FACTUAL REVIEW: Deadly Animals: Savage Encounters Between Man and Beast - Gordon Grice

Release Date: 03/05/12

SYNOPSIS:

Consider, if you can, the case of Jacob Fowler, who heard what he thought was the sound of his own skull cracking between the jaws of a grizzly bear - only to discover that it was. Or the Arizonan jogger who ran a mile back to her car with a rabid fox clamped to her arm before driving to hospital for live-saving inoculations. Or the woman who was attacked by a hyena, dragged from her tent by her face and survived to tell of her ordeal. The dangers of the animal kingdom are the stuff of legend but the reality of man's vulnerability and of nature's savage power is far more various, improbable and chilling than even the most active imagination would fear. In this unique work of nature writing, you will encounter the most formidable predators on land and sea - as well as the most overlooked, bizarre and inventive hazards that mother nature has to offer. Meet the cougar that can leap 40 feet and clear 8-foot fences with a fully-grown deer in its jaws, the tapeworm that's been known to grow as long as 82 feet in the human gut and the elephant that single-handedly destroyed an oil tanker. Drawing on an enormous host of true encounters between man and beast, this is the world's most authoritative compendium of animal attacks on human beings. With mordant wit and expert timing, Gordon Grice provides a gripping journey to the dark side of the animal kingdom and a celebration of its humbling, savage glory. It was originally published in hardback as "The Book of Deadly Animals".


REVIEW:

If you love books about animals at their most deadly wrapped up in easy to read chapters then this book may well be the one for you. Its full of trivia, interesting facts and stories of survival. That said, personally I felt that it needed more illustrations or, failing that, would have perhaps been better as a TV series where you can follow everything from start to finish.

Don’t get me wrong, it is a good read, it is well written and the author knows their stuff as well as facts. Add this to a personable approachable writing style and its something that a lot of people will enjoy but without the visual it feels a little flat.