Book Review Time! Penguins - The Ultimate Guide

Disclaimer! Princeton Publishing provided the copies for review!

Price listed on book - US $35.00

Authors - Tui De Roy, Mark Jones, Julie Cornthwaite

Pages - 240

Size - ~8"x12" - maybe an inch and a half? - with a good thick cover

Topics covered - Penguins (duh)... Life cycle, general species groups, science and conservation, their natural history, where to see them etc. Not to mention some epic photos...  

Photographs - So many! I just hinted at this, but the book is visually stunning... Nearly every page is coated in some of the most spectacular Penguin photos I've ever seen... It seems to me that this charismatic bunch of birds has been worked from virtually every angle by highly skilled photographers... 

The Skinny: The large size and epic photos are more than enough to suck you in... Then, if you actually enjoy reading, you'll find a wealth of information to keep you busy! It may just take a while to get there, cause you'll want to keep flipping the pages to see the photos of the birds...

The Good: Penguins. I am going to sound like a broken record 

I should also add a disclaimer that I am no Penguin expert, so if there are any factual errors in their identification or life history 

The Bad: There is nothing bad about the book. I would say that it is rather hefty, falling somewhere between a reference work and a coffee table book. I certainly wouldn't bring it on a trip, or (heck) even in the car for a long road trip... But as long as you know about the size - there is nothing to complain about. 

Who Should Buy It:

Buy it for birders, naturalist, friends of birders/naturalists, children, schools, libraries, people looking for travel ideas, people with too much money, etc. etc. etc. 

There is going to be part of society (or just the people you know) who will think they're "above" something like a silly book about Penguins - but in reality, everyone loves Penguins and the only people who won't appreciate this book are the people who don't like books in general... I highly recommend it!

More info here: 

http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10335.html (Princeton's page)

https://vimeo.com/115720650 (Princeton Video)

http://www.amazon.ca/Penguins-Ultimate-Tui-De-Roy/dp/0691162999