Gideon Defoe Weidenfeld and Nicolson £9.99 If you’re planning to teach your kids about the birds and the bees, then avoid showing them this guide to bonking beasts. Take the Argentine Lake Duck – it has a penis up to 41cm long that could be used for lassoing reluctant females. Or there’s the male honey bee, which sadly has about a one in twenty thousand chance of having sex – although if you’ve become a dad very recently, you might be thinking those sound like pretty good odds. However, halfway through mating, the male bee’s genitals snap off and he drops dead, so maybe there’s something to be said for celibacy after all. This probably isn’t a book you’ll read through from cover to cover but it’s ideal for dipping into when you fancy a chuckle.
Some eye-popping photos combine with Defoe’s amusing text to highlight some of Mother Nature’s crueller jokes. With facts that will keep you in dinner party conv e rsation for many months, it’s a memorable read. The image of the bean weevil’s penis will certainly live with you for a long time to come. Looking like a medieval torture instrument, the simple photo caption “Jesus. H. Christ.” says it all.
Verdict: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ A laugh-out-loud read, which proves your sex life could always be worse!
