Allen, Thomas B. The shark almanac; a fully illustrated natural history of sharks, skates, and rays.

Lyons Press. 274p. illus. bibliog. index. c2003. 1-58574-808-0. $19.95. SA

After the book and subsequent movie Jaws, fear and interest in sharks grew greatly. Unfortunately the fear led to an unwarranted predation on the predator. (Perhaps regretful about penning such a sensational and misleading book, Peter Benchley is now involved in efforts to protect the shark; see the review of his book Shark Trouble below.) The Shark Almanac seeks to present the facts, explode some myths and explore the dangers of losing this exceptional animal.

The Shark Almanac tries to offer a middle ground between popular reading and a science text. There are chapters with short sections on several dozen of the some 390 species of sharks, with both their Latin and common names, distribution, size and potential danger to man (about 80% either cannot hurt people or rarely encounter them). But there are also chapters devoted to shark attacks (yes, sharks probably did kill several hundred sailors when the Indianapolis went down in WW II, but "snakes, bees, wasps and dogs cause far more deaths than sharks do. So does driving to and from the beach. " p. 171). There is also a chapter devoted to shark lore ("In the Solomons, deified sharks lived in sacred caverns, built for them near shore. In front of these caverns were erected great stone altars upon which were placed the bodies of chosen victims." Shark worship was not uncommon amongst some Pacific Islanders. p.208-9)

The last chapter deals with shark endangerment. One study reports that many shark species declined as much as 75% from the early 1970s to the mid 1980s (p.248). There are many proposed reasons for the decline, but love, fear, or hate them, this ancient fish is a vital part of a healthy ocean and healthy planet. Thomas Allen, a regular contributor to National Geographic, has done a good job of presenting much-needed information on the shark in a quite readable format. Recommended for all high school, public and academic libraries. Katherine E. Gillen, Libn., Luke AFB Lib., AZ