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The Book of Barely Imagined Beings
Caspar Henderson
A 21st Century Bestiary
University Of Chicago Press
May 2013
On Sale: May 2, 2013
448 pages
ISBN: 022604470X
EAN: 9780226044705
Kindle: B00CMN2PFG
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction
From medieval bestiaries to Borges’s Book of Imaginary
Beings, we’ve long been enchanted by extraordinary
animals, be they terrifying three-headed dogs or asps
impervious to a snake charmer’s song. But bestiaries are
more than just zany zoology—they are artful attempts to
convey broader beliefs about human beings and the natural
order. Today, we no longer fear sea monsters or banshees.
But from the infamous honey badger to the giant squid,
animals continue to captivate us with the things they can do
and the things they cannot, what we know about them and what
we don’t.
With The Book of Barely Imagined
Beings, Caspar Henderson offers readers a fascinating,
beautifully produced modern-day menagerie. But whereas
medieval bestiaries were often based on folklore and myth,
the creatures that abound in Henderson’s book—from the
axolotl to the zebrafish—are, with one exception, very much
with us, albeit sometimes in depleted numbers. The Book
of Barely Imagined Beings transports readers to a world
of real creatures that seem as if they should be made
up—that are somehow more astonishing than anything we might
have imagined. The yeti crab, for example, uses its furry
claws to farm the bacteria on which it feeds. The waterbear,
meanwhile, is among nature’s “extreme survivors,” able to
withstand a week unprotected in outer space. These and other
strange and surprising species invite readers to reflect on
what we value—or fail to value—and what we might
change.
A powerful combination of wit, cutting-edge
natural history, and philosophical meditation, The Book
of Barely Imagined Beings is an infectious and inspiring
celebration of the sheer ingenuity and variety of life in a
time of crisis and change.
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