Jellyfish: A Natural History

Such a beautiful book! There's, unfortunately, not a lot of jellyfish books available. At least not ones that cover different types of jellyfish in detail. This book just does that. It's a mini-encyclopedia, if you will, about all different kinds of jellies. Ones you've never heard of, I'm sure. It's divided into five lengthy chapters. Each one covers different topics over jellyfish. Such as, history, ecology, taxonomy, etc. The book is filled to the brim with wonderful images, detailed drawings and great explanations. The pages are also made of a very sturdy material; they're not flimsy. After each chapter, there's two pages covering a specific type of jelly (see images). It's definitely what I've been looking for! I thank Lisa-Ann Gershwin for this lovely book! As well as all the other great people that took part in making it. Please, continue! Do not let this be the end. We need more books that cover jellyfish in such wonderful spotlights as this book did. Go big next time, include even more jellyfish! If you're on the fence, you won't regret this purchase. Wanna learn more about jellyfish, but are worried to be overwhelmed? This book simplifies the materials and presents it back in a very colorful and easy-to-read way. If you're a fan of jellies, you already have this!

I bought this book both because I am obsessed with the ethereal nature of jellyfish and also as a photo reference for painting. It's a beautiful and informative book and the first of its kind- a big volume of information, statistics, and photos of all sorts of jellyfish. I can't stop flipping through it. One thing to note, especially for those who are buying this book specifically for the photos- these aren't the "atmospheric" Instagram-filtered, heavy-color-saturation photos you see all over the place online- these are detailed, full-specimen images of jelly fish that serve to show off all the creatures in a very clear and concise way. I'll admit that I was a tiny bit disappointed by that, but I realized that the photos are some of the most complete and clear images of the most varieties of jellyfish I have ever seen. If you love jellyfish, and you're looking for a good book to have on your shelf, THIS is the one.

Loved it! Had the chance recently at the library to see the author's newest book as well. This one has more information and plenty of photos, and could be skimmed for visual inspiration or information. The newer book is more visual-centric (probably because fewer and fewer people read anymore). If you could only buy one marine-themed coffee table book, this would be the it.

This excellent book serves as a wonderful, and photographically fantastic, overview of 'jellyfish.' Fair warning, this book is not merely about cnidarians, but takes term jellyfish as broadly as possible and includes almost equally large amounts of information on comb jelly (ctenophores) and salps (an order of tunicates) groups that are less well known but equally fascinating and beautiful. The text and pictures manages to successfully integrate these organisms across a very broad perspective treating similar physiology with reference to ecology, human interaction, and visual appeal.

It is amazing the high diversity of jellyfish, not only physically, but how they reproduce, protect themselves, and survive in so many different ocean habitats. Not only do you learn about jellyfish, but also their interactions with other creatures, humans and the ocean depths and currents. Highly recommend!!!!

This is a beautiful hardcover book with fantastic photographs and a great deal of wonderful information about Jellyfish. However, I would have given this book a 5-star rating instead of a 4-star rating were it not for the tiny (6 point) font type. I'm a senior citizen and, even with my normal eyeglasses, the text was difficult to read. I had to purchase magnifier glasses from my local drugstore to comfortably read the book. The book consists of 224 pages, which is a lot of information about Jellyfish; color photographs and a hardcover publication add it its overall printing costs, so I appreciate that a small font size was used to conserve on total expenses. But 6-point type? Really? On the next revision, hopefully the publisher will go to a more realistic 10-point type (or at the very least 8-point type). All said, this is the most informative book I have ever read about the subject of Jellyfish.

Good book

Gift for jelly lovers. Very insightful and real info

Libro ricchissimo di immagini e spiegazioni scientifiche. È veramente stata una gioia leggerlo e studiarlo.

The hot summer and jellyfis blooms inspired this purchase. Excellent quality images, and great to wonder whether these creatures have arisen in the oceans of the gas giants' moons. I did think the life history section could (and should) have been written much more engagingly. It does rather come across too much like an academic's take on life, which is not really who this book is aimed at. Many of the diagrams' labelling are also practically impossible to read due to an inappropriate font scaling.

Livro incrível! As fotos, as informações, história, anatomia, tudo é tão legal e interessante!! Para pessoas fissuradas em água viva esse livro é o melhor!! Recomendo mto, é tão lindo. 🪼

Ein wunderbares Buch! Der Autorin gelingt der Spagat zwischen Augenschmaus und Hirnfutter. Fünfzig fantastische, ganzseitige Fotos zeigen die charakteristischsten Quallen, alle ausführlich kommentiert. Daneben läuft ein Lehrbuchtext gleichen Umfangs, welcher Anatomie, Lebenslauf, Taxonomie und Ökologie der Quallen leicht verständlich darstellt. Das Verstehen des Textes wird allerdings gelegentlich dadurch erschwert, dass viele der dargestellten Quallen noch keinen umgangssprachlichen Namen haben. Frau Gershwin leiht sich dann halt die wissenschaftlichen Bezeichnungen. Das führt zu lateinischen Einsprenglingen im englischen Text, was gelegentlich verwirrt. (Man zieht mit Vorteil gleich von Anfang an die Grafik S. 113 gleich von Anfang an zu Rate, wo wenigstens die Familiennamen übersichtlich zusammengestellt sind.)

Superbe livre sur un sujet peu commun, suffisamment zoologique (biologie, écologie, biogéographie) tout en étant très accessible au lecteur anglophile et richement illustré en particulier avec de magnifiques photos pleine page. J'aurais aimé que la bioluminescence des méduses soit plus développée, cela aurait mérité un chapitre de plus à mon avis, pour être complet sur ce groupe zoologique qui mérite bien un tel ouvrage.