Rating: 
Summary: The Heart of the Jungle
Review: "Jaguar" is the fascinating story of one scientist's journey to study and protect the elusive jaguar, the third largest cat in the world.
Written like a book of fiction, "Jaguar" reads smoothly, capturing your attention and curiosity with its first-person portrayal of life in an alien world: the jungles of Belize. It is peopled with the Maya, a culture rich in history yet suffering poverty, disease, and insignificance in modern times. And in this world exists the jaguar, a powerful cat who is rarely seen and is not a man-eater, yet is hunted almost to extinction for its exquisite spotted fur and because, quite simply, people fear it.
I read "Jaguar" in about 2 days, and fell completely in love with its spirit. The author, a young scientist, struggled hard to successfully understand the lives of these cats within its world and to keep it alive, often to his own personal tragedies. His description of the jungle is unromantic and riveting, as are the terrible hardships that go with it. I will never forget all the diseases, snakes, and parasites than run amok in this story, practically characters of their own. One lesson I came back with is how thankful I am to live in a country with exceptional sanitation and medical care.
"Jaguar" is haunting. You can't finish it without wishing to enter that dark, dangerous jungle of the majestic jaguar. It draws out the adventurer in you. It stirs your compassion.
Rating: 
Summary: Sensationalist nonsense
Review: I have spent many years traveling in Belize. Like many people, I was fascinated by Alan Rabinowitz's book, "Jaguar" when it was first published. However, the book reads more like fiction than a factual account. Rabinowitz portrays himself in a flattering light as the savior of these magnificent beasts from the heathen natives. The fact is that Rabinowitz was directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of all the jaguars he captured due to inexperience or plain negligence; this is well documented by the locals working with him at the time. The fact is that he had little to do with the establishment of the jaguar reserve in Belize, that was instead the result of hard work by many other people to whom no credit was given. The people of Belize whom he slandered in this book owe him nothing, and in fact, he probably has no friends in this economically-impoverished but culturally-rich country. If you like fiction, this book will provide you with minimum satisfaction. If you like to read about nature, don't waste your time or money on this one.
Rating:
Summary: Armchair adventure and hair-raising thrills, jaguar style.
Review: I never would have chosen this book, but it showed up in my mail and, well, what else is there to do but read it? I'm so glad I did.This is a fascinating story of a zoologist who, in 1983, went into the rain forest of Central America to study the jaguar in its native habitat. "On Dec. 2, 1984, the Cockscomb Basin was declared a National Forest Reserve, with a no hunting provision for the protection of the jaguar. This made Belize the first country in the world to protect jaguars." This book tells an utterly fantastic tale -- sometimes terrifying -- of how that came to be. It portrays a world most safely enjoyed from the comfort of an armchair; a very personal story that is a combination of natural history and hair-raising adventure in the Stanley Livingston tradition.
Rating:
Summary: An outstanding book!
Review: I was engrossed in every page of this wonderful book. Having just visited Belize in May, I was very eager to find out about the beginnings of Jaguar preservation and the Cockscomb Basin. Alan Rabinowitz's story is a heartwarming, sad, triumphant tale of his two year effort to create the Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Preserve. Obstacles and challenges seem neverending, but he perseveres and makes our world a better place.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book for everyone!
Review: My boyfriend had read "Beyond the Last Villiage" (also by Rabinowitz) and really enjoyed it so when we saw this one I figured I would see if I liked it. I am into nature and wildlife and this book is filled with all the goodies. I couldn't put down the book, I read it in 2 days! I wanted to see what happened to the jaguar that he caught and find out what happened to it.
I highly reccommend this book to anyone that is interested in our environment and wildlife. Now from reading this book I am planning my next vacation to Belize. I am in Thailand now and plan on visiting the National Park that he studied tigers and jaguars at...SO...my reccommendation is buy this book you won't regret it!
Rating: 
Summary: Review of "Jaguar""
Review: My boyfriend had read "Beyond the Last Villiage" (also by Rabinowitz) and really enjoyed it so when we saw this one I figured I would see if I liked it. I am into nature and wildlife and this book is filled with all the goodies. I couldn't put down the book, I read it in 2 days! I wanted to see what happened to the jaguar that he caught and find out what happened to it.
I highly reccommend this book to anyone that is interested in our environment and wildlife. Now from reading this book I am planning my next vacation to Belize. I am in Thailand now and plan on visiting the National Park that he studied tigers and jaguars at...SO...my reccommendation is buy this book you won't regret it!
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book for everyone!
Review: My boyfriend had read "Beyond the Last Villiage" (also by Rabinowitz) and really enjoyed it so when we saw this one I figured I would see if I liked it. I am into nature and wildlife and this book is filled with all the goodies. I couldn't put down the book, I read it in 2 days! I wanted to see what happened to the jaguar that he caught and find out what happened to it.
I highly reccommend this book to anyone that is interested in our environment and wildlife. Now from reading this book I am planning my next vacation to Belize. I am in Thailand now and plan on visiting the National Park that he studied tigers and jaguars at...SO...my reccommendation is buy this book you won't regret it!
Rating:
Summary: It read's like a thriller but tell's us about reality.
Review: Rabonowitz succeeds in telling us in a gripping, dramatic and humurous way how to take care about our most sacred treasure: our nature and al what's still living in it. His struggle against red tape, changing habits of people shows us what's realy worth investing in. In this case the preservation of the jaguar in central america. His writing is so powerfull that the 'innocent' reader want's to go there and help him. If all people would read this book, it would make a change in really taking care of our nature.
Rating:
Summary: recommend
Review: The ability to change the world we live in to the betterment of others--human or otherwise--is something many of us aspire toward. Mr. Rabinowitz accomplishes this very goal in this wonderfully told account of how he initiated the creation of a far-reaching preserve for predatory jungle cats. Mr. Rabinowtiz seems to understand that human destiny is linked to our compassion for our fellow species. His struggle to prevail over government red tape, self-interested forest wardens and even the near-sighted needs of indigenous peoples is told here with great compassion and drama. The author's ability to criticize his own shortcomings and self-doubts lends this work its true strength and gives the reader insight into how we might all try to do better and work for good in our lives.
Rating:
Summary: No yawns in this field journal
Review: This book is a record of Alan's efforts to set aside land for the jaguar in Belize. It is also a breath-taking, hair-raising, heart-breaking roller coaster ride through the ups and downs in the daily life of a field research biologist. His narrow escapes leave you gasping. You have to lay the book down and sob when he cradles a dying jaguar in his arms. The scenes in this book play over and over in your mind as clearly as if you had seen it in a movie, as when a he has to escape from a jaguar which unexpectedly charges him after recovering from the tranquilizeer he had injected. He is as macho as they come and yet he is not afraid to admit to moments of bias, of ignorance, of impatience and frustration, of fear, or of failure. He incorporates the scientific data he collects along with cultural observations of the Maya people he works with. His brushes with the supernatural are surprising, coming from a scientist, and yet in keeping with his open minded nature.
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