Many of the books about sharks I’ve read over the years have been roughly divisible into two large groups: those written specifically for professional level researchers, and those written ostensibly for entertainment rather than education (think “14 things that will shock you about sharks!”). There is, of course, a third group – much smaller than either of these first two, that contains books that are written for an interested readership who are willing to make the effort to follow accurate and detailed explanations in exchange for the opportunity to acquire a substantial amount of useful and interesting information about these remarkable creatures.
Looking back over some of my recent favorite books about sharks, it caught my attention that two of them – Sharks; the Animal Answer Guide and Sharks of the Shallows – were published by Johns Hopkins University Press. And if how impressed I have thus far been by what I’ve discovered through my initial readings in their newly published Shark Biology and Conservation; Essentials for Educators, Students, and Enthusiasts holds true, three of my most favorite recent books about sharks will be JHUP publications.
Written by Daniel C. Abel and R. Dean Grubbs, with contributions from Tristan Guttridge, and illustrated by Elise Pullen and Marc Dando, this new book is indeed what I refer to as a Goldilocks book – not to hard, not too soft, but just right. The text is delightfully and constructively narrative, building from introductory “finding your way around a shark,” shark evolution, and shark diversity chapters, then taking a deeper dive into its subject with multiple chapters each presenting aspects of shark biology and ecology, and concluding with an examination of the human influences on sharks and their habitat. And as for the accompanying photographic images and illustrations, they are superbly chosen and crafted, respectively, to add additional perspective and meaning to the chapters they accompany.
There is one thing, however, I feel compelled to warn my readers about this book: once you open its cover and begin reading, it is very, very difficult to stop reading and set it down – so plan accordingly.
