Jack Ashby

A gorgeous publication, and it started off strong for me, as the first entry is the platypus. But I have to admit to a whole lot of skimming; the writing is dry and the author uses the book to fly the flag for the Grant Museum of Zoology at every opportunity. There's also a mind numbing number of entries involving worms. Now, I like reading about worms if the writing is engaging - I've read an entire book about earthworms (5 stars!) - and the author's aim to fairly represent animals that make up a huge part of evolutionary history, is logical. But there's only so much information one can take on-board about all the wormlike creatures in the history of the world before falling asleep.

It's a worthy book, but could have been more engagingly written.… (més)

This book does exactly what it says on the cover - it provides a natural history of the animal kingdom in 100 objects. The objects in the title refer to museum objects - specimens of various animals found either on display or in the museum's storage facilities.

The book is divided into 4 parts: (1) Understanding Diversity; (2) Life's Turning Points; (3) Natural Histories; and (4) Displaying Nature. Each part has a variety of very short animal/object chapters highlighting various scientific concepts, observations and historical anecdotes. The narrative at the beginning of each part is rather useful and informative in tying all the separate objects and concepts together. Each chapter also includes a photograph/illustration of the object as well as additional illustrations or diagrams as required. The writing is clear, concise and easy to read, without bogging the reader down in too much scientific jargon.

Ashby starts off by discussing the diversity that exists in the animal kingdom by using 18 different museum objects that represent 18 major groupings of the animal kingdom. These 18 selective objects don't generally receive a great deal of attention, so there was generally something new to learn for each short (extremely short) chapter on each animal.

Life's Turning Points takes a look at 10 objects that represent 10 points of evolution that lead to mammals:. This section includes the Cambrian Explosion, jawless fishes, cartilaginous fishes, ray-finned fishes, lobe-finned fishes, tetrapods and vertebrate life on land, amphibians, amniotes (e.g. reptiles), mammal-like reptiles, and modern mammals (e.g. the horse).

The Natural Histories section deals with how evolution works. So objects/animals have been selected to discuss such concepts as: natural and sexual selection; convergent evolution; biogeography; processes underlying animal adaptations; animal senses; genetic systems underlying animal ecology; symbiotic and parasitic relationships; how humans are affecting the world today; etc.

The final section of the book takes a look at how museums obtain, preserve, display their specimens and represent nature. It also examines the purpose of museums and their relationship with the public. This is a particularly interesting section since the subject of preserving and displaying specimens that aren't always in a good condition is a fascinating subject.

The author manages to condense a variety of biological concepts and extras, in plain language, in 100 short chapters without being boring. His selection of objects to represent various concepts is interesting and provides an opportunity to highlight several uncommon animals, as well as provide fascinating information about each animals. This book lends itself well to reading a chapter or two at a time. The expert zoologist or biologist will probably not find very much new information in this book, but the general interested public may find a great deal they haven't come across before.
… (més)

In his book, Animal Kingdom: A History in 100 Objects, Jack Ashby, the manager of the Grant Museum in London, chose 100 objects from the museum to illustrate evolution and diversity as well as loss of species. He also discusses the history of museums, their beginnings, how they acquire objects, how they decide which get displayed for the public and how they are prepared for display including mistakes made about what an animal would have looked like in life. He explains how and why museums are an important window into the natural world not only to the past but to the present. And he does it with beautiful illustrations of those 100 objects including Dodo bones.

I won’t say I liked every picture – there was one object in particular that, admittedly, I found somewhat shocking, a reaction I apparently share with most people and his explanation of why we react this way was both insightful and somewhat disheartening for the protection of many species who we don’t have a close relationship with. I can also say that, despite, its importance as shown by Ashby, I will probably never applaud leeches.

Overall, though, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. He explains things in ways that nonscientific people like me can easily understand and the illustrations (even the leeches) are not only beautiful but help to enhance and clarify many of the scientific terms. An excellent book for anyone who loves museums or is interested to understand the amazing diversity of life that exists or existed on our planet.

Thanks to Netgalley and Trafalgar Square Publishing for the opportunity to read this book in echange for an honest review… (més)