Africa's Animal Kingdom: A Visual Celebration [Paperback]

Kit Coppard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2001

"Beautiful pictures...celebrating the wildlife of Africa. Coppard has moved beyond the savannas in Kenya to travel the deserts of Namibia, the rain forests of the Congo basin, the Okavango Delta in Botswana, and the kopjes of South Africa....cover(s) the basic ecology of Africa...Climate and natural vegetation each receive a chapter, driving home the immense diversity found in a continent...provides a very nice listing of the major national parks, listed country by country. The second, larger section examines Africa's wildlife, divided taxonomically into surveys of the hoofed animals, elephants, carnivores, primates, reptiles, and birds....good basic information and an excellent introduction to Africa and its wildlife...true strength of the book is the collection of stunning photographs chosen to illustrate the text....Introductory text, graced with the author's drawings, sets the scene for each section of images concentrating on one element in the ecosystem....YA...An absolute must for reports; good photos of the rarer creatures."--Booklist.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The lively, full-color photos that leap from every page of Kit Coppard's (Big Cats) Africa's Animal Kingdom: A Visual Celebration are stunning, but hold no surprises for readers who enjoy wildlife photography. What distinguishes this book is its exhaustive wealth of information. Coppard presents an excellent encyclopedic guide to Africa and its myriad species. Providing the facts without fuss, his spare writing style underscores the book's visual drama.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

If you want to go on safari from the comforts of your favorite lounge chair, then this is the book to take you there. Coppard, a book editor and author, has drawn together exceptional photos of the African landscape and its flora and fauna. Every page is covered with breathtaking pictures that illustrate the diverse and abundant animals that populate the African continent. Part 1 covers the changing landscape, climate, natural vegetation, and national parks and reserves. In Part 2, Coppard groups the animals by classification: hoofed mammals, elephants, carnivores, primates, reptiles, and birds. There is an extensive index, which aids the reader in finding specific species. While the photos are the main thrust of this oversized pictorial, the text provides just enough information to whet the reader's appetite for more thorough resources. Anyone contemplating a trip to Africa will be excited at the prospect of seeing these incredible sights in person. Those who have been already will enjoy the memories the photos are bound to bring to mind. Highly recommended where nature and travel books are popular or for nature photography collections. Edell M. Schaefer, Brookfield P.L., WI
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: PRC Publishing (June 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1856485900
• ISBN-13: 978-1856485906
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,539,963 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nice to look at..., March 14, 2003

By 

Shane M. Kloppenburg "meestashane" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Africa's Animal Kingdom: A Visual Celebration (Paperback)

At over 500 pages, this book would certainly seem to have a lot about the animal kingdom. However, one immediately begins to be wary when the first 100 or so pages are about the environment -- dwelling heavily on Africa's many parks, describing their sizes, briefly discussing the animals, and going into flora, and showing many pictures of nature. Even more daunting is the text -- which may stop mid-sentence before continuing three pages later, thanks to a two-page spread. And the photo captions -- in some cases, the description for the two page spreads are at the end of the SECOND page following it, or in some cases (page 344-5, for example) they have no caption at all.

With that being said, most of the photos are excellent: A leopard descending a tree, or how an elephant dwarfs the other wildlife at a watering hole. Some aren't as crisp as you'd expect from a book calling itself "A Visual Celebration", and in some cases there are five of one animal and none of the animal following it. Yet all in all the photos are splendid to look at.

A breakdown, out of a four star projection (without the one guaranteed star that all books get):
Photos (out of two stars): 1½ stars. The large majority are a pleasure to look at, though the variance in amount of photos from one animal to another loses a half star.
Text (out of one star): 0 stars. Oftentimes relying on detailed specs in the middle of a sentence describing an animal's size (or a National Park's, for that matter) makes reading cumbersome. Perhaps a spec list at the start of each animal would have made more sense.
Layout (out of one star): 0 stars. How the text appears on the pages, as well as the poor setup of captions and how one animal's photos may continue pages into the description of another animal was bad enough to take a half star from the photos. Thus why I gave it just two stars.

Overall, there is a good many better books as a photographic look out there than this one. Not really worth the money. Unless you need to learn how NOT to do a book layout.

5.0 out of 5 stars AFRICA, October 23, 2011

By 

GIFT CARD "book mogul" (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Africas Animal Kingdom (Hardcover)

ORDER,PRODUCT AND ARRIVAL WORKED FINE NO COMPLAINTS. ANOTHER BOOK FOR MY PERSONAL ENJOYMENT BEAUTIFUL COLORED PHOTOS. I AM A HISTORIAN AND ATTEMPING TO LEARN ALL I CAN ABOUT AFRICA.

5.0 out of 5 stars Africa's Animal Kingdom, July 19, 2010

By 

Cyndi V. - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: African Animal Kingdom: A Visual Celebration (Hardcover)

Upon checking this book out at the library, my grandson and I decided that we must own a copy. AWESOME pictures and descriptions, including where in Africa one can find these animals.

The book was received promptly and in great shape, as stated in the description.