Maneaters

Maneaters is the first Capstick I read and I immediately became a huge fan. I have read accounts of animals attacking people (having lived in Alaska I was well studied in all of the bear attack books) but I soon found out that a Capstick book is a completely different animal. Up 'til Maneaters, my level of interest in such stories was directly related to the events themselves; i.e. "shark devours swimmer as horrified beachcombers look on" would be better than "man escapes close call when black bear enters tent." Capstick, on the other hand, is seemingly able to take a news clipping and make you feel like you are the one getting stomped into a puddle by that rogue elephant.Maneaters basically goes chapter by chapter through all of nature's species that have, in significant numbers, one of two qualities. Either they have taken to the consumption of human flesh, bones, hair or other parts; or they have typically found enjoyment in tap-dancing on, poking holes in, delimbing, tenderizing, or poisoning unfortunate, unwary people.Capstick goes back through history and bring to life true cases of human/animal encounters. The entire book is case after case of attacks or close calls. He does an excellent job of explaining the circumstances, events, and outcomes of each entry and while the book is entirely a collection of story stories, it flows nicely and is a fast read.Everybody turns up the television when the news comes on and says someone was mauled by a bear or bitten by a shark. This book is that multiplied by a hundred and there is no better newscaster than Peter Hathaway Capstick!

This is essentially a summary of Peters own experiences and those of other hunters of big dangerous game. There is little doubt in my mind that Peter Capstick is far more skilled a writer of this genre than Robert Ruark who also wrote about big game hunting in Africa. Where Peter Capstick excels is that he does not allow his ego to write his work for him. The pages of this book come to life. You are there facing a wounded buffalo or hungry lion. You are crawling through thorn bushes searching for an angry leopard. The only way of testing this is to read the book. You will enjoy all of dangers

I got this book, because the topic of maneaters is interesting to me. There's a certain primal thrill to the idea that--in a world where playground equipment is now made of plastic with rounded edges and guard rails--there are still big mean critters that pose a threat. The book sticks to the topic well and devotes chapters to many of the main maneaters including sharks, crocodiles, lions, tigers, leopards, bears, and so on.What didn't thrill me is the writing--and perhaps the writer himself. To be fair, this book was published in 1980. Maybe some of these animals were still in that "misunderstood" stage at the time of Chapstick's writing, but he seems to view wildlife in general as disposable and of little value beyond hunting trophies. As an example, in his very first chapter on sharks, he writes of how he was snorkeling once on a guided trip and speared a fish in shallow ocean water. Suddenly, a hammerhead shark darted past him. It went after the struggling fish that had been speared, but the author apparently interpreted this as an attack on himself.Now, it may be debatable whether he was in danger while in the water (I'd argue he wasn't), but he definitely was under no threat once he climbed out of the water back onto the guide's boat. Nonetheless, he grabbed his .357 magnum revolver, and began firing shots into the ocean at the shark. The shark was evidently not harmed much (bullets lose speed rapidly in water), but the author went on to joke about how if readers see a hammerhead with bullet holes in its fins, they might know why.I don't mean this as PETA-type rant. I hunt and I've shot animals. But Chapstick's "hunting" anecdotes don't seem too far removed from the 1800's days when train passengers would shoot bison to die and rot.... just because they could. In fact, of all of Chapstick's personal accounts throughout the book, I don't know if there was a single example in which he was truly in danger of being killed or eaten by the animals he describes. Instead, the actual maneater accounts in the book involve other other people and read more like a college research paper. He compiles names, dates, and quotes from various other sources. This would be fine if he left things objective, but he seems unable to resist putting words into other peoples mouths or thoughts into other people's heads. An example that stood out especially to me was when Chapstick shared some of Jim Corbett's accounts of man-eating leopards and tigers. Corbett himself was an author and hunter of maneaters (and I'd venture to say he was better than Chapstick on both accounts) but tended to have a very different outlook on life in general than Chapstick. He loved all the little nuances of nature and felt some measure of regret even when shooting maneating tigers and leopards, but he ultimately cared more for the poor people he was protecting. From Chapstick's interpretations, however, you'd guess that Corbett hated leopards and had little patience for people.My last thought on his writing is that one or two sentences could be removed from nearly every paragraph without losing any useful information. The reason for this is that Chapstick constantly tries to add funny quips or metaphores that really add nothing to the content. I imagine some readers find them amusing. I found them distracting.Overall, it's an interesting topic and the book has some good information in it, but I felt like I had to sort through a lot of egotistical BS to get to stuff worth reading.

I have every one of Capstick's books. No author puts you right there. He was an excellent author who drew you in with the first sentence. If you have never read his books, you are missing out. If you are a hunter, his books should be in your personal library.

