Book Review: The Modern Bestiary - A Curated Collection of Wondrous Creatures by Joanna Bagniewska

My friend Dr Joanna has written a marvellous book! Full of bone-eating snot flowers, stuffed with silly footnotes about antlions, and gorgeously illustrated. This is a quick rattle through over a hundred weird - and not-so-weird - animals. It is always amusing and occasionally gross. Banana Slugs, man... YEUCH!

It is surprisingly adult in places, probably best for older teens who will snigger at the penis fencing and fart jokes. Of course, sophisticated adults like me find that sort of puerile humour entertaining as well. With a queen-like grasp of puns, and a steady stream of scatological humour, it'll keep you chuckling for days. Or, if you read the bit about fish with anal teeth, it might make you afraid to go back into the water.

That said, it can be rather sombre at times. Biodiversity is rapidly dwindling and some of these fascinating creatures are facing a mortal threat. Some of these delightful and deranged species may simply cease to exist unless we take urgent steps to conserve them.

Each animal is only given a short sketch - so you'll almost certainly find yourself diving to an encyclopædia to find out more. There are tonnes of references and details of experiements if you want to take your studies further.

A special mention must go to Jennifer N. R. Smith who has provided excellent illustrations which render perfectly on an eink screen.

The book does end rather abruptly, but I suppose it's the sort of tome to flick through on a long journey so you can turn to a friend and say "Hey! Do you know how the Immortal Jellyfish reproduces? Well...!"