•i really wish this book had been co-written by a wildlife biologist or an ecologist, cause it felt a bit too memoir/pop-science to me
•barely talked about deer in mythology :/ also deer in places other than america !! this could’ve easily talked about the perception of deer in places other than america and europe (europe in this book apparently being that one paragraph about german hunting traditions for deer lmao).
•book gave so so so much time to people who kill deer (such as hunters and deer cullers) but pretty much none to people who oppose that? an entire chapter is dedicated to deer breeding and a ranch where you can hunt deer and i was thinking the entire time “you are being too nice to the lady who runs this ranch. WHY ARE YOU NOT EVEN DISCUSSING THE ETHICS OF INBREEDING ANIMALS TO EXAGGERATE FEATURES, THATS A HORRIFIC ETHICAL DILEMMA”.
•speaking of chapters there was just something about this book that kept me feeling bored (despite the fact that animals have been a major special interest of mine for my entire life, reasonably i should NOT be feeling bored at a book about deer). i think it was how each chapter would jump to a topic that didn’t feel properly connected to the last. also how this author just nonstop platformed hunters/deer cullers/deer breeders while not ever talking about reasonable opposition to those things? like im not even super anti-hunting i dont really care as long as you’re doing it as humanely as possible and for the right reasons, but wowie this book sure has one opinion and sticks with it