To me, a much better companion volume for Attenborough's series is David Macdonald's 2001 edition of _The Encyclopedia of Mammals_. The photographs in Macdonald's book are even larger and glossier than in Attenborough's book, plus there are photographs of almost every taxonomical group. If one sees Attenborough first, Macdonald's book allows readers to hone in on species and groups that they saw in the movie and found interesting, or see the animals that Attenborough left out. If one reads Macdonald first, which mammals Attenborough will choose to show and how becomes a guessing game. Unlike Attenborough's book, the format of Macdonald's book exploits the advantage of using a book over a movie--the subsections are well divided by taxonomical group, and readers can move at their own pace more easily and focus on only one species or a few species, if they so choose.


Packed with appealing color photos   December 12, 2003
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David Attenborough's Life of Mammals compliments a ten-part TV series to air on the Discovery channel which covers mammals of the world and their evolutionary processes. From learning about the navigation methods of bats and the special habits of meat eaters to understanding the natural history of water mammals, this provides a focus which contrasts environments and evolutionary processes, and makes for an important guide. Packed with appealing color photos.