Customer Reviews

Adventures With Sharks

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I received my copy of Jonathan Bird's Adventures With Sharks right before a planned visit to my brother and his family. I took the book along thinking that maybe my 9-year-old nephew might take an interest. I don't get to see him very often but I know that his world revolves around dinosaurs, B-B guns, and Pokemon. Being my only nephew, I've held the hope that someday he'd learn to scuba diving and be a dive buddy. Sitting down near him with the book while he was watching a cartoon, he quickly noticed the photo on the cover. "That's a Great White shark, isn't it?" he asked. "Sure is" I answered, "what do you know about them" I asked as he moved over and sat next to me. We began thumbing through the pictures and he was hooked. I asked him if he wanted to read a story with me and told him he could choose which one. He flipped to the back cover photo of the ragged toothed Sand Tiger shark and said he wanted to read about that one. I read to him the story about the author's adventure with the Sand Tigers of North Carolina and stopping from time to time to discuss some of the science, biology, and behavior. At the end of the story, he asked if I had ever dove with Sand Tiger sharks, and I told him no but that maybe someday he and I could make a road trip to North Carolina and dive with them together. It's hard to imagine anything making me a cooler uncle than Mr. Bird's book had at that moment.

I can't recommend it highly enough!!

"Adventures with Sharks" is both entertaining and informative, and I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in sharks or the undersea world in general. Sharks have simultaneously frightened and fascinated humans for years, but the author, Jonathan Bird, carefully explains how these marine predators, honed by millions of years of evolution, are largely misunderstood by people. Bird has traveled the world to dive with a variety of shark species and presents his exciting experiences in an easy-to-read style accompanied by many stunning pictures. The photographs are outstanding - well composed and clearly chosen to illustrate the beauty and behavior of these remarkable animals.

Each chapter is a story about Bird's experiences diving with a particular species of shark, from the sleek and graceful Blue Shark, to the mammoth yet harmless Whale Shark, to the infamous Great White, and many others. There are lots of great facts and details about what science knows, and has yet to learn, about these incredible creatures. I came away from the book with a new appreciation for sharks - in particular their diversity and the adaptations they have evolved to survive in a wide variety of environments and conditions. I also learned about the vulnerability of many shark species to over-fishing and other human practices that threaten their very survival. If you like sharks, want to learn more about them, or just enjoy a good adventure story, then this book is for you!

In "Adventures with Sharks" underwater photographer Jonathan Bird manages to combine spectactular photographs with exciting tales of his personal shark encounters. Somehow, he also slips in lots of details on shark biology, so that the reader comes away with a far greater understanding of these magnificant creatures. I'm anxiously awaiting his next book!

This book has great pictures and great (basic) information. If you are a big shark buff, a lot of the information will be "old news" to you, but a good read none the less. This is in our coffee table book rotation :)

Jonathan Bird not only writes books, he also has videos that are wonderfully made and child friendly. My children were glued to the screen watching them. All members of our family enjoy his books and films.
This book is awesome, it has many superp close-up pictures. Jonathan Bird leads you through his underwater adventures all over the world. My son has loved sharks since age 2 and still got mesmerized by Jonathan's book, the far best shark book of my son's collection. With Jonathan's videos and books you will learn that sharks are not aggresive monsters, but fascinating animals. I highly recommend this book!