This is an accessible and worthwhile look into the bigcats of North America, with plenty of beautiful illustrations to highlight the text and keep your attention. I ended up reading this in two sittings, and enjoying myself thoroughly through the learning. There are practical tips here for telling the animals apart, being aware of them in the wild, and and considering how they fit into the overall world of North America, human and non-human. Kobalenko offers an apparently non-biased view into the lives of the animals, and brings into play myths and legends as an added dimension for understanding of the animals. He also discusses cats as a family in general, so that the discussions sometimes extend to cats as varied from the main subject (cougars, bobcats, lynx) as housecats, lions, and jaguars. In the midst of reading, I actually found myself gaining insight into my family's housecats, though I would have said before that I understood them about as well as possible already.

In the end, I'd recommend this for anyone interested in the wildlife of North America, or in cats in general. It's a fast intelligent read that really is worthwhile if you're remotely interested in the subjectmatter. Kobalenko also offers a bibliography of further reading on more specific subjects if readers are interested in pursuing a specific piece of the information he presents us with through the full work. ( )