One of my favourite recent random finds is this out-of-print gem that ingeniously plays on the misleading ‘hybrid’ names that some animals have, to produce a funny yet factual read.

The highlight, of course, are the silly illustrations of the animals that take their names literally, like the catbirds and dogfish on the cover, as well as a preposterous dragonfly that looks more dragon than fly!

Naturally, the author doesn’t neglect to include more scientifically accurate drawings of what each animal really looks like, which allows for easy comparison — but I must say that those are not half as entertaining!