The Encyclopedia of Animals: A Complete Visual Guide

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Book Reviews of The Encyclopedia of Animals: A Complete Visual Guide

Book Review: A superb introduction to life on Earth
Summary: 5 Stars

The overview at the beginning of the book makes clear that the co-authors believe in Darwin's theory of evolution, acknowledging the alternative theory of creation but being somewhat dismissive of it. This overview also covers biology, habitat and endangered species as well as evolution.

Anybody wishing to read it from cover to cover faces a daunting (albeit very enjoyable) prospect - however, the book is structured in such a way that you can dip into the book for the information you want and usually find it easily (though I wonder how many people would know to look for rabbits under their group name lagomorphs), with separate sections for each main category of creature and each section sub-divided appropriately.

Understandably, the biggest main section is devoted to mammals. Here you will find six pages devoted to the dog family, ten to the cat family and three to horses and related species. Obviously, a book like this can never offer much more than an appreciation of the diversity of life on our planet, but in this it does an excellent job. The pictures should appeal to people of all ages including even small children, thus helping to interest them in the subject. The text is not too technical so all readers can expand their knowledge via this book.

Of course, you can explore the natural world in greater detail by collecting books devoted to birds, butterflies, cats, dogs, horses, fishes or whatever appeals to you, but for such a wide-ranging book about animal life, this is as good as any I've seen.

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