Only one thing to say: read it with a nightlight on and prepare to jump in fright if any noise startles you while you read this book. Maneaters is a recounting of many true tales of man-eating animals, and believe me when I say you will be afraid of the dark after reading this.

I bought this book to replace a lost copy, so I once again have the complete Capstick collection. Hauntingly realistic prose by a true master of the genre. He recounts some wonderful historic hunting fare and adds some of his own unique and incredible experiences. A book for the ages. They’re still out there…

This book will make you wonder about all the times you walked to you're car, in the early morning hours, alone in the dark. What might have been watching you. What might have swam past you while you were swimming. Its a good Capstick book but not his greatest. Read it but if you have other Capstick book on you're wish list save this for later.

This is just a very engaging book, that I'd recommend to anyone who like a very well told TRUE LIFE adventure!

This book was first published in 1981 (1993) 2012, has 178 pages, 9 chapters and 10 large B/W drawings by Leon E Parson. The book is dedicated to Thomas Capstick and Thomas Capstick Jr. PETER HATHAWAY CAPSTICK was born on 11.1.1940 in orange , New Jersey, as a citizen of USA, he was permanent resident in South Africa. In 1968, he was a stock broker on Wall Street, but left to become a professional white hunter. After work in South America, he left for Africa, hunting in Ethiopia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia. He soon took up writing and wrote 12 books on African hunting and adventure. He was married to FIONA CLARE. He died aged 56 on 13.3.1996, of complications of bypass heart surgery in Pretoria, South Africa.The introduction to this book discusses the reasons for animals and man to become man-eaters. Capstick narrates his 1st encounter with a hammer-head shark. The Great white shark, 21ft, 7,000lbs is a man-eater and anything else it can find (even an elephant in 1959, along the coast of Kenya). The Bull shark injures, kills and eats more people because it wanders from salt waters to sweet water, up the rivers.Man-eating lions work in well organised prides and there are plenty of them wandering around. Man-eaters give bad publicity towards tourism in Africa and excuses are made when people are taken by them. Capstick questions that the original cause of death of Joy Adamson, killed by a lion, would have been not good for the image for her sponsors. The cause of death was quickly changed to murder. There were 2,000 deaths in Njombe, Tanzania due to man-eater lions. Again, witchcraft was blamed. Next, Capstick and friend stalk 3 man-eating lions on the north-west of Luangwa River.African Nile crocodiles will always eat African people and that's how it is in the African bush. The African sense of fatalism has not changed over the years. The crocodile is cunning, has all the patience and is master stalker and hunter. Unlike other man-eaters it is not easy to identify the individual crocodile man-eater, apart from his size. They do not knock animals with their tails.Man-eating leopard is the most difficult and dangerous of all the cats, to hunt. The hunter soon becomes the hunted. It does not loose the fear of man and strikes at night. Capstick says he has heard hyena imitate lion roars! The Maasai are quite aware of the hyena sneaking through the BOMA to eat a goat or sheep and even a baby. The hyena classically tend to go for the face.Tigers do climb trees and are known to leap and charge the head of the charging elephant. Man-eater tigers were common, but are now rare because of their falling numbers. Never the less, man-eater tiger is one of the most dangerous animals. The largest tiger is the Siberian snow tiger. Some other cats can also become man-eaters or man-killers eg cougar or jaguar.The last chapter in this book is on Cannibals. It is not pleasant to hear that more humans have died by the hands of their fellow humans, than any other cause. Capstick concentrates on large mammals as man-killers and man-eaters, using his own experiences and observations, and some from other explorers or hunters around the world.Some other book with similar theme are:-(1) Man-eater of Kumaon, Jim Corbett 1944(2) Dangerous to Man, Caras 1964(3) Man is the Prey, Clarke 1969(4) Desperate Journeys Abandoned Souls, Leslie 1987(5) Spell of the Tiger, Montgomery 1995(6) Hunter and Hunted, Kruuk 2002(7) Killer Animals, Ricciuti 2003(8) Mammoth Book of Maneaters, MacCormick 2003(9) Man the Hunted, Sussman 2005(10)Deadly Animals, Grice 2010Having born in Kenya, I found this book interesting.

... after everything I had heard about Capstick being a must-read outdoors author, I wasn't that impressed. His gallows humor and "scoff at danger" persona seemed juvenile - and a bit forced, frankly.

I really enjoy reading capstick

Nothing like the quality of my original kitchen devils which i still have after 15 years.Difficult to cut hard vegetables and one of the two has already rust spots on blade.i am very disappointed!