Scientists are cool! (and other observations on the way to getting more big cat books)

Scientists are cool.

Having married one, I've known this for awhile, but I thought I would use this post to reaffirm their coolness and discuss its relation to getting more books about big cats.

Last year I was trying to purchase a book about the Amur tiger that wasn't available in the States. Just as I clicked on the button to buy it, it was purchased by someone else. I contacted the seller to see if he had any leads on tracking down a second copy. He generously replied that he would be traveling back to Russia in the coming weeks and would purchase another copy for me.

Lest this should seem a quirk, there's also this title:

In my searches, I found a copy in the Smithsonian. A scientist and researcher there generously agreed to scan it and send it to me.

Then there's this title. I didn't even know there was an Arabian leopard, so when I found out about this book I had to have it. Unfortunately, it's out of print everywhere. So I tracked down the writer, whose brother was traveling to New York. While in the city, he sent me a copy of the book! For free!

Finally, I came across this work on an Amazon hunt, but the used copies were upwards of $800. I wrote to the author, who said a new version was coming out (you can check it out here) and emailed me when it was available for purchase.

So, what I have taken from these cool encounters is that scientists want me to expand my big cat bookshelf and that if you need help in finding sources, they are very nice people to write to. I can't wait to see what they write about next!