Il Libro Dell'ignoranza Sugli Animali: Tutto Quello Che Avreste Voluto Sempre Sapere, Assurdità Comprese, Sul Mondo Animale (2007) - Plot & Excerpts
Right so...first off, I would definitely have to do some research on sources before I repeat any of this as current truth. I get a 404 error when I attempt to check in on the website that is supposed to list the sources and allow for corrections and comments. Some of the information I have come across previously, and sometimes the authors are obviously intentionally exaggerating and anthropomorphizing in an attempt to be more interesting. However, the result is that it's not always clear when they are exaggerating and when they are being literal. About the book-a highlights reel of some cool animal info. It's basically a list of animals and their cool facts. Now, I am nowhere near a prude, but can I get a metaphor/description/joke that is not based on human sexuality/behavior/stereotypes? Examples:Describing the star-nosed mole's nose: "With a much higher density of nerve endings than the average clitoris...""The naked-mole rat looks like a flaccid penis with teeth." And by the way, what does it mean that "Male scent is used territorially; female scent is to do with breeding, a kind of mousy 'girl talk'"? What are you implying by "Male sharks do not have penises. Which probably explains a lot."? Why don't you elaborate a bit on this statement: "The male mounts from behind, bites the female's neck, and manages about forty thrusts of his bifurcated penis in twenty seconds. Once thrusting stops, ejaculation (into both vaginas) lasts for thirty seconds. This perfunctory attitude might throw some light on the female koala's enthusiastic, if mysterious, adoption of lesbian behavior when taken into captivity"?Is "wedding tackle" the scientific name for the armadillo's penis?This got annoying after a while. It's not cute and I wouldn't have found it funny as a school child, let alone as an adult. These jokes are very tired (Really? A walrus penis operates even in the cold? I wouldn't have guessed). It is definitely possible to reach a wide audience and be entertaining, engaging and interesting without resorting to this. I like what they were attempting to do, but they missed. This book is similar in spirit to "The Book of General Ignorance," also by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson. However, instead of a general trivia, question-and-answer format, this book is full of amazing facts about animals, organized in alphabetical order by animal. It's a fascinating and fun read, and the illustrations by Ted Dewan are clever and often very cute.There are occasional editing problems. In the entry on giraffes, it claims that they have one more neck vertebra than other mammals but the entry about the sea cow family claims that only manatees, dugongs, and sloths have a number other than seven. In the entry on sheep, two picture captions appear to have been swapped. The authors' bias also occasionally shows through -- they are definitely not cat people.
What do You think about Il Libro Dell'ignoranza Sugli Animali: Tutto Quello Che Avreste Voluto Sempre Sapere, Assurdità Comprese, Sul Mondo Animale (2007)?
There's a handful of animals I bet you never heard of before. Get it at your local library.
—jnking12
loved reading all the awesome animal tidbits and facts.
—aranna
