Sharkpedia: A Brief Compendium of Shark Lore

by Daniel C. Abel, Marc Dando (Illustrator)

A fun, pocket-size A–Z treasury about sharks, featuring fascinating, little-known facts and captivating illustrations

Sharkpedia is an entertaining and enlightening celebration of sharks featuring close to 100 entries, based on the latest knowledge and enriched by original illustrations. Avoiding tired factoids, shark authority Daniel Abel gives new bite to essential information about sharks, including their adaptations as top predators, 450-million-year evolution, behavioral complexity, ecological importance, existential threats, and often sensationalized appearances in popular culture, from Jaws to Shark Week.

The notion that sharks are insatiable killing machines is a toothless myth—yet the fear of shark attacks still holds on to many people like a set of locked jaws. Sharkpedia reveals that sharks are much less to be feared—and much more interesting, complicated, and important—than many realize. Filled with compelling stories, Sharkpedia debunks shark myths (for example, that sharks are large and coastal when in fact most are small and inhabit the deep sea), describes their lives (where and how long they live, how many offspring they have, what they eat, and how their bodies function), introduces a variety of iconic and obscure species (such as the Happy Eddie Shyshark), explores our love/hate relationship with sharks, and much more.

With charming drawings by leading shark artist Marc Dando, Sharkpedia is a scientific and cultural treasure trove that will leave you with new insights about these remarkable animals. Dive in!

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals

176 pages, Hardcover

Published May 28, 2024

Reviews

[Iza ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love sharks man

[Kylie Bernal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Keeping the shark obsession alive

[Clare vanLieshout · Rating 4 out of 5]

cute little coffee table book with interesting info on shark physiology/behavior 🦈

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun is a good word to sum up this book - it is a fun sized package reminiscent of a field notebook, albeit a very detailed one filled with beautiful hand drawn depictions of the animals. I imagine if you are completely new to shark diversity and biology this would be a fantastic introduction. The format is like an encyclopedia (hence the title of this series) with topics in alphabetical order, though this has the disadvantage of not being a coherent way of organizing and grouping related points in chapters. Instead one gets a random assortment of information about all things shark related, including interactions with humans be it attacks, fisheries or research and captivity. For such a small book it packed a great deal of bite-sized (no pun intended) tidbits that one can skim through at leisure.

I'd be sure to check out the other titles in the series, and be on the look out for new ones on my favorite taxa.

[John Lawlor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I plodded through this not very long book. Unfortunately the author was more academic shark expert than mainstream writer. Many sections were quite dull and not engaging for anyone other than a marine biologist. The same subject matter could’ve been better brought to life with Bill Bryson’s writing style in The Body.

[Erin Middlebrook · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love sharkies

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

thresher shark is my favorite shark 🦈

[Ness :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

lovely bitesized book with easily digested facts about these amazing specimens. 10/10 no notes, and very much enjoyed the illustrations