This book is One of a Kind. It is a humorous and sometimes serious study of the promising connections to be made between a group of human beings with particular characteristics (Homo Sapiens) and the Common Toad (Bufonidae). There are advantages to making focused and deliberate comparisons between the two apparently diverse species. This is particularly the case in the areas of their shared ability to learn, tenacity, courage, adaptability and singular approaches to daily life and survival in general. This shows itself in specific psychological traits in human beings, which are compared with physical attributes in Toads. In both, strategic ability is at a premium.
The book makes claims about the validity of the patterns by evidence of wide reading in academic and other spheres. First, this is achieved through a series of case-studies drawn from the author’s own educational practice in secondary classrooms. Secondly, she synthesises conclusions from internationally reviewed journals academic as well as other more informal materials. Finally, she makes the case that for all their apparently strange ways, Human Toads are an important part of this world’s deeper, more humorous and more empathic human beings than they are often credited with.
If you like Toads and you like human beings with quirks, creativity and a singular view of life’s meanings, then you will enjoy this book. If nothing else, you won’t have read a book like it before.