A review by gen_wolfhailstorm
The Book of Barely Imagined Beings: A 21st-Century Bestiary by Caspar Henderson
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