Satisfy Your Tiger King Obsession with These 5 Wild Nonfiction Books

Estefania Acquaviva
May 6 2020
Share Satisfy Your Tiger King Obsession with These 5 Wild Nonfiction Books

When I watched the first episode of Tiger King, I was immediately captivated by the intense characters, their obsession with wild animals, and their intriguing competitive relationships with each other. First, I could not believe that it was legal to own an exotic animal like a tiger in parts of the United States—that honestly blew my mind! Second, I started to think about the way crime and murderous passion intersects in circles like these, because obsession is such a key component of their exotic animal–focused lives. After I was done bingeing all the Tiger King episodes, I started looking for books with similar themes, and I found some that I think match perfectly. Stay safe at home, and enjoy these crazy stories filled with obsession, exotic animals, and passionate crime!

This post was originally published on GetLiterary.com.

Savage Appetites
by Rachel Monroe

If your favorite part of Tiger King is the investigation of Carole Baskin’s husband’s disappearance, then this is the book for you. In this nonfiction investigative story, Monroe presents four women as archetypes: Detective, Victim, Defender, and Killer, providing a new perspective on the history of American crime. From the unsatisfied heiress in the 1940s who became known as the “Mother of Forensic Science,” to the teenager so involved in the online fandom of the Columbine killers that she began to plan a mass shooting of her own in 2015, Monroe explores how each story represents one of the archetypes. The book includes reportage, personal narrative, and an examination of the relationship between violence and the media.

Amazon logo Barnes & Noble logo Books a Million logo Bookshop logo
Savage Appetites
Rachel Monroe

A provocative and original investigation of our cultural fascination with crime, linking four archetypes—Detective, Victim, Defender, Killer—to four true stories about women driven by obsession.

In this illuminating exploration of women, violence, and obsession, Rachel Monroe interrogates the appeal of true crime through four narratives of fixation. In the 1940s, a frustrated heiress began creating dollhouse crime scenes depicting murders, suicides, and accidental deaths. Known as the “Mother of Forensic Science,” she revolutionized the field of what was then called legal medicine. In the aftermath of the Manson Family murders, a young woman moved into Sharon Tate’s guesthouse and, over the next two decades, entwined herself with the Tate family. In the mid-nineties, a landscape architect in Brooklyn fell in love with a convicted murderer, the supposed ringleader of the West Memphis Three, through an intense series of letters. After they married, she devoted her life to getting him freed from death row. And in 2015, a teenager deeply involved in the online fandom for the Columbine killers planned a mass shooting of her own.

Each woman, Monroe argues, represents and identifies with a particular archetype that provides an entryway into true crime. Through these four cases, she traces the history of American crime through the growth of forensic science, the evolving role of victims, the Satanic Panic, the rise of online detectives, and the long shadow of the Columbine shooting. In a combination of personal narrative, reportage, and a sociological examination of violence and media in the twentieth and twenty-first century, Savage Appetites scrupulously explores empathy, justice, and the persistent appeal of violence.

Amazon logo Barnes & Noble logo Books a Million logo Bookshop logo
Close

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/offtheshelf.com/htdocs/web/app/themes/ots/_inc/template-parts/books/book-post.php on line 16

Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /var/www/offtheshelf.com/htdocs/web/app/themes/ots/_inc/template-parts/books/book-post.php on line 17

Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in /var/www/offtheshelf.com/htdocs/web/app/themes/ots/_inc/template-parts/books/book-post.php on line 17

Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /var/www/offtheshelf.com/htdocs/web/app/themes/ots/_inc/template-parts/books/book-post.php on line 18

Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in /var/www/offtheshelf.com/htdocs/web/app/themes/ots/_inc/template-parts/books/book-post.php on line 18
<br />
<b>Notice</b>:  Trying to get property 'post_title' of non-object in <b>/var/www/offtheshelf.com/htdocs/web/app/themes/ots/_inc/template-parts/books/book-post.php</b> on line <b>31</b><br />

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/offtheshelf.com/htdocs/web/app/themes/ots/_inc/template-parts/books/book-post.php on line 33
|+| Add to Your Shelf

Notice: Trying to get property 'post_title' of non-object in /var/www/offtheshelf.com/htdocs/web/app/themes/ots/_inc/template-parts/books/book-post.php on line 37
by

Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /var/www/offtheshelf.com/htdocs/web/app/themes/ots/_inc/template-parts/books/book-post.php on line 50

Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in /var/www/offtheshelf.com/htdocs/web/app/themes/ots/_inc/template-parts/books/book-post.php on line 50


Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/symlinks/bookmanager/post-types/bookmanager_template.php on line 843

