Although this book is aimed at pre-teens and young teenagers, with over 500 pages of different animals it would be enjoyed by anyone who picked it up. Its the sort of book where you are compelled to share what you are reading with anyone else in the room, "Hey, did you know that....". Very fascinating. ( )

A beautiful book. Great illustrations and photography.

Probably totally outdated because of those interweb thingies but a pleasure to leaf through or to dip into. ( )

From amazon.com:

Animals, birds, insects, fishes and reptiles have always fascinated people. This book provides as comprehensive a guide as it is reasonably possible to do on such a broad subject in a single book. There are plenty of photographs and drawings to support the text. All of it is well laid out and easy to read.

The overview at the beginning of the book makes clear that the co-authors believe in Darwin's theory of evolution, acknowledging the alternative theory of creation but being somewhat dismissive of it. This overview also covers biology, habitat and endangered species as well as evolution.

Anybody wishing to read it from cover to cover faces a daunting (albeit very enjoyable) prospect - however, the book is structured in such a way that you can dip into the book for the information you want and usually find it easily (though I wonder how many people would know to look for rabbits under their group name lagomorphs), with separate sections for each main category of creature and each section sub-divided appropriately.

Understandably, the biggest main section is devoted to mammals. Here you will find six pages devoted to the dog family, ten to the cat family and three to horses and related species. Obviously, a book like this can never offer much more than an appreciation of the diversity of life on our planet, but in this it does an excellent job. The pictures should appeal to people of all ages including even small children, thus helping to interest them in the subject. The text is not too technical so all readers can expand their knowledge via this book.

Of course, you can explore the natural world in greater detail by collecting books devoted to birds, butterflies, cats, dogs, horses, fishes or whatever appeals to you, but for such a wide-ranging book about animal life, this is as good as any I've seen.