- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Reader's Digest; 1st ed edition (1 Nov 1984)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0276360060
- ISBN-13: 978-0276360060
- Product Dimensions: 20.2 x 15.2 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
388,937 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #50 in Books > Science & Nature > Nature > Wild Animals > By Region > Europe
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Product Description
Product Description
This guide includes mammals, amphibians and reptiles, with special features on studying animals, fieldcraft and conservation.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I discovered this book when I was a child and it really helped to nourish the interest in animals and the natural world that I still have today.
It is filled with beautiful illustrations which actually do look like the animals they're supposed to portray, unlike many other wildlife guides I've seen.
Each wild animal has a double page dedicated to it with descriptions, illustrations and a colour photograph showing its behaviour and the creature itself. There is also a section on farm animals in which there is a brief description and an illustration of the various farm breeds you might see in Britain.
There is a also a section to help you to understand the basic physiology of some animals, a guide to fieldcraft and information on how to go out and watch animals for yourself.
I have found this a really useful book over the years and I think that anyone, young or older, with an interest in wildlife should consider adding it to their bookshelf.
It is filled with beautiful illustrations which actually do look like the animals they're supposed to portray, unlike many other wildlife guides I've seen.
Each wild animal has a double page dedicated to it with descriptions, illustrations and a colour photograph showing its behaviour and the creature itself. There is also a section on farm animals in which there is a brief description and an illustration of the various farm breeds you might see in Britain.
There is a also a section to help you to understand the basic physiology of some animals, a guide to fieldcraft and information on how to go out and watch animals for yourself.
I have found this a really useful book over the years and I think that anyone, young or older, with an interest in wildlife should consider adding it to their bookshelf.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is a delight and is an easy to read and informative reference to keep in the home or holiday luggage. Unfortunately, it now appears to be out of print, but second hand copies are cheap to buy.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is part of a series of ID guides, and follows the same format. However, what worked well for wild flowers or insects doesn't make quite such a neat fit here. First of all, what is an "animal" for the purposes of the title? The book starts with all the native and wild, introduced mammals (such as red squirrels, muntjac deer and mink) including bats. This is followed by amphibians and reptiles.
After this there is a 12-page section on "fieldcraft" - tracks and signs, that sort of thing. Suddenly there is a change of tack and we encounter a section on breeds of farm animals - including birds - followed by pages on breeds of dogs, and then horses. After this, the book reverts back to "How to see and study animals", including for instance how to preserve footprints - surely more appropriately printed next to the bit on tracks several sections before.
There are, throughout the book, comparison sheets so you can see closely related animals side by side, the better to work out which one you've seen. There are biological mini-essays - one on deer shedding their antlers, one on "The woodland floor at night" - you get the idea. Some of these work very well, such as the one on badgers and their setts; with others, the authors seem at times to find it a bit of a strain to know what to say.
This book suffers from muddled ideas on what it is for, and how people will use it. Reader's Digest clearly wanted to produce a book which is 'uniform' with the books on wild flowers, birds and so on, and the subject doesn't conveniently fit because there are so many more birds or butterflies than there are "animals", and because we see mammals or reptiles and amphibians far more rarely. I feel that Reader's Digest could have produced a simpler, clearly laid out book on wild animals, filling up the space with the natural history aspects. They could then, if they wished, have produced a whole separate book on farms and farming, which would have worked nicely on its own.
However, apart from these problems it is a very interesting and informative book suitable for adults or older children, especially for families wildlife-watching together.
After this there is a 12-page section on "fieldcraft" - tracks and signs, that sort of thing. Suddenly there is a change of tack and we encounter a section on breeds of farm animals - including birds - followed by pages on breeds of dogs, and then horses. After this, the book reverts back to "How to see and study animals", including for instance how to preserve footprints - surely more appropriately printed next to the bit on tracks several sections before.
There are, throughout the book, comparison sheets so you can see closely related animals side by side, the better to work out which one you've seen. There are biological mini-essays - one on deer shedding their antlers, one on "The woodland floor at night" - you get the idea. Some of these work very well, such as the one on badgers and their setts; with others, the authors seem at times to find it a bit of a strain to know what to say.
This book suffers from muddled ideas on what it is for, and how people will use it. Reader's Digest clearly wanted to produce a book which is 'uniform' with the books on wild flowers, birds and so on, and the subject doesn't conveniently fit because there are so many more birds or butterflies than there are "animals", and because we see mammals or reptiles and amphibians far more rarely. I feel that Reader's Digest could have produced a simpler, clearly laid out book on wild animals, filling up the space with the natural history aspects. They could then, if they wished, have produced a whole separate book on farms and farming, which would have worked nicely on its own.
However, apart from these problems it is a very interesting and informative book suitable for adults or older children, especially for families wildlife-watching together.
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