Book Review: Polecat, Stoat and Weasel by Edo van Uchelen

 

Note: The title of this book has been translated into English by me for the reading comprehension of this blog's viewers as the book itself isn't available in English (yet). The original title reads Bunzing, wezel en hermelijn.

It's non-fiction time. Despite how much I love them, I really haven't ever read about mustelids before other than some quick Wikipedia browses. So naturally I had to pick up this book when I saw it.

In Polecat, Stoat and Weasel we meet three of the Netherlands' smallest mustelids. Van Uchelen takes a look at each of them as well as various behaviors and threats they face every day (mostly deforestation and lack of natural diversity). He also gives tips on how to observe/photograph them, possibly help them, set camera traps and more.

 

Overall this was a good educational book and really showed someone like me (who knows very little about these three species) the clear differences and helped me understand them more. I also like the importance Van Uchelen places on the importance of biodiversity in our land not just for titular three species, but a whole lot of other species as well. And it was nice to get some extra tips on how to view them, though actually getting to see one is rare. I happen to have been lucky and once have spotted a least weasel in Austria a few years ago, but that was by pure accident.

 

Now, one criticism I do have with this book that has nothing to do with its written contents: the formatting and presentation. Maybe this is exclusive to just a certain misprint edition that I happen to have, but there were so many rookie formatting mistakes made in my copy that it was very jarring, especially since this is otherwise a very professional non-fiction book. There's images or text that are sometimes partially cut off, just things overall not looking great and there was even a part of a paragraph that was published on the wrong side of a page, making me essentially read it backwards, with the part that should've been published on the latter page being on the front and vice versa. Those aren't just your simple formatting mistakes, they are legit things that make your book look amateurish, which sucks especially if you want to be taken seriously in a non-fiction book.

So overall: good contents with the text and photos, bad formatting that really drags it down and makes it look unprofessional. I do like it and am keeping my copy, but I'm just sad that, for the price I paid for it (€25), I ended up with a product that feels unfinished and amateur because of how it was formatted.

Rating: 3.25/5