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/symlinks/bookmanager/post-types/bookmanager_template.php on line 844

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/symlinks/bookmanager/post-types/bookmanager_template.php on line 845

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/symlinks/bookmanager/post-types/bookmanager_template.php on line 846

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/symlinks/bookmanager/post-types/bookmanager_template.php on line 847

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/symlinks/bookmanager/post-types/bookmanager_template.php on line 848

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/symlinks/bookmanager/post-types/bookmanager_template.php on line 849

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/symlinks/bookmanager/post-types/bookmanager_template.php on line 850

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/symlinks/bookmanager/post-types/bookmanager_template.php on line 852

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/symlinks/bookmanager/post-types/bookmanager_template.php on line 854

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/symlinks/bookmanager/post-types/bookmanager_template.php on line 855

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/symlinks/bookmanager/post-types/bookmanager_template.php on line 856

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/offtheshelf.com/htdocs/web/app/themes/ots/_inc/template-parts/books/book-modal.php on line 18

Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /var/www/offtheshelf.com/htdocs/web/app/themes/ots/_inc/template-parts/books/book-modal.php on line 21

Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in /var/www/offtheshelf.com/htdocs/web/app/themes/ots/_inc/template-parts/books/book-modal.php on line 21

Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /var/www/offtheshelf.com/htdocs/web/app/themes/ots/_inc/template-parts/books/book-modal.php on line 23

Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in /var/www/offtheshelf.com/htdocs/web/app/themes/ots/_inc/template-parts/books/book-modal.php on line 23


Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/offtheshelf.com/htdocs/web/app/themes/ots/_inc/template-parts/books/book-modal.php on line 40
|+| Add to Your Shelf

Notice: Trying to get property 'post_title' of non-object in /var/www/offtheshelf.com/htdocs/web/app/themes/ots/_inc/template-parts/books/book-modal.php on line 46


Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /var/www/offtheshelf.com/htdocs/web/app/themes/ots/_inc/template-parts/books/book-modal.php on line 52

Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in /var/www/offtheshelf.com/htdocs/web/app/themes/ots/_inc/template-parts/books/book-modal.php on line 52


Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/symlinks/bookmanager/post-types/bookmanager_template.php on line 843

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/symlinks/bookmanager/post-types/bookmanager_template.php on line 844

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/symlinks/bookmanager/post-types/bookmanager_template.php on line 845

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/symlinks/bookmanager/post-types/bookmanager_template.php on line 846

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/symlinks/bookmanager/post-types/bookmanager_template.php on line 847

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/symlinks/bookmanager/post-types/bookmanager_template.php on line 848

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/symlinks/bookmanager/post-types/bookmanager_template.php on line 849

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/symlinks/bookmanager/post-types/bookmanager_template.php on line 850

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/symlinks/bookmanager/post-types/bookmanager_template.php on line 852

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/symlinks/bookmanager/post-types/bookmanager_template.php on line 854

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/symlinks/bookmanager/post-types/bookmanager_template.php on line 855

Notice: Trying to get property 'ID' of non-object in /var/www/symlinks/bookmanager/post-types/bookmanager_template.php on line 856
Close
Why Fish Don’t Exist
by Lulu Miller

Tiger King is all about obsession, with lots of twists and turns, including aspects of love, chaos, and even questions of murder. In this nonfiction book, NPR reporter Lulu Miller intertwines part of her own unraveling life story with the biography of David Starr Jordan, a taxonomist obsessed with discovering new fish species. As the author began to lose everything in her life, she found herself also wondering about this man who lost his life’s scientific work to lightning, fire, and even the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. At first, Miller saw Jordan as a type of cautionary tale for his hubris, but the more she studied his life, the more she realized that there was something about his persistence that mattered, that was also slowly changing the way she thought about history, and even her own mortality.

Amazon logo Barnes & Noble logo Books a Million logo Bookshop logo
Why Fish Don’t Exist
Lulu Miller

A wondrous debut from an extraordinary new voice in nonfiction, Why Fish Don’t Exist is a dark and astonishing tale of love, chaos, scientific obsession, and—possibly—even murder.

David Starr Jordan was a taxonomist, a man possessed with bringing order to the natural world. In time, he would be credited with discovering nearly a fifth of the fish known to humans in his day. But the more of the hidden blueprint of life he uncovered, the harder the universe seemed to try to thwart him. His specimen collections were demolished by lightning, by fire, and eventually by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake—which sent more than a thousand of his discoveries, housed in fragile glass jars, plummeting to the floor. In an instant, his life’s work was shattered.

