In this book, Field takes us through various animal species extinct and extant who have influenced world history in some way. He gives us various facts about these animals and tell them about their historical contribution and what each animal means in various cultures.
I think one big thing about this book that most readers were expecting was a chronological timeline with these animals. Like starting with Tiktaalik and then gradually going through each animal/species by era until we end up in the present day. This isn't the case, the animals are presented in a fairly random order, so the reader will be reading about dinosaurs one minute and more modern animals another. A bit jarring and if I were to write a history non-fiction book, I'd personally put it roughly in order.
That said, I did like most of its contents. I liked the author's writing voice and learned a bunch of new facts about a bunch of animals. There's also even very short segments dedicated to other animals, usually specific individuals, that get a brief time to shine and some information about them told. That said, I also had some gripes with the writing voice. Some of the paragraphs ended abruptly and at times it felt like the author was less focusing on the historical significance of these animals and instead more dedicated to just giving out facts. Which is also interesting, but not really the main premise of the book.
I did appreciate, however, how the author didn't just tackle the western philosophy and significance of these animals, but instead chose to feature many different takes on these species from various cultures, including those throughout history.
It's overall a fine book and I had a good time reading it. Not my personal favorite, but it's solid.
Rating: 3.5/5
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