communication with insights from the humanities on the history, sociology and ethics of science.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 21, 2015
Great, compact overview of the frog and how it has been utilised in symbolic, cultural and scientific terms. The review of the frog's contribution to scientific progress was especially well thought out and mention of the recent concern as amphibians being labelled a barometer species dealt with in a balanced way. A lightness of touch when needed helped to convey the relevance the frog has had on a wider societal level. The sections on the frog and its place in literature were a little brief but gave a reasonable starting point for further investigation. Enjoyable compendium on all things frog.
October 31, 2015
Potential wasted.
This is supposed to be a cultural history of the frog, which is a greta idea for a book--one I'd love to write myself! And when I think of the difficulty of organizing such a morass of material, I sympathize with Sleigh's plight. Unfortunately, I don't think she ever found her way out.
Part of the problem is the voice: the book toggles between an omniscient voice of how the frog has been seen throughout history and throughout the world, with occasional recognition that most of the evidence is from Western Society and only very late acknowledgment that what's being dealt with here is broadstrokes-cultural-history and cannot be said to represent the everyday view of the frog. The other side is a personal view that is more small-scale and probing and curious.
This second voice is the voice of the much better, much more elegant Book of the Toad. If you're interested in this subject, go to that book, instead.
The other problem is structure. The book is divided thematically, which means that there is a fair amount of repetition of history in a very short book. There is so much material to cover, and Sleigh rockets from one topic to another, with only slight transitions, making it hard to put together a coherent story. She can be a good writer at the level of the sentence; things get dicier at the level of the paragraph, as she is trying to unite the different topics she is cramming in; above the paragraph, the structure is hard to discern at all, even with the explicit thematic call-outs and chapter headings.
The best bit is about how the frog entered the laboratory as a model organism for physiology and development in the nineteenth century.
The medieval views of the toad and frog are too simplified, and when Sleigh gets to modern ideas it feels too ephemeral, with references to internet comments, for example.
There is good stuff here and the book is short enough that it's not too hard to mine those nuggets, but it is more difficult than it should be.
The images are great--though one pair is mis-labeled.
This is supposed to be a cultural history of the frog, which is a greta idea for a book--one I'd love to write myself! And when I think of the difficulty of organizing such a morass of material, I sympathize with Sleigh's plight. Unfortunately, I don't think she ever found her way out.
Part of the problem is the voice: the book toggles between an omniscient voice of how the frog has been seen throughout history and throughout the world, with occasional recognition that most of the evidence is from Western Society and only very late acknowledgment that what's being dealt with here is broadstrokes-cultural-history and cannot be said to represent the everyday view of the frog. The other side is a personal view that is more small-scale and probing and curious.
This second voice is the voice of the much better, much more elegant Book of the Toad. If you're interested in this subject, go to that book, instead.
The other problem is structure. The book is divided thematically, which means that there is a fair amount of repetition of history in a very short book. There is so much material to cover, and Sleigh rockets from one topic to another, with only slight transitions, making it hard to put together a coherent story. She can be a good writer at the level of the sentence; things get dicier at the level of the paragraph, as she is trying to unite the different topics she is cramming in; above the paragraph, the structure is hard to discern at all, even with the explicit thematic call-outs and chapter headings.
The best bit is about how the frog entered the laboratory as a model organism for physiology and development in the nineteenth century.
The medieval views of the toad and frog are too simplified, and when Sleigh gets to modern ideas it feels too ephemeral, with references to internet comments, for example.
There is good stuff here and the book is short enough that it's not too hard to mine those nuggets, but it is more difficult than it should be.
The images are great--though one pair is mis-labeled.
April 7, 2019
“ Above all, they are liminal creatures ...” aptly commences tome with mosaic-like quality: frogs have been viewed at different times and places as sex-mad, yucky, funny, vain; augers of fertility, wealth, Satan, death; they fall from the sky; they spontaneously generate. As with Reaktion’s Camel, tough to find a through line amid the welter of facts and fictions, which is kind of the point.
Wonderful selection of pics.
Wonderful selection of pics.
July 19, 2013
"While much attention has been paid to the scientific qualities of the frog, little has been said about the large role played by this slippery amphibian in art, literature and popular culture." (back cover)
I'm afraid this statement led me to expect something different from this book; to my tastes at least it glossed over the examination of the frog in art, literature and popular culture, while (needlessly?) going quite in-depth into the related sciences.
Undoubtedly a solid book, written quite obviously by someone of high scholarship (though still relatively accessible).
The images contained are of excellent quality, though I occasionally wished them somewhat larger. I likely would have rated this book 4 perhaps even 5 stars had my expectations not been thrown off.
I'm afraid this statement led me to expect something different from this book; to my tastes at least it glossed over the examination of the frog in art, literature and popular culture, while (needlessly?) going quite in-depth into the related sciences.
Undoubtedly a solid book, written quite obviously by someone of high scholarship (though still relatively accessible).
The images contained are of excellent quality, though I occasionally wished them somewhat larger. I likely would have rated this book 4 perhaps even 5 stars had my expectations not been thrown off.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews