WHALES

Blue whales, right whales, humpback whales, killer whales, and more--all strikingly photographed and lovingly described. The blue whale is bigger than the largest dinosaur and has a heart the size of a small car. He swallows 50 tons of seawater at a gulp, then strains out his supper--four tons of krill a day--through baleen plates. Killer whales are the lightweights of the tribe--a mere nine tons--and are sweethearts in captivity. Humpback whales sing long, slow, soulful songs to the deep. And while unicorns are mythical, narwhals--with their 10-foot-long spears--aren't. The marvelous photos here convey the vastness of these creatures and of the ocean reaches. Simon's text is, as usual, clear, including carefully selected facts. A captivating book that points out, without being polemical, that many species are near extinction, concluding with: ""Will whales be allowed to remain to share the world with us? The choice is ours.