Book blurb:
A gloriously illustrated and fascinating bestiary of the world’s most extraordinary endangered animals – a treasure trove of vanishing wonders.
And each of them may soon disappear from the earth. A lavishly illustrated compendium of the staggering lives of some of the world’s most endangered animals, The Golden Mole is a chance to be awestruck and lovestruck – to fall for the likes of the seahorse, the narwhal and, as astonishing and endangered as them all, the human.
The world is more astonishing, more miraculous and more wonderful than our wildest imaginings. In this passionately persuasive and sharply funny book, Katherine Rundell tells us how and why.
A lavishly illustrated collection of the lives of some of the Earth’s most astounding animals, The Golden Mole is a chance to be awestruck and lovestruck – to reckon with the beauty of the world, its fragility, and its strangeness.
A swift flies two million kilometres in its lifetime. That’s far enough to get to the moon and back twice over – and then once more to the moon. A pangolin keeps its tongue furled in a pouch by its hip. A Greenland shark can live five hundred years. A wombat once inspired a love poem.
I am not normally a non-fiction reader, but I saw this book and just had to have it. the original book was released initially in 2022, but a new updated version was released earlier this year. can we all just admire how utterly gorgeous this book is?? The illustrations within the book alone are enough to make this a stunning book, but the green cover and gold pages? This book is just gorgeous. Even if you never read it, this book is a stunning collection piece.
You should read this book though. This book tells fun little stories about some of the world’s most endangered species, including the titular golden mole. There a lot of animals in this book, which is both very exciting because you can read some very interesting trivia about so many animals in one book, but also very upsetting to realise just how many animals are currently endangered. I have personally enjoyed that each chapter – or each animal, I should say – only has about 5-10 pages to it. Whilst I could read an entire book about each and every one of the animals in this book, it has been nice to just read a quick chapter before bed. Not only do I get to spend a quiet ten minutes reading before bed, I also get to learn some very fun and easy to digest stories about animals. So a big win for me!
Katherine Rundell is also very funny. Her style of writing feels like a conversation, as if she was just talking to you over coffee and telling you about her new favourite animal. Sometimes I find that nature writing can be too scientific, and as much as I wish I had a scientific mind, I just don’t, so a lot of the very complicated science gets lost on me. Yet Katherine Rundell writes in a very easy to digest and accessible manner. Yes the chapters are short, but they still stick with you. I won’t spoil any of the facts that she shares, as they are really fascinating and I think her style of writing also hits home more if you aren’t expecting it.
I did appreciate that whilst this book makes it very clear that we (i.e. humans) are the cause for these animals endangerment, it isn’t done in a condemning manner, but rather as a call to action. As a I said above, the chapters may be short but they are written in such a way that you do care about the animal and I know I definitely felt inspired to take more action where I can. the book also remains hopeful and makes it very clear that positive changes can still be done to help bring these animals back from extinction, provided that we all do our part. It is moving and inspiring, without being heavy handed with it.
Taylor Talks Vegan 