The Book of Deadly Animals by Gordon Grice

This book

Synopsis
Reviews
Product details

» View larger jacket image

The Book of Deadly Animals

» Gordon Grice

Viking Adult
Hardback : 03 Nov 2011

£16.99

» Buy now

Synopsis

Consider, if you can, the case of Jacob Fowler, who heard what he thought was the sound of his own skull cracking between the jaws of a grizzly bear - only to discover that it was. Or the Arizonan jogger who ran a mile back to her car with a rabid fox clamped to her arm before driving to hospital for live-saving inoculations. Or the woman who was attacked by a hyena, dragged from her tent by her face and survived to tell of her ordeal.

The dangers of the animal kingdom are the stuff of legend but the reality of man's vulnerability and of nature's savage power is far more various, improbable and chilling than even the most active imagination would fear. In this unique work of nature writing, you will encounter the most formidable predators on land and sea - as well as the most overlooked, bizarre and inventive hazards that mother nature has to offer. Meet the cougar that can leap 40 feet and clear 8-foot fences with a fully-grown deer in its jaws, the tapeworm that's been known to grow as long as 82 feet in the human gut and the elephant that single-handedly destroyed an oil tanker.

Drawing on an enormous host of true encounters between man and beast, this is the world's most authoritative compendium of animal attacks on human beings. With mordant wit and expert timing, Gordon Grice provides a gripping journey to the dark side of the animal kingdom and a celebration of its humbling, savage glory.

» Back to top

Reviews

» Submit a review

Critic Review:

"This book is the serious, adult, hardback equivalent of that splendid programme Deadly 60"
"Grice’s book is a work of mountainous, vertiginous research, a 350-page volume in which scarcely a word is wasted... this review can barely scratch the surface of its wonders," The Daily Mail

"A lovely little book. After all we've done to them it's great to see the animals getting their own back. When are we going to leave them alone..." Tony Fitzjohn

"When it comes to the most deadly animals on the planet it is best to be prepared. With The Book of Deadly Animals, forewarned is forearmed!" Bear Grylls

"Thrillingly scary ... Though I can imagine this book making a perfect stocking filler for adolescent boys, it's also a beautifully-written, well-researched work," Mail on Sunday