Crab

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title Crab
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Cynthia Chris
SeriesAnimal
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:176
Dimensions(mm): Height 190,Width 135
Category/GenreCrustaceans
ISBN/Barcode 9781789143690
ClassificationsDewey:595.386
Audience
General
Illustrations 100 illustrations, 85 in colour

Publishing Details

Publisher Reaktion Books
Imprint Reaktion Books
Publication Date 15 March 2021
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

What is a crab? What significance do crabs play in the world? In Crab, Cynthia Chris discovers that these charming creatures are social by nature, creative problem-solvers, and invaluable members of the environments in which they live. Their formidable physical forms, their hard-to-harvest and quick-to-spoil flesh, and their sassy demeanour have inspired artists and writers from Vincent van Gogh to Jean-Paul Sartre. Cynthia Chris sketches vivid portraits of these animals, tracing the history of the crab through its ancient fossil record to its essential role in protecting its own habitats from the threat of climate change.

Author Biography

Cynthia Chris is Professor of Media Culture at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York. She is the author of Watching Wildlife and The Indecent Screen: Regulating Television in The Twenty-First Century.

Reviews

'This book explores everything that is interesting about crabs; from their weird and wonderful behaviours, their evolution, whether they experience pain, how they are depicted in literature, and even how fights have broken out over the last crab legs at the buffet. This is no dry scientific text. It is the 'story' of crabs; gripping, fascinating, beautiful. Cynthia Chris is part detective, part scientist and always an exceptionally good writer. She has dug through the literature, spoken to the scientists and watched crabs in action. Her magnificent book will enthrall scientists and beginners alike. I cannot recommend this superb book too highly.'-Patricia Backwell, Professor of Biology, Australian National University