Customer Reviews

Dragonflies of the World

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Dragonflies have always been among my favorite insects and I was somewhat aware of their variety and beauty, especially in North America. However, Jill Silsby has produced a book that amazed me with the complexity of dragonflies and the closely related damselflies worldwide. These amazing creatures are now starting to get the appreciation they deserve and this book amply demonstrates why they should be appreciated for their ephemeral beauty, their astonishing variety, their remarkable life histories and their interesting behavior. From spider-catching Forest Giants (damselflies) to the primitive Petaltails (dragonflies) they are all here in this book. I wish that such an introduction had been available to me when I was beginning in entomology!

The excellent photographs should also be mentioned. These are just wonderful and I cannot express my full admiration for the selection! Every insect and arachnid order should have a similarly well-illustrated tome written about it in the same format.

If you have even a remote interest in these fantastic insects, get this book!

The main author of this book, Jill Sillsby, is the honorary secretary of the Worldwide Dragonfly Association and a former ditto of the British Dragonfly Society. As behoves such a prominent student of dragonflies, her book is interesting, readable and illustrated with a large amount of stunning colour photos. Indeed, this is one of the best books on dragonflies I've seen.

"Dragonflies of the world" covers all odonates: true dragonflies, damselflies and anisozygopterans. The book is divided into two main sections. The first deals with the life cycle and behaviour of these fascinating insects. The second is an encyclopaedic section, covering all extant families of the order Odonata. Apart from the usual Hawkers, Emperors and Chasers, there are some groups I haven't heard of previously. The Primitives are dragonflies with curiously shaped wings, Dwarves are the smallest dragonflies (one species is only 15 mm), and the largest ones are called Forest Giants (strictly, they are damselflies). Finally, there are the anisozygopterans, which I personally think looks like a cross between dragonflies and wasps!

The two main sections are followed by three shorter chapters on evolutionary riddles, dragonfly breeding and conservation issues.

All things considered, "Dragonflies of the world" might be the only book about dragonflies you are likely to need.

Welcome to Planet Dragonfly!

I love this book! I rec'd it yesterday and immediately looked at every photo. The photography is very good and this book contains a lot of information about the life cycles of odonata, much more than the field guides. It also has a section on raising odonata in tanks. The book is from the NY Public Library and has some wear - bumped corners, loose hinges and a few pages with sticky spots, but nothing that can't be repaired easily. There are no torn pages and no markings except for some library labels. Overall, a wonderful book full of information interesting to anyone who likes watching dragonflies.

Being an amateur and looking for good books on dragonflies is hard. This book gives plenty of facts and pictures. A great alternative if you are not ready to spend $... on some of the the more well known books.