Many might have given up, given in to despair. But Jordan? He surveyed the wreckage at his feet, found the first fish he recognized, and confidently began to rebuild his collection. And this time, he introduced one clever innovation that he believed would at last protect his work against the chaos of the world.

When NPR reporter Lulu Miller first heard this anecdote in passing, she took Jordan for a foola cautionary tale in hubris, or denial. But as her own life slowly unraveled, she began to wonder about him. Perhaps instead he was a model for how to go on when all seemed lost. What she would unearth about his life would transform her understanding of history, morality, and the world beneath her feet.

Part biography, part memoir, part scientific adventure, Why Fish Don’t Exist reads like a fable about how to persevere in a world where chaos will always prevail.

Amazon logo Barnes & Noble logo Books a Million logo Bookshop logo

MENTIONED IN:

Fuel Your Inner Ms. Frizzle with These Inquisitive Literary Heroines

By Sara Roncero-Menendez | August 7, 2020

Satisfy Your Tiger King Obsession with These 5 Wild Nonfiction Books

By Estefania Acquaviva | May 6, 2020

Our 15 Most Anticipated New Reads of April 2020

By Get Literary | March 31, 2020

Close
The Falcon Thief
by Joshua Hammer

Similar to Joe Exotic, Jeffrey Lendrum has a complex relationship with the exotic animals he smuggles. Indeed, The Falcon Thief paints a complicated picture of a man who is unable to step away from a decade of illegally procuring the offspring of wild falcons for Middle Eastern elites. For smugglers like Jeffrey Lendrum, it’s simply a question of supply and demand. The core of this story revolves around a wildlife detective, Andy McWilliam, who is in charge of investigating the falcon egg smuggling case, and the bizarre people that come with it—Lendrum goes to such concealing lengths as to tape falcon eggs to his body. Blending true crime and natural history, this nonfiction tale takes a deep look at the wildlife black market.

Amazon logo Audible logo Barnes & Noble logo Books a Million logo Google Play logo iBooks logo Bookshop logo Libro.fm logo
The Falcon Thief
Joshua Hammer

A rollicking true-crime adventure about a rogue who trades in rare birds and their eggs—and the wildlife detective determined to stop him.

On May 3, 2010, an Irish national named Jeffrey Lendrum was apprehended at Britain’s Birmingham International Airport with a suspicious parcel strapped to his stomach. Inside were fourteen rare peregrine falcon eggs snatched from a remote cliffside in Wales.

So begins a tale almost too bizarre to believe, following the parallel lives of a globe-trotting smuggler who spent two decades capturing endangered raptors worth millions of dollars as race champions—and Detective Andy McWilliam of the United Kingdom’s National Wildlife Crime Unit, who’s hell bent on protecting the world’s birds of prey.

The Falcon Thief whisks readers from the volcanoes of Patagonia to Zimbabwe’s Matobo National Park, and from the frigid tundra near the Arctic Circle to luxurious aviaries in the deserts of Dubai, all in pursuit of a man who is reckless, arrogant, and gripped by a destructive compulsion to make the most beautiful creatures in nature his own. It’s a story that’s part true-crime narrative, part epic adventure—and wholly unputdownable until the very last page.

Amazon logo Audible logo Barnes & Noble logo Books a Million logo Google Play logo iBooks logo Bookshop logo Libro.fm logo
Close
Birds Art Life
by Kyo Maclear

If you’re looking for a narrator with a refreshingly healthy relationship to wildlife, dive into author Kyo Maclear’s intimate reflection on life and art, revealed through the lens of the birds she seeks throughout the urban landscape. For Maclear, it’s not about finding the most exotic birds, or trying to win over someone else—in these seasonal birds, she discovers joy, a space for contemplation, and, ultimately, a sense of what matters most in life. In this difficult time when we have all lost aspects of our previous lives, this book offers us beauty in the smallest ways, and understanding in the tiniest details. These core lessons from birds can be applied now more than ever, not just to art, but to other key aspects of our new normal.

Amazon logo Audible logo Barnes & Noble logo Books a Million logo Google Play logo iBooks logo Bookshop logo
Birds Art Life
Kyo Maclear

Amazon logo Audible logo Barnes & Noble logo Books a Million logo Google Play logo iBooks logo Bookshop logo

MENTIONED IN:

Satisfy Your Tiger King Obsession with These 5 Wild Nonfiction Books

By Estefania Acquaviva | May 6, 2020

A Big Year Reading List: 6 Books for Bird Lovers

By Ana Perez | January 24, 2019

Holiday Gift Ideas and Book Recommendations from Off the Shelf

By Off the Shelf Staff | December 2, 2017

Close

You must be logged in to add books to your shelf.

Please log in or sign up now.