Stephen Dubner

I remembered reading an excerpt of the book in the New York Times Magazine when it was published in 2004. And then recently, a dear old friend of mine died and I inherited some of his books. Rats was one of them. My friend, Ivan, was the kind of reader who likes to underline interesting passages of a book as he goes.

I remembered reading an excerpt of the book in the New York Times Magazine when it was published in 2004. And then recently, a dear old friend of mine died and I inherited some of his books. Rats was one of them. My friend, Ivan, was the kind of reader who likes to underline interesting passages of a book as he goes.

When I sat down to read his copy of Rats, I found that roughly half of it was underlined. And that's what I told Robert Sullivan when I called him up.

When I sat down to read his copy of Rats, I found that roughly half of it was underlined. And that's what I told Robert Sullivan when I called him up.

When I sat down to read his copy of Rats, I found that roughly half of it was underlined. And that's what I told Robert Sullivan when I called him up.

So you have written a lot of articles, several books. Are you still best known for rats, do you think?

So you have written a lot of articles, several books. Are you still best known for rats, do you think?

So you have written a lot of articles, several books. Are you still best known for rats, do you think?

I asked Sullivan to explain how he had come to write about rats.

I asked Sullivan to explain how he had come to write about rats.

I asked Sullivan to explain how he had come to write about rats.

And this was a Native American tribe that had kind of a grandfathered-in license to hunt them? They had it in their treaty rights.

And this was a Native American tribe that had kind of a grandfathered-in license to hunt them? They had it in their treaty rights.

And this was a Native American tribe that had kind of a grandfathered-in license to hunt them? They had it in their treaty rights.

So that's what led Robert Sullivan to write about rats, but it is the depth of the reporting and the thinking and writing that makes his book spectacular. It is brash and clever and interesting on every page. I can see why Ivan couldn't stop underlining. The book feels like a cross between punk anthropology or rodentology, I guess, but there is a lot of anthro in there, and cheeky encyclopedia.

So that's what led Robert Sullivan to write about rats, but it is the depth of the reporting and the thinking and writing that makes his book spectacular. It is brash and clever and interesting on every page. I can see why Ivan couldn't stop underlining. The book feels like a cross between punk anthropology or rodentology, I guess, but there is a lot of anthro in there, and cheeky encyclopedia.

So that's what led Robert Sullivan to write about rats, but it is the depth of the reporting and the thinking and writing that makes his book spectacular. It is brash and clever and interesting on every page. I can see why Ivan couldn't stop underlining. The book feels like a cross between punk anthropology or rodentology, I guess, but there is a lot of anthro in there, and cheeky encyclopedia.

Rat control programs, Sullivan writes, are like diets in that cities are always trying a new one. In the city, rats and men live in conflict, one side scurrying from the other or destroying the other's habitat, an unending and brutish war. Rat stories are war stories, and they are told in conversation and on the news, in dispatches from the front that is all around us."

Rat control programs, Sullivan writes, are like diets in that cities are always trying a new one. In the city, rats and men live in conflict, one side scurrying from the other or destroying the other's habitat, an unending and brutish war. Rat stories are war stories, and they are told in conversation and on the news, in dispatches from the front that is all around us."

Rat control programs, Sullivan writes, are like diets in that cities are always trying a new one. In the city, rats and men live in conflict, one side scurrying from the other or destroying the other's habitat, an unending and brutish war. Rat stories are war stories, and they are told in conversation and on the news, in dispatches from the front that is all around us."