Book Review: Bats: An Illustrated Guide to All the Species by Marianne Taylor

Bats: An Illustrated Guide to All the Species

by Marianne Taylor (599.4 Tay)

The libraries in Lincoln, like any other large buildings, are no strangers to having bats show up inside them, requiring a quick call to animal control so that the trespassers can be safely contained and released back into the wilds of Lincoln. August 2020 saw several such visitations at the downtown library — so it was with both amusement and curiosity that I saw this book on our New Books shelves at the end of the month.

 

This large, encyclopedic volume opens with about 50 pages of general background info about bats, worldwide. It then spends the remaining 350 pages itemizing different individual species of bats. Each entry gives both the scientific and common names of the bat variety, offers a physical description, and talks about where this species is commonly found. It describes particular behavior and eating habits of each species, and offers up information about many different species’ rarities and origins. The book finishes with an extensive index.

 

This isn’t a book to be read cover-to-cover, unless you’re an absolute bat fanatic. But, for anyone trying to identify a species of bat you may have seen, or anyone just curious about the natural world, it’s a fascinating book to browse in. The only thing I was disappointed about is that it is purely a scientific volume, and doesn’t seem to have related pop-culture information about how “bats” have invaded literature and media. But, still, a fascinating read!

 

[ publisher’s official Bats: An Illustrated Guide web page ] | [ official Marianne Taylor Twitter feed ]

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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