Customer Reviews

The Ultimate Guide to Sea-Monkeys

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

 

 

Don't buy this book thinking that it is a comprehensive beginners guide to getting started with sea monkeys (the title of the book is definitely misleading). The informational content of this book is very minimal. You will find more information on the topic from various websites including the sea-monkey kit manufacturer's web site help/faq section. Most of this book is filled with content good for entertainment purposes only, there is not even any good pictures of the sea-monkeys themselves, only the author's quirky pursuits...

All the inner children whose parents wouldn't let them send away for the Sea Monkeys advertised in the back comics should definitely treat themselves to this book. Ms. Barclay shares a treasure-trove of research and her reverence for nostalgia with a writing style that is both clever and funny. Highly recommended!

If you're one of the people below complaining about the lack of real information in this book, why would you even think about raising sea monkeys? Susan has spent quite a few years working on her website, "Sea Monkey Worship", and if you were a frequent visitor like myself, you would have bought this book knowing what to expect from it.

I should have read the reviews first. The eleven commandments of sea monkey ownership begins with "Thou shalt not lie to a sea monkey. They don't like it anymore than people do.", should give you a sense of the content of this book. Unless you are THAT enamored with sea monkeys, don't waste your money.

While I did find a few bits of information that will actually be usefull in raising "Sea Monkeys" this book is more like a fan zine. Too many pages are wasted on a band called the Sea Monkeys who have little to say about the actual hobby, or a role playing game based on Sea Monkeys that I'm never going to play (or even finsish reading the rules of). The rest is the authors goofy jokes which is welcome along side practical information and historical information but on the majority of the pages here it is the humor alone and it gets old quickly.
The art too is very zine-ish, which is to say it looks cut and paste and the same graphics are used over and over.
A peak at the author's website reveals another poorly organized and amateurish effort. Of course, it's a fan website to Sea Monkeys, so that's perfect. But when I purchase a book with such a bright colorful cover and a bright colorful price tage I expect more.

Susan Barclay's brilliant work was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Non-Fiction. It is easy to see why. Barclay reveals many new details about these diminutive aquatic creatures. Truth is indeed stranger and more wonderful than fiction. For example, female sea monkeys do NOT have blonde hair tied up with red bows! They wear dreadlocks! Sea Monkeys are egalitarian by nature and disdain the plastic castle included with their aquarium! During the 60's the Sea Monkeys experimented with mind altering drugs and free love! Sea Monkeys are environmentalists and formed their own Green Peace chapters! The section on "Sea Monkey Practical Jokes" is laugh out loud funny! Most surprising was the Epilogue, where Barclay shares here Sea Monkey recipes. Although Sea Monkeys are never a main course, they are excellent sprinkled on salads, pizza and popcorn. [YUM!!!]