The Bedside Book of Beasts: A Wildlife Miscellany

About this book

This stunning companion to the internationally bestselling Bedside Book of Birds explores the relationship between predators and their prey. The intricate complex connection between the hunter and the hunted has defined animal life on Earth throughout time. In The Bedside Book of Beasts Graeme Gibson gathers from all eras and cultures works of art and literature that capture the power grace and inventiveness of both predators and their natural prey. Here are myths fables poetry generous excerpts from nature and travel writing journals sacred texts and works of fiction. There are vivid descriptions of noteworthy predators including the big cats bears wolves but also the small but voracious praying mantis. Gibson also brings to life the experiences strategies and emotions of vulnerable prey and paints intriguing portraits of such legendary evil beasts as the Minotaur Grendel and the Biblical Leviathan. All of this is enhanced by a breathtaking array of art both traditional and contemporary as well as scientific religious and mythological drawings paintings and woodcuts. In The Bedside Book of Beasts Gibson evokes a profound sense of the eternal often unsettling connection between the human animal and the free untamed beasts of the wilderness.