Illustrated Encyclopedia of Whales and Dolphins

This is a large book with excellent artwork, diagrams, cross sections and photographs. The text is well written, instructive and, best of all, easy to follow. I have several books about Whales and Dolphins which were designed purely as reference material. This, however, is a book you can sit down, read and enjoy. The list of 11 contributors and their individual qualifications is very impressive. Each of these brings their individual knowledge and experiences of zoology, biology and research etc to this book and, in so doing, combine to make it a most authoritative work. Even the book's two artists have a great experience and knowledge of the creatures they paint - one of whom is also a biologist. That artwork, incidentally, is quite outstanding and shows aspects of certain whales' behaviour that could never be caught on camera. The book is laid out in an easy-to-follow format. Part of the wide-ranging Introduction includes that all important topic "What are Whales" - which, after all, some people still think are nothing more than very big fish! Having set the scene quite expertly, we then move on to the different categories of Whales and Dolphins and are treated to excellent descriptions of; Baleen, Right, Gray, Rorqual, Toothed and Sperm Whales before coming on to those smaller species. Here we have; Narwhal, Beluga, Irrawaddy, Beaked & Bottlenose Whales, Pilot & Killer Whales, Oceanic Dolphins, Porpoises and finally River Dolphins. In summary, I couldn't think of any aspect of the subject of this book's title which was not adequately covered in the content. An excellent book for both the professional and amateur with an interest in these incredible creatures. NM