Customer Reviews

Life in Cold Blood

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this book as soon as it came out, as i am greatly interested in reptiles and in general like the books/films the BBC/Attenborough makes.

This book is for me dissapointing.

Why you are asking ?

The photos first of all, i always expect something new,beautiful or rare on the photos from somebody as Attenborough and the BBC, the photos are not. A lot of older,allready published photos and grade B photos,not the best of the best anyway.

The quality of the paper is dull and not glossy this makes it even worse for the photos to come to life and is something i am not used to for books in this price range (i bought it in the Netherlands for around 40 euros).

The text is general, heard it and seen it before....

Conclusion,the book is for someone that wants some general information about reptiles. But they can get that a lot better with other reptilian books on the market.
The photos do not stand out, so no point there for buying the book either.

A missed chance by the BBC and the Attenborough franchise, they could and should have done a lot better.

I am in general agreement with the previous review, however, I would like to add that the book is not as technically accurate as one would normally expect from a BBC publication.

Throughout, the 'Strawberry Poison Dart Frog' is referred to by it's scientific name of 'Dendrobates Pumilo(sic)', this should actually be 'Dendrobates Pumilio', a basic error, possibly evidence of poor proof-reading, but as it is repeated so often, possibly not.

The chapter on lizards also refers to an 'American Anole'. By definition ALL Anolids are American, this being the only continent on which they are found. What is actually shown is a 'Cuban Brown Anole'.

Sloppy!

Life in Cold Blood

My admiration for this book stems from a mix of my ignorance of taxonomy and my perspective as a neurologist. This explains my inability to comment on any of the misspellings and errors detected by some of the other reviewers. With every book I read on comparative anatomy or evolutionary physiology, my erstwhile enthusiasm, rigid and fixed, for the human nervous system relents. It admits graciously a greater pervasive wonder for life across the spectra of all animal forms. This is the promontory from which I approach this work.

This book of 281 pages and 6 chapters is aglow with vivid pictures of animal grandeur. Frogs, salamanders, lizards, iguanas, crocodiles, turtles or snakes greet you page after page. We learn about the anatomy, behavior and evolution of amphibians, reptiles and other cold-blooded animals. There are exquisite descriptions, whether it is of snakes calibrating their predatory strikes or of frogs producing internal anti-freeze to survive the arctic chill. Elaborate mating rituals of frogs and eating patterns of pythons would fascinate the reader.

It is likely that other books in this area have covered as much ground or even more. That possibility need not reduce the merit of this volume. The comparative biology that underpins this volume is a riveting reading experience in itself. There are numerous utterly captivating mechanisms that the cold blooded animals use to protect and evolve. They may suppress one lung, right or left, from fully developing, secrete, shoot or spit various venoms, protrude and circumduct their fangs, hibernate in extreme cold and even carry their own radiators and solar panels.

Preservation and reproduction call for such grand and complex acts.
Across all living organisms, including humans, the overriding emphasis is on self-preservation and procreation. We might be relying on precision bombing and in-vitro fertilization, and they may use their toxins and gastric pregnancy with regurgitation of their young. Even herding and social structuring apparently existed from prehistoric to contemporary times. Regardless of our own sophistication, we still share many basics with the cold-blooded animals. If nothing else, this is a beautiful lesson that I learn and relearn from works such as this. My only quarrel with this delicious book is the absence of scholarly citations or references to primary research that would have enabled further reading.

I have been involved in the Hungarian production of both the television series as well as the book to accompany it, and while the first is informative, entertaining and essentially correct in all respects, the second dealt with here is FULL of factual (and, of course, typographical) errors -- far too numerous to be mentioned one by one in a review aimed at a general public.
Just a few to make my point: the Japanese giant salamander (Andrias japonicus) is said to be "the biggest of all amphibians", but the Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) surpasses it by about 40 cm (nearly 30 percent!), and the "young Japanese giant salamander" illustrated on page 15 is actually a mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus)!
The olm (Proteus anguineus) does, indeed, occur in Italy (lower reaches of the Isonzo river), but has been recorded from nearly 200 localities, mostly situated in Slovenia. Rather unnaturally, the specimens shown on page 17 lay on their back.
The "one species (of caecilian) from south-east Asia (that) has a blue-black skin with a bright lemon-yellow stripe along its flanks" (page 27) is actually several: various Ichtyophis spp. have this coloration, as well as the South American Rhinatrema bivittatum.
The ranges of dendrobatid frogs shown on pages 62-63 are almost all wrong.
I know of no functional plastral hinge in any African tortoise (page 72; admittedly, the rear section of the plastron of old Testudo graeca is slightly mobile) -- it is the front lobe in Madagascan spider tortoises (Pyxis arachnoides) that really moves sometimes.
On page 88 the "North American wood tortoise (Chelonoides carbonaria)" is either not North American (the common name of Chelonoidis carbonaria -- note spelling -- is red-footed tortoise, a familiar South American species) or it is the North American wood turtle (Glyptemys insculpta).
The "biggest of the hinged tortoises" (page 90) is definitely not Kinixys homeana, but Kinixys erosa, which grows to nearly twice the size of a Home's.
Many scientific names mentioned are seriously antiquated, some mispelled, others coined. "Megachelys trijuga" (page 94) does not exist, but even so, Melanochelys trijuga (note spelling) is by far not the largest geoemydid turtle, and certainly does not reach 60 cm (carapace?) length. The record is Batagur (earlier name Callagur) borneoenis', with 76 cm -- M. trijuga is about half this size.
And so on, and so on. Also the style of the book differs greatly from that of the films, and I like the latter more. Sorry, Sir David!

Ever since I started studying herpetology for Science Olympiad, I have looked all over for books that have facts that no one else will know. This book does that. With interesting pictures and facts about some of the coolest herps out there, this book is great for acquiring knowledge.

I did not approach this book as an expert in the field, nor did I expect it to be an exhaustive, in-depth study. The mistakes other reviewers have mentioned do not dampen my liking of this book - I am not going to remember the scientific name of a poison dart frog, nor is it going to bother me if someone else gets it wrong. And, while it is true that a few of the photos are older, they are all crisp and clear. More importantly, they visually illustrate the written descriptions. They are well chosen for the text - not necessarily to impress or awe, although almost all of the photos are striking and beautiful. It is not a coffee table book meant for decoration. It is not a text book. On the other hand, it does not claim to be either of those. Although any factual errors are regrettable, this is still a very engaging read, wonderfully interesting, and you do not get the sense that the author has no clue what he's talking about. Even the foremost expert on any given subject will make a few mistakes. I got the sense that the author was as careful and thorough as humanly possible to make sure that the vast store of facts in this book was engagingly presented, logically arranged - and accurate - while still managing to publish a book. I'm the type of person who loves learning, reading, watching documentaries, etc., and just *knowing* things. I enjoyed this book immensely and have read it twice.

What can we say about David Attenborough's series that hasn't already been said. They are absolutely awesome. 'Life in Cold Blood' is about cold blooded animals and lizards. Get close up with your favorite lizard. My son loves these DVD's. I find him watching them by himself sometimes. These have been watched by our whole family many times already, and I'm sure they aren't done yet! Any one of the DVD's by David Attenborough is a great pleasure to watch. With his total detail to each animal, he is wonderful to watch. You won't be sorry if you invest in this DVD I can tell you that. The photography is gorgeous!