The Book of Barely Imagined Beings

Twenty-seven strange critters (alphabetically, including two x's) are included in Caspar Henderson's '21st Century bestiary'. Each animal gets a section with beautiful illustrations by Golbanou Moghaddas. The illustrations are the best part of the book, each carefully and thoughtfully constructed to fit the chapters.

The book is full of fascinating information and moments of poetic thoughtfulness about humans in a world of nonhuman critters. Unfortunately, the writing often lets the bestiary down. Henderson seems incredibly well read and well travelled, and pulls from his vast knowledge, but the text is pockmarked with bizarre similes (a primate with eyes close together compared to George W Bush) and cultural references (Flesh Gordon?!). There is also no discernible structure or message – some of the chapters go into detail on their chosen creature, others barely touch on the topic and seem to forget they are part of a bestiary at all. There are broad statements that are very much centred on western European thinking, calling animals "ugly" or writing with an imperialistic confidence that creates "others" of the many critters described. There is also a tendency throughout to reference almost only male authors, even in contemporary texts, which is disappointing in a book published in 2012 (and after many female philosophers and animal researchers had made key observations in the area of animal behaviours and human prejudices).

In the end, this is a frustrating book with terrific moments.