Picture it: Newt Gingrich, zookeeper. It almost happened, writes the former speaker of the House in “5 Principles for a Successful Life,” his new book that he co-authored with daughter Jackie Gingrich Cushman.
“As a young man, I planned on becoming a zoo director or a vertebrate paleontologist,” writes Gingrich. But a trip to the battlefields of World War I in France as a teenager inspired him to get into public service.
Not that politics and zoology are mutually exclusive. Later, he writes, “While representing my Georgia district in Congress, I again had the opportunity to use my passion for zoos by contributing to my hometown Zoo Atlanta’s fundraising efforts. My passion — helping the zoo acquire exotic, beautiful animals like Boma, the black rhino; Yang Yang and Lun Lun, Chinese giant pandas; and even Komodo dragons — was part of my life as a citizen and a public official.”
Gingrich even has paleontologist Jack Horner, who advised the “Jurassic Park” films, as one of the guest writers in the book. “Many people, like my teachers … didn’t think I was smart enough to be a scientist,” he writes.
