Crewdson, Michael

PERSONAL: Male.

ADDRESSES: Home—Brooklyn, NY. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Villard Books, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

CAREER: Writer and naturalist.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

(With Margaret Mittelbach) Wild New York: A Guide to the Wildlife, Wild Places & Natural Phenomena of New York City, Crown (New York, NY), 1997.

(With Margaret Mittelbach) Carnivorous Nights: On the Trail of the Tasmanian Tiger, illustrations by Alexis Rockman, Villard Books (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor of articles to publications, including the New York Times and Newsday.

SIDELIGHTS: Michael Crewdson and Margaret Mittelbach have written about various aspects of the natural world for major newspapers. They have also produced two book-length works. Their 1997 work Wild New York: A Guide to the Wildlife, Wild Places & Natural Phenomena of New York City is a field guide to an urban space. In 2005, the pair released the book Carnivorous Nights: On the Trail of the Tasmanian Tiger, a "spirited narrative of the authors' hunt for the presumed-extinct thylacine," according to a reviewer for Science News. The authors were inspired to search for the purportedly extinct Tasmanian tiger after seeing a stuffed version of the animal in New York's Museum of Natural History. The two traveled to Tasmania and braved the backcountry in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the animal; along the way they recorded their experiences with a variety of other animals. A Science News contributor praised the resulting book as both a "detailed nature guide and a humorous and engaging adventure story." Edell M. Schaefer, a reviewer for Library Journal, noted that Carnivorous Nights is "an irresistible work of armchair travel, not to be missed." Similarly, a reviewer for Publishers Weekly felt that "the authors' lively writing will keep readers' spirits high." A critic for Kirkus Reviews concluded the book "neatly and wonderfully sews together natural science and travel yarn."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, February 15, 2005, review of Carnivorous Nights: On the Trail of the Tasmanian Tiger, p. 217.

Library Journal, April 1, 2005, Edell M. Schaefer, review of Carnivorous Nights, p. 121.

Publishers Weekly, March 14, 2005, review of Carnivorous Nights, p. 60.

Science News, May 14, 2005, review of Carnivorous Nights, p. 319.