Reviews
The Book of Barely Imagined Beings: A 21st Century Bestiary, by Golbanou Moghaddas, Caspar Henderson
siobhanward's review
informative
slow-paced
3.0
I'm always a fan of books of eclectic information and this was a pretty fun read. I knew at least a tiny bit about most of the species Henderson covered, but it was fun to learn more. Henderson mixed information about the species with information about the wider world (a book about beings and being), and while this wasn't my favourite part, since I found it got dry in places, it was a cool idea.
Some parts were a bit too much or too detailed for me, but I understand how others may appreciate it. However, my biggest qualm is that there were a few parts that seemed to be missed by an editor, and I always hate finding these things in nonfiction books. If there are simple mistakes (span is not the past tense of spin, and gender/sex cannot be used interchangeably in the context of reptilian biology) I always wonder how accurate the rest of the book is... It's definitely still a fun read, though.
gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition
4.0
After buying this over 2 years ago, I have finally read and completed this book, which, admittedly, felt like it took me an eternity. I knew it would be a hefty read from the start because although its written as what I'd describe as casual, 'easy-to-read' science, and despite the words not filling the page (leaving space for annotations), it had rather small font and dwelled on topics quite elaborat and that didn't always interest me leaving me either bored, so dragging it out, or having to read over bits again.
Despite that, it housed an array of topics that in the most part intrigued and fascinated me. I was initially captivated by the cover and striking name (published by Granta, so no wonder its beautiful), but it left me feeling like I've learnt about a fair few things I never knew about or understood before.
Each chapter concluded quite powerfully and left room for thought, which was made more captivating by the engaging writing style. In saying that, it is cheeky that Henderson features way more than what the chapter promises. I mean its awesome that I went into a chapter thinking "how on earth can you talk about this for a whole chapter?" but then I'm smoothly transitioned into a long tangent of some distantly connected new topic, but at the same time, I would prefer the focus to be on what the actual chapter is supposed to be about; in this aspect it is misleading.
However, because of that way of writing I was able to learn a vast deal more and some of those 'side topics' have really peaked my interest.
I really enjoyed the humour in this, feeling very Douglas Adams at times, but I felt like a lot of quotes were from random... pop culture media which didn't seem to have anything to do with science. So that put me off a bit and I found that a lot of times pointless trivia was included in the main body of text instead of the annotations where I think it would have been better placed as an after/side thought rather than the important information stuffed there.
Overall, I think if this book was more contained and stayed more true to what it promised I would have given it a strong 5 stars, but at the same time I enjoyed learning about various things at times. It was an interesting and creatively executed project and I'm glad to have read it.
Pick it up, give it a go and enjoy >(^_^)<
Gén
Despite that, it housed an array of topics that in the most part intrigued and fascinated me. I was initially captivated by the cover and striking name (published by Granta, so no wonder its beautiful), but it left me feeling like I've learnt about a fair few things I never knew about or understood before.
Each chapter concluded quite powerfully and left room for thought, which was made more captivating by the engaging writing style. In saying that, it is cheeky that Henderson features way more than what the chapter promises. I mean its awesome that I went into a chapter thinking "how on earth can you talk about this for a whole chapter?" but then I'm smoothly transitioned into a long tangent of some distantly connected new topic, but at the same time, I would prefer the focus to be on what the actual chapter is supposed to be about; in this aspect it is misleading.
However, because of that way of writing I was able to learn a vast deal more and some of those 'side topics' have really peaked my interest.
I really enjoyed the humour in this, feeling very Douglas Adams at times, but I felt like a lot of quotes were from random... pop culture media which didn't seem to have anything to do with science. So that put me off a bit and I found that a lot of times pointless trivia was included in the main body of text instead of the annotations where I think it would have been better placed as an after/side thought rather than the important information stuffed there.
Overall, I think if this book was more contained and stayed more true to what it promised I would have given it a strong 5 stars, but at the same time I enjoyed learning about various things at times. It was an interesting and creatively executed project and I'm glad to have read it.
Pick it up, give it a go and enjoy >(^_^)<
Gén
lamusadelils's review against another edition
5.0
Aparte de que es un libro hermoso, me encanta la forma en que fué abordado: Despertar ese sentido de fascinación por lo fantástico que generan los bestiarios pero con énfasis en la biología y las ciencias evolutivas que nos permiten conocer y entender cómo criaturas reales llegaron a tener las características casi irreales que tienen. Además, Henderson menciona explícitamente que esa sensación de asombro y misterio se logra fácilmente con buena parte de las criaturas del mar e insectos varios.
Agregarle a esta bella combinación los geniales grabados de Golbanou Moghaddas consigue unas sólidas 5 estrellas.
Agregarle a esta bella combinación los geniales grabados de Golbanou Moghaddas consigue unas sólidas 5 estrellas.
catsforlenny's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
3.0