Customer Reviews

Coral Fish (Smithsonian's Natural World Series)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this book for my grandsons, ages 2 and 5, because my brother had a similar book when he was that age and he spent hundreds of hours looking at it. My grandsons are interested in fish. This is not a kid's book, but I figured they would learn as they grow. I went through it with each grandson, at his request, answering "what's this fish?" for every single one. So from that standpoint, it was a hit. As they get older, we can read more of the information to them. The older one had memorized 2/3 of the fish names within the first hour because he told them back to me when we looked at it again.

The pictures are good. I wish there were more books like this for them.

This book is about the diversity of fish in the tropics, from tiny gobies which can be just 1cm, to massive manta rays with a fin span of 6 metres! Linda Pitkin is an award winning underwater photographer, and also is a biologist interested in marine life. The book includes over 100 of her award winning and spectacular photographs.

Highlights:
- I particularly like the section about light organs on page 94, about Flashlightfishes that emit light to see and divers have said that the light appear to eerily float in mid-water.
- I also really like the section on false eyes in "How do they protect themselves" on page 28.

Critique:
- I think that the photography in the book, taken by Linda Pitkin is really amazing.
- I like the blue boxes of interesting information in the book.
- The information is easy to understand and concise in each topic, not too technical
- The book could have been longer! This is my only criticism!

I would definitely recommend this book. It is really interesting and I have learnt a lot about coral fish from it!!! The pages are bright with clear, easy to understand text. The photography is amazing as well!!!
I would rate this book ***** because it is really amazing!