Customer Reviews

Weird Nature: An Astonishing Exploration of Nature's Strangest Behavior

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John Downer's Weird Nature examines the animal kingdom's devious defense patterns, bizarre breeding habits, and other oddities. From unusual mimics to shrimps which stun prey with noise, this outlines some real oddities and includes fine close-up color photos throughout.

This book was bought after reading reviews. It was bought for a younger 'reading' child (who personally chose this book based on his love of animals). My children know the facts of life but after previewing the book and reading the section on "Breeding" I would NOT recommend this book for anyone other than adults. The choice of words used makes it TOTALLY unsuitable for children. PARENTS MAKE SURE YOU READ THROUGH THIS BOOK BEFORE BUYING!!

A companion book to the BBC television series of the same name, Weird Nature is a fascinating treat for anyone, of any age, interested in the extreme variety of animal life that co-exists with us on this planet. This book is illustrated throughout with stills from the series, and it showcases animals, their locomotion and their behavior, demonstrating both the differences that set them apart and the similarities they share with us.
The wonders described here are myriad; the Pokémon-like flying gecko, the Surinam toads that hatch out of their mother's back, case-bearing clothes moth caterpillars that disguise themselves as the garments they eat, and the astounding mimic octopus are just a few of the bizarre creatures you'll meet between the covers of this book.
This is a book for children to grow into. Just like the narration to any number of nature programs, the text alternates between pop-science humorous and rather technical. But the illustrations are plentiful, and their captions are generally easy for even young children to understand. I can imagine very young children enjoying it for the pictures and their captions, then reading the primary text as they grow older, as I did with a number of natural science books I owned in my youth. What sets Weird Nature apart from the rest of the herd (if you'll pardon my pun) is its focus on the strange, unexpected and truly amazing aspects of animals, both common and exotic. I would recommend this book to any curious child over the age of six.