Mammals of the Canadian Wild

Donavon L. Porter is a public-school teacher in Haileybury, Ontario.

Adrian Forsyth has written one of those rare books that attempt to meet three different goals and do so quite adequately. The book features very good quality photography and line drawings, making it quite acceptable as a coffeetable edition. It also includes the basic data pertinent to each mammal studied, to enable the armchair naturalist to obtain quickly and easily the scientific information for each group of animals included in the book. Finally, Forsyth has included interesting anecdotal material about the mammals, thus making the book something that one can sit down and enjoy reading.

Forsyth attempts to give the reader a broader perspective on the overall environment, with the goal of creating interest in his conservationist view. He succeeds very adequately. Through his technique of blending the strictly factual with the anecdotal, Forsyth is able to maintain the reader’s interest throughout the book. The reader is drawn by the photographs to read the anecdotes but then finds he is constantly referring to accompanying data for more information. It’s a neat trick and one that achieves the author’s goal in an unobtrusive and enjoyable manner. This book is indeed a worthwhile addition to the library of those interested in the mammals of the Canadian wild.