Lovely short book. Probably more appropriate for kids. But it's a nice natural history that goes into some of the grimy places: eatings rats, rats as disease vectors, the ethics of using rats for science experimentation. I probably finished the book in 30 minutes, but learned a ton. The dark, faintly ominous ink drawings are also a plus.

This book was awesome! The author offers up a complete and concise look at the history of the rats' interactions with mankind.

Take a gander at some of these rat facts:

- Rats can tread water for three days.
- A rat's jaw muscles allow it to bite with the same force as a crocodile.
- They can gnaw through iron and concrete to get at hidden food.
- Rats can smell TNT underground, and have been used to detect buried landmines.
- A rat can "fish" by dangling its tail in water, and wiggling it about to imitate a worm.

Rats are simply amazing. They more than deserve to inherit this planet when we humans have finally made ourselves null and void.

Well written and engaging non-fiction for kids. Highlights both the good and bad about rats. I still don't want one as a pet.

This was a great informational text on some of the basics on rats. It would be a wonderful asset to a debate unit arguing about rats, or just as a fun read for any kid who is interested in learning more about them.

The book is about rats that help each other and how they live. Rats are sorta like people but rats will leave other rats to die and so will people.

I found some facts interesting, but aside from those facts I thought the book was boring. Educational to those looking for that. If not I recommend you don’t spend your time reading this.

I love the illustrations in this book about the relationship between man and rats.

This book is about rats and what they can do. It gives a background story about how the author found out about his interest in these rodents. This book then proceeds to show the positive things about rats. Some positive things include how we could start eating rats because they taste similar to other meat that is typically consumed and there are so many rats in the world. If we tried we could end world hunger with rats. Rats also have helped scientists make many important discoveries. Their brains work similarly to humans so scientists can do tests on them to find out how our own brains function. They can also help us find land mines with their keen sense of smell. This book also presents the cons of rats. Rats have spread deadly diseases that have wiped out millions. Rats are also hard to get rid of. Rats learn quickly and can begin to get around traps you might place in your house. Although rats can be obnoxious and sometimes even deadly, they can help us in many ways too if we use them to our advantage.

This book is very informational. It describes the complications that humans and rats have had for a long time. It also gives you well-written information on rats' behaviors, origins, skills, and how rats can be used to help us in many ways. This book is also very unbiased. The author gives information on the benefits of rats, but also the negatives of them too. The author presents the information in a way that lets you form your own opinion on rats, how they could help us and if they do more bad than good. I like how the author included boxes with different facts about rats. The author didn’t make this book monotonous because it was quite fun to read and the author kept me entertained with something I typically wouldn’t be interested in. I would recommend this book to anyone who would want to find out about rats and they didn’t particularly like them. This book could make you understand the rodents better and be less bitter towards them.

Strangely interesting nonfiction book about the history and tales of one member of the rodent family. Side panel text highlight facts and quirky folk lore throughout the book. Black and white illustrations resembling wood cut drawings are enhanced with tinting from pink to red.

I think that this is hands down the best nonfiction book that I have ever read. It makes nonfiction books interesting for me! I would really recommend this to anyone.

Rats are not the most popular of animals, but this history treats them fairly, giving information on the many amazing abilities of rats, as well as their unfortunate habit of carrying diseases threatening to humans. There are several resources listed in the back of the book to lead the reader to even more information on Rattus norvegicus or Rattus rattus.

Really interesting! I enjoyed this much more than expected.