The Bedside Book of Beasts: A Wildlife Miscellany [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Graeme Gibson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 3, 2009

This stunning companion to the internationally bestselling Bedside Book of Birds explores the relationship between predators and their prey.

The intricate, complex connection between the hunter and the hunted has defined animal life on Earth throughout time. In The Bedside Book of Beasts, Graeme Gibson gathers from all eras and cultures works of art and literature that capture the power, grace, and inventiveness of both predators and their natural prey. Here are myths, fables, poetry, generous excerpts from nature and travel writing, journals, sacred texts, and works of fiction. There are vivid descriptions of noteworthy predators — including the big cats, bears, wolves — but also the small but voracious praying mantis. Gibson also brings to life the experiences, strategies, and emotions of vulnerable prey, and paints intriguing portraits of such legendary evil beasts as the Minotaur, Grendel, and the Biblical Leviathan. All of this is enhanced by a breathtaking array of art, both traditional and contemporary, as well as scientific, religious, and mythological drawings, paintings, and woodcuts.

In The Bedside Book of Beasts Gibson evokes a profound sense of the eternal, often unsettling, connection between the human animal and the free, untamed beasts of the wilderness.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Book Description
In a wonderfully diverse selection of writings and gorgeous illustrations, this stunning companion to The Bedside Book of Birds explores the relationship between predators and their prey.

The intricate, complex connection between the hunter and the hunted has defined animal life on earth throughout time. In The Bedside Book of Beasts, Graeme Gibson gathers breathtaking works of art and literature that capture the power, grace, and inventiveness of both predators and their natural prey.

The Bedside Book of Beasts presents myths, fables, poetry, and excerpts from nature and travel writing, journals, sacred texts, and works of fiction. Within these pages we encounter big cats, bears, wolves, and the small but voracious praying mantis, as well as works that bring to life the experience of more vulnerable prey. Portraits of such legendary evil beasts as the Minotaur, Grendel, and the biblical Leviathan add to the depth and breadth of the collection. An impressive array of art, both traditional and contemporary, as well as scientific, religious, and mythological drawings, paintings, and woodcuts make this volume an utterly unique gift for the holidays or any occasion.

A fascinating exploration of the chain of life, of survival and mortality, The Bedside Book of Beasts evokes a profound sense of the eternal connection between humans and the creatures they endeavor to tame.

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Look Inside The Bedside Book of Beasts

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Review

Praise for Graeme Gibson's The Bedside Book of Birds

“[Gibson]'s book is a stunner. The wealth of imagery and the range of intelligence are grand, the kinds of relationships with birds he sets out nearly bewildering…. It's what I'll take to bed tonight to incite my dreams.” —Barry Lopez

"Gibson's own graceful and erudite essays tell of the pleasure, fear, confusion, or hope that birds inspire, and their imperiled place in nature." —O, The Oprah Magazine

“Intriguing, beautifully illustrated.” —Publishers Weekly

“This is a book to dip into during those spare minutes, and the reader will be well rewarded by these glimpses into avian-human relations.” —Booklist

"The most compulsively readable of a clutch of bird-themed books out this autumn. Taking in everything from classic nature-writing to poetry via folklore and Mayan creation myths, The Bedside Book Of Birds is by no means for 'twitchers' only." —Daily Mail

"The perfect book for armchair ornithologists with an eye for words as well as feathers." —The Daily Telegraph

"A wonderful collection of poetry and prose, folk tales and myths, which pay tribute to our feathered friend. . . . A perfect Christmas present, even for non-anoraks." —Mail on Sunday

"The beauty of the writing and the illustrations contained in The Bedside Book of Birds is matched by the beauty of the physical book itself. Great pains have been taken by the author and the publisher to make this book a work of art, and they have succeeded marvelously." —The Globe and Mail

"An astoundingly beautiful book . . . featur[ing] some of the most sublime writings to be found on the subject." —The Globe and Mail

“A superb gift, a compulsive must-have, for the bird-lover, the storyteller, and the anthropologist in the family. As a collection it is exemplary of how fascination can re-order the world. Readers will be thinking feathered thoughts for days and they will be happier.” —The Calgary Herald

“A beautiful volume, sumptiously illustrated.” —The Vancouver Sun

"Gibson's preambles are as satisfying as the texts and accompanying illustrations." —Library Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Nan A. Talese (November 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385524595
• ISBN-13: 978-0385524599
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 1.2 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #419,869 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #28 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Animals > Cats, Lions & Tigers

