The South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity held a book launch for Former Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 Academic, Mike Bruton, on 23April 2014. At the launch Bruton introduced his first commercial published popular book, When I was a Fish.
In an interview Bruton did following the book launch he explained why this book is more accessible than others written in the field.
“The motivation behind this book is that I saw it as an extension for passion for communicating science in an informal way,” said Bruton, “written in a way that anyone can pick it up and read it.”
The title When I was a Fish is more than just a play on words associated with ichthyology but purposefully done by Bruton to describe his state of knowledge at the time of writing the book.
“Although I wanted a name that would intrigue people,” said Bruton, “my whole career was to understand how fish live and to do that I was to become a fish.” Bruton went on to explain that When I was a Fish shows his deep engagement with the science and his experience in the field of ichthyology.
Bruton describes his book as an opening for knowledge for its readers, “ This is the time and opportunity to understand fish and their natural environment, I encourage students to literally and fugitively take a dive into the natural world and stop being afraid to be naturalists.”
Bruton who not only completed his studies at Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网, but became a Professor who then contributed to the starting of the Department of Ichthyology and Fishing Science (DIFS), is always making additions to his contributions to Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网.
“I see this book and the launching of it here as a continuation from a career that started at Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网,” said Bruton, “although I have since retired, I still contribute to Rhodes through talks, SciFest, donations to the library and because of that, Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 provided me with some of the pictures I have used in the book.
In his closing remarks Bruton stated his wishes for the book, “I hope people by reading this book will realise that biodiversity is bigger than the big five, I also hope that people will learn that fish are amazing animals”