BOOK 



MARKET 



flectrifying, Exotic 

 and Entertaining - 



T 



JLhe c 



Curl Up With A Few Critters 



By Daun Daemon • Photographs by Herman Lankford 



le only way most of us will 

 ever see a breaching whale is on a 

 television documentary. Other marine 

 species we'll encounter only 

 in zoos or aquariums. But 

 the seas hold myriad 

 creatures — from bizarre to 

 benign — whose stories can 

 entertain and enlighten us. 

 Studying them up close may 

 be impossible, but meeting 

 them in the pages of a book 

 is satisfying consolation. 



• Whales of the 

 World, by Phil Clapham 

 (Voyageur Press, ISBN 

 0-89658-359-7). 



Attractive enough to 

 display on a coffee table, 

 Whales of the World is filled 

 with much more than just 

 pretty pictures. Whale expert 

 Clapham, a research 

 associate with the Smith- 

 sonian Institution in 

 Washington, D.C., states that his latest 

 book is not meant as a field guide; 

 however, with its clear drawings, close- 

 up underwater photographs and 

 detailed information on numerous 

 species, it could help whale watchers 

 identify the animals they spot. His 

 intent is to give readers an overview of 

 the great whales and their natural 



history by devoting pages to blue, fin, 

 sei, Bryde's, Minke, humpback, 

 northern right, southern right, bowhead, 



travel as far as 5,000 miles on their 

 routes), physiology, intelligence and 

 more. His discussion of whaling is brief 

 but reaches back in time to 

 the Persians of 4,000 years 

 ago and brings the topic to 

 the present by raising 

 modem concerns. Though 

 his sympathetic views about 

 the whales' plight are clear, 

 Clapham avoids becoming 

 sentimental when address- 

 ing serious issues about 

 whaling and whale 

 conservation. 



gray and sperm whales. He also 

 includes the killer whale, which is a 

 large dolphin and not a whale, because 

 so many people readily recognize the 

 species. 



In other sections of the book, 

 Clapham delves into the animals' 

 evolutionary background, social 

 behaviors, migrations (some whales 



• The Science 

 Times Book of Fish, 



edited by Nicholas Wade 

 (The Lyons Press, ISBN 

 1-55821-604-9). 



Ever wonder how 

 guppies attract mates? Or 

 how coral colonies go to 

 war with each other? Or 

 why fish, as well as their 

 populations, seem to get smaller and 

 smaller? The Science Times Book of 

 Fish can answer those questions. The 

 volume is a collection of 44 articles 

 gleaned from 20 years of science 

 columns in The New York Times. All 

 are written by science journalists who 

 know how to translate complicated 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 27 



