Steve Nash (1)

This book is hilarious. The authors choose 28 animals, classify them under Land, Sea, Air and Other (for those that occupy more than one) and grade them on arbitrary criteria. Some factual information is thrown in, but mostly it's just one joke after another. As I read it, a pattern began to emerge: the deadlier an animal is, or the more capable it is of ruining a person's day, the higher the grade it received.

I'd have rated it higher, but for one thing. They note at the beginning that any science included is real, but the writing style blurs the line between what is a scientific fact and what is just their hyperbolic humour. Some poor undereducated person out there is going to pick this up someday and read the first paragraph about Great White Sharks where the authors claim death by shark is the single largest cause of death in the world, and believe it. Then they're going to go on Facebook, repeat it, claiming 'it's true! I read it in a book!', other undereducated people are going to believe them and it's going to snowball, ultimately ending badly for Great White Sharks, who are already having a rough go of it as it is. More importantly, I think this book would appeal to kids a lot and it's appropriate for middle school aged kids, but some of these "facts" are likely to confuse and possibly leave the kids believing things about the animals that were meant only in fun.

Still, it's a hilarious little book (the authors positively do not like Australia) and I'm happy I was able to finally get ahold of it.… (more)

Well, I like it. I understand the book not being everyone's cup of tea, but for me it works. It's certainly not a 'sit down and read it all in a day' kind of book. I find it more the kind of book that you pick up every now and then, read a couple of sections, then put down while it's still fresh and funny. The photographs are wonderful. The facts are intriguing. I'm a little worried by the reviewers who pointed out that there are some factually incorrect parts to the book, so I'll be sure to double-check anything I think is a fact before counting on it, but right now I'm thinking the 'non-facts' are in the absurd humor bits, and those are pretty obvious to me.

At any rate, I'm learning some interesting things about animals. I'm laughing. And every now and then I get pricked with a bit of uncomfortable self-awareness as I wonder if some of MY preconceived notions about animals might need re-examining. After all, why DOES the panda rate saving but the dung beetle gets squished amid cries of 'Ewww'?

I'm glad I bought this book.… (more)

A silly but amusing group of short essays on animals the authors find particularly noteworthy (or not....): among others, the lady bug, alpaca, king cobra, wildebeest, garden snail, panda, great white shark, and my fave, the hippo. Of course I turned to this last one immediately and was greeted by several photos with humorous captions and an unfavorable comparison to Dexter (who at least leaves innocent witnesses alive). Each animal is graded based on the authors' rather fluctuating system (the hippo got a D-, the lady bug an A-). All-in-all, cute and worth a browse, especially if your favorite is there to be poked fun at.… (more)