Customer Rating: 
Summary: Delivers Through and Through
Comment: The best thing about these books is their dual role. Most animal books concentrate either on teaching the reader about the species or giving the story of particular individuals. Big Cat Diary does both - incorperating personal stories of the animals to illustrate the points made about the species as a whole. This creates a text that is informative without becoming a dry presentation of fact and statistics.
The photography is good but not outstanding, being mostly stills from the series. All photos are captioned and relevant to the text. The A4 size of the book makes it unwieldy but allows for some larger photographs. A typical page consists of four collumns of text moulded aound the photos in an unusual and appealing font.
My criticism of the books would be that while they give anecdotes from the lives of individual animals, they fail to provide overall life histories of the characters, which is what i was looking for. In addition these anecdotes are taken from the series so will be nothing new to avid watchers.
Unfortunately the books were written in 2002 so are rather dated as current companions. However if you are using them simply as stand-alone books they are superb - prividing all you need to know about big cats while also giving entertainment, humour and drama to the reader. A terrific collection.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Amazing Read - Great for preparing for safari
Comment: I read this while on a photogrpahy safari in Tanzania with the purpose of photographing Cheetahs in the wild. It proved to be a great education and the photography is inspiring. Tips on where to go, the nature of the Cheetah helped in my efforts to track down this beautiful animal in the Serengeti.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Comment: I'm a huge animal lover and especially a cat fan, but I wasn't especially interested in Cheetah's anymore than any other species of cat... I'm now definatley a Cheetah-person!This book is excellent. The photo's are stunning. The narrative it poignant, interesting, exciting and well-written. I read this as I would a novel - frantically, loving every moment and not able to put it down. I was sad to close the last page and had a new-found respect for the slight, endangered but beautiful cats of the Masai Mara. The Leopard and Lion BCD books are great, but the Cheetah is my favourite.
I recommend to all!
Customer Rating:
Summary: A real feel for the Maasai Mara
Comment: I bought this book in advance of going on safari in the Maasai Mara. It is ideal vehicle for giving a feel for what it is really like there, better in that way than some of the more practical guides to wildlife viewing (though not one to bring with you in your pocket!)
Customer Rating:
Summary: Big Cat Diary Leopard
Comment: IT IS A REALLY GOOD BOOK FOR ALL BIG CAT LOVERS IT IS THE BEST BOOK ABOUT LEOPARDS WHICH HAS ACTUALLY BEEN WRITTEN BY A PERSON FROM THE MASSAI MARA JONATHON SCOTT
