The Bedside Book of Beasts: A Wildlife Miscellany Book

I really enjoyed this book, although I wish it had included more mythology and fairy tale type stories. The writing collected here is nonetheless interesting; I just enjoy mythology, and it seems like there should be plenty of beast-related mythological tales from which Gibson could have selected.

There are lovely illustrations sprinkled throughout, which made this book a fun read.

Overall, I liked how Gibson took various sources from around the world to create a loose "thesis" about humans and their relationship to wild beasts (and vice versa). Gibson chose many selections that highlight our common traits or show man for the beast that he truly is (sometimes more beastly even than the beasts!) Likewise he includes pieces that highlight the almost "human" qualities of beasts, or those that we just may never understand--the mystery, the allure, of those "large, fascinating eyes."

I particularly liked quite a few selections from this book, but this one seemed especially quote-worthy to me when I read it:

A Magnificent Hairy Fellow
1910

"How I hate the man who talks about the 'brute creation', with an ugly emphasis on brute. Only Christians are capable of it. As for me, I am proud of my close kinship with other animals. I take a jealous pride in my Simian ancestry. I like to think that I was once a magnificent hairy fellow living in the trees and that my frame has come down through geological time via sea jelly and worms and Amphioxus, Fish, Dinosaurs, and Apes. Who would exchange these for the pallid couple in the Garden of Eden?"

W.N.P. Barbellion (1889-1919), England