Reading List

Some books that might be interesting to students who want to learn more about Thai culture, conservation and ecology

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Chasing the Dragon’s Tail: The Struggle to Save Thailand’s Wild Cats, by Alan Rabinowitz. Alan Rabinowitz is one of the leading authors on protecting large cats in the wild. He is the director of the Science and Exploration Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society, and has led research expeditions all over the world. He is known for founding the world’s first jaguar reserve, which lies in Belize. This book is a sad and beautiful tale of the author’s struggle to understand Thailand and to help save the wild cat population of Thailand.

A Chant to Soothe Wild Elephants, by Jaed Coffin. Jaed Coffin lives in Maine, and was raised in the United States as a Thai American. When he was twenty-one-years-old, he left college life in New England to be ordained as a Buddhist Monk in his mother’s native village of Panomsarakram, Thailand. This book is the story of his time in Thailand, and explores themes of displacement, ethnic identity, and cultural belonging.

When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals, by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson and Susan McCarthy. This New York Times Bestseller was heralded as “A masterpiece, the most comprehensive and compelling argument for animal sensibility…”. Elephants are the national animal of Thailand, and are an important symbol in religion and culture there. They are also intelligent, social animals who are on the brink of extinction in Asia and Africa. This text is a great exploration of the emotional lives of elephants and an eye-opening tale for students of conservation and the behavior of animals, human or otherwise.

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Elephant Memories, by Cynthia Moss. Cynthia Moss is founder and director of the Amboseli Elephant Research Project in Africa. As a study of a family of African Elephants in Kenya over twenty-seven years, this book is a moving and important book. “One is soon swept away by this ‘Babar’ for adults. By the end, one wants to curse human civilization and cry out, ‘Now God stand up for the elephants!’”, wrote Christopher Lehmann-Haupt of the New York Times.

The Dream of a Thousand Lives: A Sojourn in Thailand, by Karen Connelly. Karen Connelly spent one year in a farming community in Northern Thailand as a young woman. The book is a narrative of journal entries of her experience living in and interacting with the Thai culture.

Life in the Valley of Death: The Fight to Save Tigers in a Land of Guns, Gold, and Greed, by Alan Rabinowitz. Another text by Alan Rabinowitz, giving more detail of the political and economic climates in Thailand and their influence on the environment.

Meeting Faith: The Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun, by Faith Adiele. The author left her undergraduate studies at Harvard to spend a year doing research in Thailand. After becoming interested in the culture of the Buddhist nuns in Thailand, she decided to seek “temporary ordination” as a nun herself. Her journals are the story of her time in Thailand and the awareness and perspective the journey brought to her life.