This is a beautiful book of essays and photographs of the natural world. The authors are based in Illinois but they have traveled the world. In the pages you will encounter familiar as well as unfamiliar animals. The book is very to easy to read and appropriate for all ages. Enjoy nature writing and photographing at its best.

Once the intros are done, the book becomes two-page chapters of each animal encounter, the first of text and the second of photos. The authors are from eastern Illinois, so most of their explorations are based there, and they love showing off their accumulated specimens. They’re entomologists, one of whom got over the “Ew, bugs!” reflex that I never will. There are more than enough bug photos to give me nightmares for the rest of my life, even though I did my best to skip over ones where I knew what was coming. I risked a look at the peanut-headed bug: revulsion killed the curiosity. On the other hand, I do love the flamingo photo. The turtle-filled log just looks hilarious, and a shot of three turtles attempting to play leapfrog was equally chuckle-worthy. Some of the pencil drawings are more intriguing than the photographs.
My highlights:
That cat-poop-in-the-beard story. . . wow.
Penguin Poop on a Johnny Rook.
I’ve seen penguins on beaches in Australia, but in sandstorms. . .
Hoodoos in Utah: “A place that illustrates the point that geology has much more of a sense of humor than geologists!”
For those who love animals, especially insects, this is fantastic. For those who like some animals or have some curiosity in the field, this is good in small doses. The photography is excellent, but then it should be, because in one photo you can see Susan using the same camera I used back in the days of film photography.
There’s fifteen pages of glossary, references, and index.
I hope I didn’t bring down the book’s grade because of my aversion to creepie-crawlies, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t.

Michael Jeffords and Susan Post must have a pretty cool marriage. Both of them are biologists based in Illinois, but in their 34 years of marriage they have travelled the globe, observing and photographing the natural world. Their new book, which includes essays and photographs from both of them, "is a lifetime of observations distilled into a single work. . . . The experiences we have chose to showcase range from encounters with unusual natural history phenomena in our own backyard to observations from the remote corners of the earth."

Curious Encounters with the Natural World: From Grumpy Spiders to Hidden Tigers features a wide variety of animals, as well as a sprinkling of landscapes, geological features, and plants. Jeffords's and Post's love for their work and for the natural world oozes from every page. Most of the book is one-page essays accompanied by a photo. Their work is really beautiful, and the essays, which give some biological background as well as the circumstances of the picture, are enlightening.

The subjects are lean heavily to bugs. I normally am not a big fan of spiders or swarming flies, but they make them somehow interesting and even endearing. Post's essay on the mating habits of the crane fly and its connection to its setting will fill you with nostalgia and empathy for this little bug. There are plenty of pictures of and essays about more picturesque and cuddly animals like beautiful birds, cuddly penguins, and majestic giraffes.

I appreciate the patience and commitment Jeffords and Post have exercised throughout their careers to capture these wonderful pictures. The accompanying essays are informative, but the stars of this book are the photos. I will never experience the natural world the way they have, but feel closer to it through reading Curious Encounters.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

I read through most, but not all of this book.

I enjoyed the format of the book - first having a spread describing the natural "encounter" and then some photographic representation of the topic. I think this book would be a lovely coffee table book, but I did not find it tremendously interesting as a book to read cover-to-cover. Ultimately, my ARC expired before I was able to finish the entire book.

First, the photographs in the book are absolutely stunning, and the authors showcase beauty in the natural world, from carpet mites to large animals, to landscapes. This book would be a marvelous coffee table book. The write-ups the were paired with the photos were interesting and I did enjoy reading them, but often found myself skimming them in order to spend more time with the pictures they were addressing.

I loved that the authors organized the book in a fairly non-traditional way - not by types of animals or region of the world, but the type of activity in the photographs. It really allowed me to appreciate the natural world in a different way.

Simply breathtaking and beautiful. A wonderful collection of photos and interesting and enjoyable stories to go with them.
A coffee table book, which is every nature lovers delight and a perfect present, not only on special occasions.
It certainly turned out to be completely my type of book and I will buy a copy for my family.

This is a very beautiful book, very interesting with a lot of great photography. It's a pleasure to read it.

It was great to read about the animals in their natural habitat.....The pictures are so wonderful.......

I am so disappointed to not have this book in physical format. Hurry up and release already!

So beautiful, so education, so wonderful, so interesting.

Buy it now! (or in 6 days, when it releases :) )

Romantic, dramatic, and informative. Book leads by places and narratives, supplying page long anecdotes and pictures to support the story. A lot of work put into this book and it shows! A very pleasant read and is something that I would like to add to my library. Cover itself is interesting and playful to stand face forward on the shelf. Pictures provided by Susan Post are detailed, astonishing and present a huge variety. I've seen my mother-in-law place books open on a page with flowers to be displayed, this book would be amazing for that. A great read, visual stimulant and a decoration.
Now narratives surrounding wrestling of snakes; insects finding one another to mate; fish knocking the glasses off and so much more. These create stories and give nature a more romantic outlook. I cannot emphasize how well this book was done. Birds, flowers, butterflies, reptiles, mammals, caterpillars - all of them took my breath away.

If I could give this book 10 stars, I would. This is such a interesting and fabulously photographed book. It is a book that I keep dipping into, just can't stop myself, and every time I do I am intrigued and filled with amazement. If you are interested in nature and/or photography, this is the book for you. Fabulous.

This book is fantastic! A combination of beautiful photographs and stories of the various quirks and oddities of the natural world. Truly this book would be a great addition to any naturalist's book collection, the photography alone makes it worth the read, and the stories are the icing on the cake.

Tons of stunning photography, with little stories about them, and environmental background information. I enjoyed the photos more than these little stories, and did occasionally skip them. Some photos I thought didn't fit ( road sign, restaurant sign), but those were in the minority. I occassionly wanted more photos of the scene ( different angles, varying distance). Good for a coffe table type book.

When I opened this book to a gorgeous photo of a luna moth on a green fern, I felt my blood pressure go down and my breathing slow. I felt relaxed for the first time all day. The authors understand the tremendous power that nature has on us, and we on it. From insects (both authors are entomologists) to large mammals and everything in between, readers are treated to an unusual look into the private lives of the beings we share our planet with. Sometimes creepy – mites and Japanese beetles, sometime beautiful, birds and butterflies we gain a new appreciation for the balance of our natural world. Highly recommended