Clever Creatures: How Animals and Plants Use Science to Survive by Steve Mould is currently scheduled for release on June 23 2020. Meet amazing engineers, such as the spiders who build immense webs stretching over rivers, and funky physicists, like the geckos that can walk upside down on ceilings. Observe crazy chemists, including the sea snail that squirts a sleep-inducing liquid at passing fish, and magnificent mathematicians, like the Venus flytrap that counts to five before consuming its prey! Clever Creatures is an exciting introduction to some of nature's smartest animals and plants. It's filled with spectacular photographs of the weird, obscure and downright disgusting and the science behind each genius adaptation is explained clearly.
Clever Creatures is a well organized and formatted book that introduces the unique abilities and survival strategies of plants and animals in terms of the scientific fields of people. Each page has bold colors, combining clever illustrations, photographs, and text that explains how a variety of living creatures use physics, chemistry, and other tools that can fit into the scientific classifications we use. I thought the set up by scientific category was a little contrived and a bit unnecessary- these creatures have amazing abilities that are pure nature and instinct. I think people go a little too far trying to fit things into neat little boxes rather than simply enjoying the complexity and unique nature of the world. However, it did work and the information and layout used was all very interesting. Much of the information was things that I have heard or read before, because these types of skill and abilities are what fascinates me about nature, but I did still learn a few things and enjoyed the book.
I think Clever Creatures will be a winner with many readers that enjoy nature and science. 
No comments:
Post a Comment