Review of 'QI: The Book of Animal Ignorance'

QI: The Book of Animal Ignorance by John Mitchinson, and John Lloyd

This is a fun book of interesting and unusual facts about animals from the makers of the popular British factual quiz show QI. It lists many common as well as more unusual animals (“Quoll” anybody?) alphabetically with two pages devoted to each with often amusing illustrations in each. The descriptions more often tend to lean towards the animal's sex lives which I suppose many readers will be interested in, though may make it a bit more unsuitable for younger children, but the information provided is full of things the reader is unlikely to know, such as:

• Male mice sing complex songs in ultrasound.
• Koalas don't drink.
• Freshwater eels are born as saltwater fish in the Sargasso Sea.
• Female kangaroos can store foetuses for many months in one of their two wombs.
• Termites mate for life.

A light read which can be picked up for a few minutes at a time then returned to whenever wanted. Obviously some of the narrative is played for laughs but for the most part “Animal Ignorance” is just jammed with interesting bits of info.

The book has a forward by Stephen Fry (who hosted the QI show when the book was written) an accompanying “forepaw” by Alan Davies as well as a “tailpiece” acknowledgement.

Rating: “Really good but I have some issues”

Review Date: 2023-11-26

Genre: Non-Fiction

Publisher: Faber and Faber Limited

Publication Date: 2007

ISBN: 9780571233700