The Encyclopedia of Animals: A Complete Visual Guide [Hardcover]

George McKay (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 3, 2004

The Encyclopedia of Animals is a lavishly illustrated, authoritative, and comprehensive exploration of the rich and intriguing world of animals. Written by an international team of specialists, spectacularly adorned with a gallery of more than 2,000 color illustrations, and supplemented with distribution maps, detailed and beautifully rendered diagrams, and some of the world's finest wildlife photographs, this volume will become the standard by which all others are measured. Each page is expertly laid out to enhance either browsing or in-depth study. Readers will find detailed coverage of all sorts of animals, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, and invertebrates.
The Encyclopedia includes an introductory overview of animal evolution, biology, behavior, classification, habitats, and current conservation issues. An extensive encyclopedic survey of the animals follows, with special attention given to endangered and vulnerable species. All information is completely up-to-date, with the most recent scientific and conservation data.
Elegant graphics put a broad selection of information at readers' fingertips, including classification information, scientific and common names, distribution maps for all animal groups, conservation panels that focus on threatened species, accurate and detailed anatomical drawings, and illustrations of multiple species. Each section is color coded for easy identification of animal groups. Feature pages explore topics of particular interest and provide insights into animal behavior. With its expansive scope, richly detailed information, and inviting design, this will be the ideal reference for a broad range of uses.
* Completely up-to-date, with the most recent scientific information and conservation data
* A gallery of more than 2,000 illustrations
* Authoritative text contributed by a team of international specialists
* Lavish color photographs from leading wildlife photographers
* Distribution maps for all animal groups
* Detailed explanatory scientific diagrams
* Feature pages exploring topics of particular interest and providing insights into animal behavior

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The animal kingdom encompasses a mind-boggling range of creatures, from immobile sea squirts and long-winged Andean condors to predatory cheetahs and shy, nectar-loving butterflies. This illustrated reference methodically documents all the subgroups in the six taxonomic categories, demonstrating the diversity of life comprehensively and beautifully in pages dominated by full-color photos and line drawings. An overview of the animal kingdom’s essential characteristics includes sections on evolution, biology, habitats and endangered species. The largest portion of the book is devoted to mammals, with somewhat shorter chapters on birds, reptiles, amphibians and fishes, and the briefest on invertebrates; these groupings are further divided into orders and families, and sidebars highlight the species that fall into these categories. Other marginal text boxes provide intriguing details on subjects like anatomy, parenting behavior and species interaction. The writing isn’t overly technical, but it does assume readers possess an intermediate knowledge of biology, though the book contains a glossary of scientific terms for those who don’t. A bird’s-eye view of the varied creatures that walk the Earth, this is an excellent general reference for animal lovers of all stripes.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

This lavishly illustrated chronicle of Earth's biodiversity is a visual delight. Compiled by a team of animal experts from Australia, the U.K., and the U.S., it presents an overview of animal life and behavior. The audience includes younger readers, who will enjoy the photos and illustrations, as well as adults interested in the natural world.

Following an overview on animal classification, evolution, behavior, and more, content is arranged in six taxonomic sections covering mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates. Each of these sections is broken down into smaller sections that treat particular subgroups. A sample entry on bears covers two pages and includes the classification, two photos, six illustrations, a diagram of the skeletal structure, text about feeding and anatomy, and a sidebar on bear paws. A "Fact File," which relies heavily on icons, enumerates characteristics such as size, distribution, reproduction, and conservation status.

The information presented is a good start, although readers may need to turn to more comprehensive works, such as Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia [RBB Ap 1 04], for details about a specific species. The Simon and Schuster Encyclopedia of Animals (1998) is very similar to the University of California volume in size, arrangement, and number of illustrations but does not include invertebrates. The reasonable price and attractive layout of The Encyclopedia of Animals will make it a popular choice for school, public, and academic libraries. Jack O'Gorman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 608 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (November 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520244060
• ISBN-13: 978-0520244061
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 9.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #135,407 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #30 in Books > Education & Reference > Encyclopedias > Veterinary
  • #86 in Books > Science & Math > Reference

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb introduction to life on Earth, May 24, 2005

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Encyclopedia of Animals: A Complete Visual Guide (Hardcover)

Animals, birds, insects, fishes and reptiles have always fascinated people. This book provides as comprehensive a guide as it is reasonably possible to do on such a broad subject in a single book. There are plenty of photographs and drawings to support the text. All of it is well laid out and easy to read.

The overview at the beginning of the book makes clear that the co-authors believe in Darwin's theory of evolution, acknowledging the alternative theory of creation but being somewhat dismissive of it. This overview also covers biology, habitat and endangered species as well as evolution.

Anybody wishing to read it from cover to cover faces a daunting (albeit very enjoyable) prospect - however, the book is structured in such a way that you can dip into the book for the information you want and usually find it easily (though I wonder how many people would know to look for rabbits under their group name lagomorphs), with separate sections for each main category of creature and each section sub-divided appropriately.

Understandably, the biggest main section is devoted to mammals. Here you will find six pages devoted to the dog family, ten to the cat family and three to horses and related species. Obviously, a book like this can never offer much more than an appreciation of the diversity of life on our planet, but in this it does an excellent job. The pictures should appeal to people of all ages including even small children, thus helping to interest them in the subject. The text is not too technical so all readers can expand their knowledge via this book.

Of course, you can explore the natural world in greater detail by collecting books devoted to birds, butterflies, cats, dogs, horses, fishes or whatever appeals to you, but for such a wide-ranging book about animal life, this is as good as any I've seen.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For kids from 5 to 50, March 23, 2006

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Bruce_in_LA "reader_in_LA" (los angeles, ca United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Encyclopedia of Animals: A Complete Visual Guide (Hardcover)

This is a detailed book on every kind of animal (small lizards to elephants, lots of birds.) With a lot of pictures and selective paraphrasing from a few captions, it would entertain a four-year-old, yet there's enough detail a high school kid could use it for term papers. Great bargain. Big, beautiful, dense book.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars great animal encyclopedia, June 5, 2006

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SSL (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Encyclopedia of Animals: A Complete Visual Guide (Hardcover)

We got this book when my daughter was between 2 and 2.5, and it quickly became one of her favorites. It is loaded with full color photos that kids love (although most pictures are color illustrations), and encourages them to learn their animals. She knows animals my 13 year old sister never even heard of. This isn't even a children's book. It is a real encyclopedia with real facts about the animals. I have a couple of complaints, though: 1) it is not as complete as I would like (I've noticed it's missing quite a few animals) and 2) it does not give all of the same info for all of the animals. Some are much more complete than others, and it doesn't much allow for comparisons. However, this seems to be the best animal encyclopedia out there, and we definitely enjoy it.