Animal Kingdom - A Natural History in 100 Objects

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I’ve recently finished this book and need to tell you that it will light up your curiosity about the natural world. In this post I will give a quick review why “Animal Kingdom - A Natural History in 100 objects” by Jack Ashby might be one of the best books about natural history.

Animal Kingdom by Jack Ashby book cover

Why Animal Kingdom is so enjoyable

First off, despite being very informative, Ashby's writing style is super accessible. You won't need to fear that he will throw around terms that make your head scratch, it is written as a popular science book. And I chuckled a lot, even laughed out loud. Did you think that a specimen of the penis worm in the Grant Museum London would cause interesting looks and comments by the visitors? Sure you would.

Another plus is that you will look at nature differently after this book. As it mentioned in one of the introductions, knowing at what you’re looking at is making a walk through the fields or even through any wildlife habitat more enjoyable. A comparison is drawn to walking through an art gallery. Without knowing any artist or significance of the exhibited pieces, you will be missing a lot. Knowing what you’re looking at will benefit you substantially more.

The book’s chapters are mostly 3 pages long, so it is easy to grab the book and start and stop at any time you like. I also heard it helped some ADHD-plagued person to follow the book easily because  of the chapter length.


The book structure

The book is divided in 4 parts. 

The first part is taking a look at different ways and forms animals can exist. Think of different forms of invertebrates like sponges, jellyfish, worms. And of course vertebrates like we humans are.

The 2nd parts looks at milestones of our 450 million evolution into the humans we are now. Evolution is not a narrow, one-lane path where the end is the most advanced organism which we often like to think. The evolution into humans is just one path amongst many in the tree of life. The book makes the rightful claim, that any path could be described here. But since the reader will likely be human, it makes sense to describe our own path. In all self-absorbingness (that's not a word is it?). 

The 3rd part discusses many evolutionary concepts that drive evolution and the many ways animals find a niche in their competitive environment. This part is the longest, especially interesting if you are into speculative biology or evolution or world building as understanding these concepts will fuel your imagination and help design fantastical creatures. But of course, even if not, these chapters is a marvellous demonstration how life found its way.

Part 4 deals with the way how museums present their exhibits, what they show and what not. Did you expect that museum show the natural world accurately? They are human institutions, so naturally they are skewed towards our perceptions. Most of the animals on earth are invertebrates, but since they are so different from us humans, they get the lesser share. The same for micro animals which are the basis of all ecosystems. And even in taxidermy mistakes were made. Did you know that echidna’s hind legs are facing backwards? No? You are forgiven. But so didn’t know the taxidermist, so he assumed, understandably, that the hind legs need to point forwards. And arranged it like so! 


Personal anecdote

I had the pleasure to shortly meet Jack Ashby myself at Tetzoocon (Tetrapod Zoology Convention) in 2022, where I bought his next book Platypus Matters (and got it signed). 

Only through this experience I came to know about his first book. When I found a sample online, I couldn’t stop reading. I found the format intriguing, each chapter revealed a new secret.

This book indeed delivers on the premise “come curious, leave inspired” which is the mission of so many museums. And so did I. Considering Ashby’s role as former  director of the Grant Museum of Zoology and as current assistant director of the Zoological Museum in Cambridge this book is like an extension of his daily work.

I have visited the Grant Museum too and can confirm, all specimen from the book are in the museum. So I ask you to get the book if you are interested, but don't get the book from amazon, please. Jeff has enough money already!

That's it for now!


Stay curious,

Andi Pasti

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