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps not really bed time reading ... but a wonderful companion, November 28, 2009

By 

Robert C. Ross (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bedside Book of Beasts: A Wildlife Miscellany (Hardcover)

to Graeme Gibson's The Bedside Book of Birds: An Avian Miscellany. Both books are absolutely beautiful: heavy paper, excellent binding, gorgeous reproductions and printing. The page images here on Amazon are really excellent, but don't convey the full beauty of the images on paper. Best of all, the books nestle in your hands -- a book lover's ideal.

Gibson has collected not only beautiful and interesting images, but also interesting quotes about beasts that prey on other animals:

""The term `beasts' belongs properly to lions, leopards and tigers, wolves and foxes, dogs and monkeys, and all others (except snakes) which rage by mouth or with claws. They are called `beasts' from the force with which they rage; and they are termed `wild' because they are by nature used to freedom and they are motivated by their own will. They do indeed have freedom of will and they wander here and there, going as their spirit leads them." --The Peterborough Bestiary (14th C.)

The OED entry for "beast" is a great supplement to Gibson's collection reflecting the diversity of definitions of the word; for example, 1751 CHAMBERS Cycl. s.v., "Beasts of Chase, in our statute-books are five; the buck, doe, fox, martin, and roe. Beasts of the forest are, the hart, hind, hare, boar, and wolf. Beasts and fowls of the warren are, the hare, coney, pheasant, and partridge."

Fantastic beasts appear: the Minotaur, Grendel, and the Leviathan, in words and wonderous images. Knopf Doubleday has added a number of pages showing these and other wonders on its website devoted to the book.

Gibson's broader message is environmental; his excellent short essays tie the book together and he seeks to instill a sort of reverence for animals and their "elemental' connection with humans. For example, he quotes a 19th-century Canadian explorer who shot a bear. The Indians with him rejoiced -- but told him he must now blow tobacco smoke into the dead bear's nostrils to appease its anger. In the next passage, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas describes a puma that kills a sheep, and the "gazes fondly into the sheep's eyes". (The Tribe of Tiger: Cats and Their Culture.) Gibson seems to be demonstrating that it's easy to swing between the reverence and the maudlin.

He recognizes that humans have always hunted animals and he quotes his wife Margaret Atwood's poem "It's Autumn" to demonstrate the conflicting feelings about the hunt (from The Door):

It's autumn. The nuts patter down.
Beechnuts, acorns, blackwalnuts --
tree orphans thrown to the ground
in their hard garments.

Don't go in there,
into the faded orange wood -
it's filled with angry old men
sneaking around in camouflage gear
pretending no one can see them.

***

They shoot at any sign of movement -
your dog, your cat, you.
They'll say you were a fox or skunk,
or duck, or pheasant, maybe a deer.

These aren't hunters, these men.
They have none of the patience of hunters,
none of the remorse.
They're certain they own everything.
A hunter knows he borrows.

***

Gibson has a light hand on the environmental issue, though -- many of the quotations describe other aspects of the complex relationships between the hunters and the hunted. This wonderful book makes a great present for any nature lover, and even better accompanied by a copy of The Bedside Book of Birds: An Avian Miscellany. Triumphs, both.

Robert C. Ross 2009

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A cleverly illustrated book, July 8, 2010

By 

Indian Prairie Public Library "ippl.info" (Darien, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bedside Book of Beasts: A Wildlife Miscellany (Hardcover)

Gibson, a Canadian novelist has compiled poetry and myth, fairy tale and folklore, sacred texts and travelogues into a cleverly illustrated book. Far from a merely pretty survey of the animal kingdom, it is a book that delivers the disquieting message about a delicate balance disturbed and provides a thought-provoking collection of anecdotes about the human relationship with wild animals.

Exquisite, full-color reproductions of beast-themed drawings, paintings, and woodcuts, ranging from ancient to modern illustrate each entry, making this book more of an experience than just an interesting read.

5.0 out of 5 stars beautiful and throught provoking, July 26, 2011

By 

lahorichargha (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Bedside Book of Beasts: A Wildlife Miscellany (Hardcover)

the kids and the grown-ups all loved this book - makes you appreciate animals and human thought related to them through the ages