Stories about the Instinct of Animals, Their Characters, and Habits

Bingley, ThomasProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.6
Word count
194K words
Chapters
20

Tags

English Originals Popular Science Animal BehaviorNatural HistoryLife ObservationScience EnlightenmentNature ObservationTriviaIllustrated GuideScience StoriesParent-Child ReadingYouth Reading

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Stories about the Instinct of Animals, Their Characters, and Habits by BingleyAuthor: Bingley, Thomas,Language: English, Class: QL: Science: Zoology, Release Date: Nov 29, 2005

Editor's review

This is an English collection of stories about animal instinct, character, and habits, a public-domain ebook from Project Gutenberg. The author, Thomas Bingley, uses short narratives to present observations of animal behavior, weaving natural history knowledge into highly readable stories. It lets readers enjoy the appeal of early natural history writing while building a basic understanding of animal habits. Its value lies not in offering cutting-edge conclusions of modern zoology but in preserving a tradition of writing about nature through story, making it suitable as English extensive reading material or an introductory natural history reader. The chapters are usually short, convenient for fragmented reading, and suitable for parents or teachers to select passages as discussion material. Note that some observations and statements reflect the limitations of their time; readers should chiefly appreciate the narrative and learn about the history of natural history writing rather than treat the book as a strict scientific authority. For readers curious about the source of Project Gutenberg ebooks, this book also offers a typical sample of public-domain text.

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Reading tips

  1. Read one or two short pieces each day, then retell the main points in your own words.
  2. When you encounter a description of animal behavior, jot down your questions and later compare them with modern sources.
  3. Teachers can select chapters close to the course topic and organize students to discuss the difference between observation and inference.
  4. English learners can first read for the gist of a paragraph, then look up new words, avoiding stopping at every word.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20

FAQ

Is this book suitable for English beginners to read directly? This is an English public-domain text written in an early natural history style, and its sentence structures pose some difficulty for beginners. Learners with basic vocabulary and reading habits can try it; they are advised to start with short pieces, use a dictionary, and focus on the gist rather than reading word by word. Complete beginners are better off using a translation or starting with simpler materials.
Can the animal knowledge in this book still be used directly today? The book was written long ago, and some observations and statements reflect the limitations of their time, so it should not be used directly as modern zoological conclusions. Its main value lies in story-based natural observation and the appeal of natural history writing. Readers can treat it as a window into early accounts of animals and check modern sources when encountering specific behavioral claims.
What format is this book, and where does it come from? This is a public-domain ebook released by Project Gutenberg, a platform known for providing free ebooks. The book is in English and falls under zoology-related categories. For specific download formats and version information, refer to the Project Gutenberg page, and readers can choose a suitable format for their device.

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About the author

Bingley, Thomas Author · English

Thomas Bingley is an English writer of natural history. Public information about his life is limited, and neither his birth and death dates nor the details of his career are clearly recorded. Only one of his works is currently held in the collection, Stories about the Instinct of Animals, Their Characters, and Habits. Judging from its title and content, it is a popular book on animals and nature intended for young readers, describing animal instinct, temperament and habits. Writing of this kind was fairly common among nineteenth-century British popular works on natural history: authors often turned nature observations into story-like narratives suited to young readers, conveying basic natural history knowledge while cultivating an interest in the animal world. Bingley's writing reflects this approach: his subject matter stays close to nature, his language is accessible, and he values readability and educational purpose rather than strict scholarly argument. Owing to limited sources, the details of his life and the full range of his work remain to be further verified.