Craig Pittman
This week's episode is all about the Florida manatee. We start the show discussing how Craig came to write his second book, "Manatee Insanity," and are then joined by Florida manatee researcher, Bob Bonde, who along with his wife, Cathy Beck, studied the animals for 40 years. Bob co-authored the most authoritative book on the subject of Florida Manatee, "The Florida Manatee: Biology and Conservation," which was updated with a second edition in the summer of 2021.
Craig Pittman is the award-winning author of Oh, Florida!: How America’s Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country, The Scent of Scandal, Cat Tale, Manatee Insanity and The State You’re In, and co-author of Paving Paradise. Born in Pensacola, he graduated from Troy State University in Alabama, where his muckraking work for the student paper prompted an agitated dean to label him “the most destructive force on campus.” Since then he has covered a variety of newspaper beats and quite a few natural disasters, including hurricanes, wildfires and the Florida Legislature.