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This is a beautiful book with a large number of great wolf pictures and a whole host of useful and interesting wolf facts.

It begins with a general introduction to wolves: giving various statistics about wolves, their size, colouring and so on. From there it goes through the four seasons, starting with Winter. For each of the seasons we are treated to information on the wolf's habits and life during that time. Along the way we find out about hunting, mating, the wolf pack, territories, rasing of pups and more.

The book has an easy to read style that informs and entertains. I think most wolf lovers will learn a few new things about wolves from its pages.

The one omission which really annoys me, is the lack of an index. When doing research as opposed to reading for enjoyment, and index is a must. I find I have to flip randomly through the pages trying to find what I'm after.

That aside, I recommend this book to all wolf lovers out there

I'll start out by saying that this book is very pro-wolf and makes few bones about it. I found that even the sections that were obviously supposed to be "impartial" were coloured towards the wolf. I'll also say, I don't give a damn.

This is an extremely informative book, spanning a large range of subjects dealing with wolves. It has a good section on wolf statistics (size etc), and then deals with the differences between wolves and other similar animals. It gives descriptions of all of the wolf species.

Another section deals with prey species, describing them and their relationship to the wolves. Other sections deal with the pack; the formation of, the heirarchy and the inner workings of it.

There is also a very good section on the history of humans involvment with wolves. This basically works out as a history of humans slaughter of the wolves. The last few sections deal with attempts at wolf conservation and the problems involved. It discusses the Manifesto on Wolf Conservation by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUEN) and has an extract from this. It also gives an insightful history into the Endangered Species Act.

Throughout there are little asides: A few legends, folk stories and so on. These are interesting to read as well as helping to place humans involvements with wolves through the ages.

Many of the sections dealing with the conservation issues are quite up to date (the book was printed in 1996). Much of the information will obviously date, as time rolls on. However in later years the book should also provide a historical perspective on the wolf conservation problem.

This is an absolutely brilliant book for any wolf lover, or anyone looking for a good source of wolf facts. While WOLVES: A portrait of the Animal World is a good book for general reading on wolves, WOLF is an invaluable reference, and highly entertaining.

• Legends/
  History
• Facts
• Book Reviews
• Spirituality (Under Construction)