This was an interesting take on the farming of an interesting fish. this was my first read like this on this type of topic.

When I read the above blurb – a pet fish that people commit murder over! – I knew I had to read this book. What with life and babies and all I didn’t read this right away, but when I read mention of an arowana getting plastic surgery in Rich People Problems it sparked my memory and I knew I had to read the Dragon Behind the Glass soon. And I learned Kevin Kwan didn’t make it up – people really are that extreme about the Asian Arowana!

Once I started reading I was hooked! (Also I’m clearly hilarious) What started as one story in New York let Voigt into places that very few people travel to try to find the story of the wild arowana. She follows both the collectors who want the fish for the prosperity it can bring and the scientists trying to study a possible new strain. I know I am not such an explorer so it was fascinating reading how far the quest to see something new and wild would take Voigt and the biologists that she worked with. I know I wouldn’t try to get into Burma just to catch a glimpse of a fish in its native environment! Especially for such an odd looking fish. Fish conventions, fish nicknames, fish theft – quite a world out there.

Voigt also left me thinking more deeply than I expected about how we treat endangered or threatened species and how those animals end up on the list in the first place. While I fear without an endangered list we would drive even more species to extinction she has me wondering if instead we do even more harm than good. When my daughter and I took our usual turn around the fish department at the local pet store last week I definitely was looking at all those tanks differently.

Thank you Scribner and NetGalley for this advance copy in exchange for an honest opinion!

This was a title for which I could not leave a review within the timeline requested by the publisher.

This is one of those non-fiction titles that isn't necessarily for everyone, but for the right person or patron, will be PERFECT. It's a good mix of historical and current facts, mixed with humor, travel and adventure. It's also one of those books where, after you read it, you start seeing the topic (arowana) in the news all the time.