About Today’s Title

OK, I’ll admit that the title for today’s book review is only tangentially connected to the subject matter of this book, but the song it comes from is a lot of fun, and that’s excuse enough. From the soundtrack of the 1989 film Batman, it’s a line from Prince’s #1 hit Batdance. (The 1989 film was the first of the “modern” films (i.e. produced after the campy 1960s TV series), and it’s the one directed by Tim Burton, with Michael Keaton as Batman, Jack Nicholson as the Joker and Kim Basinger as Vicki Vale).

The song consists of a number of samples from the film itself (including the famous / infamous line “This town needs an enema!”) wrapped in an infectious funky dance beat. You cannot not dance when listening to this song. You can see the full music video for the song, including dancing Batmans, Vicki Vales and Jokers, here on YouTube.

Let’s be honest, most people’s instinctual reaction to bats is dislike, or something worse. We tend to think of bats as creepy creatures of the night, who might just bite you or even suck your blood. At the very least, we think, they probably harbor some terrible disease, so you should stay far away from them. But if you stop and think about it, you could be envious of bats. After all, they are the only mammals gifted with the ability to fly.

Now when you think of bats you likely picture something that looks like a mouse with wings. But bats, we learn in this book, are more closely related to wolves or cows than they are to mice. And that’s not the only way we humans have misunderstood these creatures. This book sets out to give bats their due.

You probably already know that there is more than one kind of bat - researchers have identified nearly 1,500 species of bats. This book doesn’t attempt to cover them all - only some of the most studied bat species are featured here.

The Genius Bat by Yossi Yovel takes us into the world of bats and the study of bats. It’s a fascinating account told by an expert in the field. The book is divided into four parts — on the sociability of bats, their echolocation abilities, how bats evolved, and how we humans can help protect them. Through all four parts the author sprinkles the history of the study of bats. (Though echolocation is only one part of the book a lot of the stories throughout the book are centered on bats remarkable ability to identify and find things through their sound. It's an ability few other species share.)

The title might lead you to believe that the book is about bats, and it is, but as I mentioned, quite a lot of the focus is on the scientists who study bats. The book is full of stories about individual scientists and their findings, sometimes told in their own words. We get the inside view from an author who has made the study of bats the focus of his professional career. Yovel is a leader in the field of bat research, and this book presents some of his accumulated knowledge of bat life. He writes with humor and in plain language, clearly hoping his love of bats is infectious and will rub off on the reader.

One thing to note - the book is organized so that each chapter tells two or more stories about bat abilities, and the researchers who studied these abilities. Each of these stories is interwoven, so that you get a bit of one story, then the start of the next, then back to the first story, etc. Mostly this works, and it builds a bit of interest and suspense as you wait for these stories to unfold, but it can be a bit jarring at times.

RATING: Four Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

RATING COMMENTS: The inside story of bats and the scientists who study them. Written with humor in plain language by a bat expert who clearly hopes his love of bats will rub off on you.

WHERE I GOT MY COPY: I received an advance reviewer’s copy from NetGalley and the publisher, St. Martin’s Press. The book will be widely available next Tuesday, October 7th.