34. Life in the Wild

34. Life in the Wild by DK Publishing, project editor: Nicky Munro (3.5/5)

Looking at the animal photos and reading their captions in Life in the Wild is just another reminder how many strange, weird creatures are out there that I've either never seen or never heard of. It's a fascinating planet we live on.

Animals are grouped by category: mammals, birds, reptiles & amphibians, fish, and invertebrates. Since there are millions of species on Earth, the book is by no means comprehensive, but it does give a good feel for the variety of life out there.

Though Life in the Wild is all about its photos, the captions are well worth reading too. They relay various highlights of the animals: how many tons one weighs, how fast another can run, what yet another eats. Interesting, brief tidbits.

I'm not going to lie, the snakes freaked me the f@#k out even though I focused only on reading their captions (tunnel vision fail!). Also reading some of their facts really didn't help. (This is where I'm glad I don't have a photographic memory.) But the good news is that there were only around 5 and they were all grouped together. This seemed to be true of most similar groups of animals in the book. Once you're past them, you don't have to worry about another one popping up in the chapter. The best tip I'll share with the phobic is that there's an index in the back, so you can see what pages to avoid if you need to.

Otherwise, lots of fascinating critters out there. The big cats and butterflies are probably my favorites in the book. Well worth at least a flip through.


A year ago on TTaT: Ass Cheeks and Autumn

If you liked this post, please share it using the links below.