Dragons are the stuff of legend, animals which find a place in cultures around the world. In Dragons: A Natural History (Simon & Schuster $225), Dr Karl Shuker provides a colourfully illustrated guide to the species in all its forms. Varieties include the fire-breathing Western serpent dragon; sky dragons, for example, the benign Chinese dragon; and neo-dragons such as the Salamander and Basilisk. Myths and stories from Japan, Mexico, America and Australia are among those under examination. Desmond Morris writes the foreword.
Coming of Age With Elephants (Hyperion $250) contains Joyce Poole's recollections of the 15 years' research she undertook on the animals in Kenya. Her studies included elephant communication, thought and sexual habits. Poole interweaves the scientific work with her personal story and the challenges she faced in the field.
Barrister Harry McCallion is not a man to mess with. Before a career in the law, he numbered among his previous employers the Parachute Regiment, South African Special Forces, Britain's Special Air Service and the Royal Ulster Constabulary. He did six tours of Northern Ireland in the army and six as a policeman. In-between he filled in with jobs such as bodyguard to the Sultan of Brunei. In Killing Zone (Bloomsbury $102), he recalls the training, the foul-ups, the missions and the other men.
Photographs with the requisite black-out placed over faces are included.
William Golding's The Double Tongue was still in draft form when he died in 1993. But having scrutinised notes and comments left by the author, the publishers decided it was complete enough to put out last year. Now the 165-page work, set around Delphi's Oracle, is available in paperback (Faber $85).
Also out in soft cover is humorist P J O'Rourke's anthology Age and Guile (Picador $91), which offers writing from the past 25 years. Subjects to come under the knife include Nixon, Britain and the 1960s.
