[.ca] The Life of Mammals (ISBN 0691113246)

From Amazon.co.uk:
There are over four and a half thousand different kinds of mammals alive today. How many can you name? Many will not be entirely clear about what it is that makes a mammal rather than a reptile or bird, apart from egg laying. But then what about egg-laying mammals such as the platypus and echidna? The Life of Mammals describes and illustrates the remarkable diversity of mammals from the giant blue whale to the miniscule pigmy shrew. The cachet of David Attenborough's name and distinctive voice comes through clearly from the text and there's a stunning selection of photographs, by the best wildlife photographers in the world. The Life of Mammals is worth getting even if you just like wildlife pictures, for there are many here that you will not have seen before--the Brazilian tapir, the hairy rhino of Sumatra, the Pyrenean desman and more. Attenborough certainly has the knack of making good stories for the general reader out of what, in other hands, can be rather dry science. He manages to weave in a great deal about the evolutionary story behind the success of the mammals over the last 65 million years since the dinosaurs bit the dust. Also, because of all the careful research behind the TV programmes, he is pretty well up to speed on many of the scientific developments in our understanding of our biologically nearest if not necessarily dearest relatives. This is especially true when the story gets around to our closest primate cousins--the apes. All the recent discoveries about tool use and culture are included. The Life of Mammals will make a perfect gift for anyone from the age of about 10 upwards and hopefully a whole new generation will know what a kinkajou, cacomistle or a uakiri are. The only quibble is there's no further-reading list to fuel new enthusiasms lit up by this excellent book. --Douglas Palmer.

There are better books for the purpose:
This book is intended to accompany Attenborough's film series, _The Life of Mammals_. The films are chock full of wonderful footage and information, so I was excited to see the book. The book contains numerous color prints, and is almost equally informative. However, it largely (but not wholly) repeats the film. Its chapters are organized in the same fashion as the film, and the format of each chapter is basically an alternative way the film could have been produced. As a stand-alone volume, it is a decent popular book on mammals; however, it is so similar to the film that reading the book ruins rather than enhances watching the movie, and vice versa. I do not see the point of writing this book as a companion to the documentary series, and its format, with chapters that are not subdivided, is better suited for the movies than the book. To me, a much better companion volume for Attenborough's series is David Macdonald's 2001 edition of _The Encyclopedia of Mammals_. The photographs in Macdonald's book are even larger and glossier than in Attenborough's book, plus there are photographs of almost every taxonomical group. If one sees Attenborough first, Macdonald's book allows readers to hone in on species and groups that they saw in the movie and found interesting, or see the animals that Attenborough left out. If one reads Macdonald first, which mammals Attenborough will choose to show and how becomes a guessing game. Unlike Attenborough's book, the format of Macdonald's book exploits the advantage of using a book over a movie--the subsections are well divided by taxonomical group, and readers can move at their own pace more easily and focus on only one species or a few species, if they so choose.

Packed with appealing color photos:
David Attenborough's Life of Mammals compliments a ten-part TV series to air on the Discovery channel which covers mammals of the world and their evolutionary processes. From learning about the navigation methods of bats and the special habits of meat eaters to understanding the natural history of water mammals, this provides a focus which contrasts environments and evolutionary processes, and makes for an important guide. Packed with appealing color photos.

One Fine Book.:
Written in transparent prose which also happens to be very engaging, this book provides you with lots and lots of detailed information about all kinds of mammals, of whose lives will astound many a reader. In case you're too tired to read the text, there's always the abundance (more than 200) of top-class "spectacular color photographs," as the book description above says/claims. This happens to be true. I can only speak from my own experience, and so I can say I'm an admirer of this man's television series. David Attenborough's enthusiasms about the natural world (be they rocks, plants, or animals) are very apparent on the screen, and definitely in this book too. Be sure to give 'The Life of Mammals' a try.

Good old David Attenborough...:
I sometimes get the idea that David Attenborough went out one year and shot 100,000 hours of nature footage, and has been creating documentaries out of it ever since. This book on the different orders of mammals, though it does not include obvious retreads like some of his earlier films and books, follows the same admittedly pleasing structure: primitive to advanced. That is, we open with monotremes and marsupials, proceed "upward" through insectivores, rodents, and so on up to homo sapiens. Each species gets a fine color photo and one or two gee-whiz details about its appearance or habits. A typically rewarding coffee-table nature book from everyone's favorite British naturalist.

Entertaining:
I found this book very entertaining. It is written very simply to satisfy a broad audience. The pictures are stunning. Mr. Attenbourough and his team have been able to show us animals I have never even heard of. I can hardly wait to get the DVD.