There have been many books written by people who have hand-reared wild animals, and then kept them around the house in a state of semi-domestication. But, interesting though these accounts often are, one gets the feeling that there is something lacking. The animal is neither truly domestic nor is it truly wild. Therefore, any observations on its behavior become automatically suspect. The ideal is, of course, to live on intimate terms with a truly wild animal, so that one can observe its behavior without disturbing it in any way. Joy Adamson has achieved the nearest possible approach to this, and has produced a fascinating and remarkable book ["Born Free"]….

Mercifully resisting the impulse to give us just another account of the difficulties of keeping a full-grown lion around the house, Joy Adamson has concentrated instead on giving us a carefully observed and well written account of the animal's...