Reptiles and Amphibians: Nature's Most Extraordinary Creatures

This carefully produced and illustrated hardback is a thorough and detailed study of reptiles and amphibians, and I realized early on it had been written by academics in the field. The hardback is well structured, and its Introduction clearly states the aims of the project and immediately hooked me in. After explaining the origins and evolution of these creatures the authors continue with sections entitled ‘What is an Amphibian?’ and ‘What is a Reptile?’ Characteristics of these animals are studied in their own sections e.g. ‘Skin’, ‘Temperature’, ‘Senses’, before the last pages on ‘Conservation’ and ‘How Can You Help’, which involve the reader and hopefully spur them into action.

I was impressed with the inclusion of ‘Further Reading and Resources’ plus a helpful Glossary, but the dense Bibliography of academic works is extraneous at this level except for showing the expert backgrounds of the authors. A couple of biographies at this point would have been preferable.

I enjoyed gaining a considerable amount of knowledge about reptiles and amphibians here such as ‘Scientists call some amphibians ‘sentinels’ because they act as warning signs of pollution in the environment’ (p.19). The range of colourful pupils in the eyes of frogs and toads (p.12) and reptiles (p. 17) is frankly amazing!

The Glossary could have been further improved with explanations of terminology such as ‘photoreceptor organ’ (p.26) which are not detailed in the text. The vocabulary used is advanced: ‘non-functioning’ (p.28), ‘subdue’ (p.33) so I would suggest an adult shares this book with the younger student for them to get the most out of it. I can envision young people keen on zoology/biology might be blown away by the level of detail and classification to be found here and the work could ignite a career in this field quite easily.