Rating: 
Summary: Advance reviews
Review: "A wonderfully weird ... enlightening and entertaining book."
-- Publishers Weekly ...... "Each essay is as entertaining as it is informative, and the whole book is a tour de force of bright and lively popular natural science writing." -- A.L.A. Booklist ......
"Conniff delivers an uncommonly graceful excursion into popular science. Recommended reading for budding naturalists." Kirkus Reviews ...... "You're at a fancy dinner party. The bald gentleman seated across from you is spreading goose-liver pate on a cracker. Having just read Richard Conniff's fascinating and wonderfully written Spineless Wonders, you blurt out, 'Did you know that the ancient Greeks believed a paste made from smashed-up house flies would grow hair on a bald man's head?' Rest assured, while the evening may not be ultimately memorable, you will be ...
I enjoyed this book immensely. Read it and make your dinner companions weep."
--Gary Larson, The Far Side.
Rating: 
Summary: A brief survey of some otherworldy creatures living on earth
Review: An entire book about beetles, houseflies, worms, moths, and leeches? With an entire chapter on slime eels--aka hagfish--which burrow into dead fish and consume them from the inside out? You bet. As the author points out, the above-named creatures are but a few of the species that belong to the group of animals known as invertebrates, which not only lack a backbone, but also, pound for pound, far outweigh any other form of life on earth. "There are only 4,500 or so mammal species on the planet. There are, however, between ten million and thirty million invertebrate species. They represent more than 99.5 percent of all animal species. A spaceship visiting the blue planet would take them, not us, as the typical earthlings."And invertebrates are often far more interesting than us boring old mammals, fish, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Take a fire ant queen, for example, who reproduces so wholeheartedly that her human equivalent would be a 120-pound woman giving birth to 500,000 babies each year. Or how about the mysterious giant squid--at sixty feet long and with eyes the size of headlights, the largest invertebrate alive--who lives five hundred fathoms beneath the ocean waves. (Nobody has ever seen one in its natural habitat.) So who's the audience? Any adult with a taste for the more slithery residents of earth--or any parents who want to wow their own offspring with bizarre true-life tales of the scaly and slimy. (Twelve-year-olds on up, or ten-year-olds with a deep curiosity for all things gross, should have no trouble with it, either.
Rating:
Summary: fascinating subject, and the writing is OK
Review: Conniff's book _Spineless Wonders_ had me fascinated, for the most part. His subject: invertebrates, with about ten different chapters on different creatures, such as leeches, dragonflies, tarantulas, etc. NOT ALL POPULAR INVERTEBRATES ARE COVERED IN THIS BOOK. In fact, if there is not a chapter devoted to your favorite invertebrate, there will be little or no information on that beast. There are many examples. Jellyfish, starfish, bees, crabs, clams, octopuses and lobsters are but a few that Conniff chose not to cover. If you need detailed information about an invertebrate not covered in this book, or if you need more detail, I advise you to seek out a book on that specific beast. Also, you can look into Robert Barnes' book _Invertebrate Zoology_, but that book...is best used at a public or college library. On the plus side: there aren't many good books on invertebrates for a general audience, and _Spineless Wonders_ is one of them. Most folks, while they might be able to stomach ten or twenty pages on leeches, don't want an entire book on leeches. In fact, most full length books on leeches, dragonflies, etc. are indeed academic tracts targeted at serious collectors or graduate students and professors. Conniff's writing is usually lucid and entertaining. He held my attention until the end of each chapter... almost. Still, there isn't much popular writing on invertebrates in general, so _Spineless Wonders_ is well worth a look. ken32
Rating:
Summary: fascinating subject, and the writing is OK
Review: Conniff's book _Spineless Wonders_ had me fascinated, for the most part. His subject: invertebrates, with about ten different chapters on different creatures, such as leeches, dragonflies, tarantulas, etc. NOT ALL POPULAR INVERTEBRATES ARE COVERED IN THIS BOOK. In fact, if there is not a chapter devoted to your favorite invertebrate, there will be little or no information on that beast. There are many examples. Jellyfish, starfish, bees, crabs, clams, octopuses and lobsters are but a few that Conniff chose not to cover. If you need detailed information about an invertebrate not covered in this book, or if you need more detail, I advise you to seek out a book on that specific beast. Also, you can look into Robert Barnes' book _Invertebrate Zoology_, but that book...is best used at a public or college library. On the plus side: there aren't many good books on invertebrates for a general audience, and _Spineless Wonders_ is one of them. Most folks, while they might be able to stomach ten or twenty pages on leeches, don't want an entire book on leeches. In fact, most full length books on leeches, dragonflies, etc. are indeed academic tracts targeted at serious collectors or graduate students and professors. Conniff's writing is usually lucid and entertaining. He held my attention until the end of each chapter... almost. Still, there isn't much popular writing on invertebrates in general, so _Spineless Wonders_ is well worth a look. ken32
Rating: 
Summary: Beach Reading for Geeks
Review: Contained in this book are tales of things like leeches, moths, and an assortment of other spineless creatures. Each chapter is devoted to one such creature. Coniff is good writer, easy to read, and engaging. That being said he makes the perfect author to turn rather grim subjects into light reads. So while you're camping out this summer and swatting mosquitos you can read this book and marvel at the sheer amount of mosquito species out there and wonder which one is sucking your blood.
Rating:
Summary: Beach Reading for Geeks
Review: Contained in this book are tales of things like leeches, moths, and an assortment of other spineless creatures. Each chapter is devoted to one such creature. Coniff is good writer, easy to read, and engaging. That being said he makes the perfect author to turn rather grim subjects into light reads. So while you're camping out this summer and swatting mosquitos you can read this book and marvel at the sheer amount of mosquito species out there and wonder which one is sucking your blood.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for all ages, understanding the planet can save it.
Review: Forget Jack Hannah and his media sound bites which teach you absolutely nothing about other species. This book is a must read for anyone who really wants to learn more about some of the most misunderstood and hated creatures on our planet. Easy to read, entertaining and educational, Richard Conniff spins tales guaranteed to shed new light on the invertebrate world and can be read and appreciated by young and old alike. Recently I was fortunate enough to spend some time interviewing this talented author and was fascinated with his insight and true depth of feeling for the planet. It is a shame that the media suffers from tunnel vision when it comes to teaching the public about animals. Over and over we are presented with the same information about the same animals which limits our understanding of the importance of bio-diversity. Richard Conniff has worked for both the Discovery Channel and National Geographic and has travelled extensively, and with "Spineless Wonders" and his latest work "Every Creeping Thing" he has achieved what many strive for but very few accomplish. Hats off to Mr. Conniff and if those talk shows had any sense they would book you immediately and discover what I already have, that you are an incredible resource for information about the relationships between humans and other species
Rating:
Summary: A must read for all ages, understanding the planet can save it.
Review: Forget Jack Hannah and his media sound bites which teach you absolutely nothing about other species. This book is a must read for anyone who really wants to learn more about some of the most misunderstood and hated creatures on our planet. Easy to read, entertaining and educational, Richard Conniff spins tales guaranteed to shed new light on the invertebrate world and can be read and appreciated by young and old alike. Recently I was fortunate enough to spend some time interviewing this talented author and was fascinated with his insight and true depth of feeling for the planet. It is a shame that the media suffers from tunnel vision when it comes to teaching the public about animals. Over and over we are presented with the same information about the same animals which limits our understanding of the importance of bio-diversity. Richard Conniff has worked for both the Discovery Channel and National Geographic and has travelled extensively, and with "Spineless Wonders" and his latest work "Every Creeping Thing" he has achieved what many strive for but very few accomplish. Hats off to Mr. Conniff and if those talk shows had any sense they would book you immediately and discover what I already have, that you are an incredible resource for information about the relationships between humans and other species
Rating:
Summary: No Wonder Why I Gave This Book 5 Stars
Review: I have no idea why I picked this book up but I am glad I did for I now take the time to look at the invertebrates that scurry climb or swim about me. Sounds interesting huh? Well, it talked about invertebrates in a way so that even the most mindless of people could understand. I actually learned things that I didn't take the time to listen to or care to read about in science class. I used to tell my Dad to kill that ugly-looking arachnid, but now I beg him to spare his little spineless life.
Rating:
Summary: Hated the crawley stuff 'til reading this!
Review: I laughed. I gagged. I chortled. I cringed. What a totally fun book about a topic I WOULDN'T go out of my way to read! I have a greater respect for all life as a result of reading Conniff's tales
|
