The science behind the scare stories.
Older than trees and older than dinosaurs, sharks have survived five mass extinctions and shaped the oceans for more than 400 million years. Yet in a typical year only 60 to 70 unprovoked bites are recorded worldwide, while humans kill tens of millions of sharks.
Across eleven chapters, readers meet the blistering-fast mako and the river-running bull shark, watch Megalodon go head-to-head with a human diver on a scale diagram, learn why sand tiger pups are a metre long before they are even born, and discover the senses, skin and endlessly replaced teeth that make a shark a shark.
Every photograph is a genuine wildlife image, every fact was checked against published sources, and every chapter ends with a quiz. It is a book to learn from as well as to read — for anyone who would rather understand sharks than fear them.
The ocean doesn’t make monsters. We make monsters out of the things we don’t understand.
Inside every chapter
- Fast facts
Every chapter opens with the essentials at a glance: scientific name, size, diet and where the shark lives.
- Did you know?
Sand-coloured boxes hold the strangest and most surprising facts in the book.
- Quiz
A quiz at the end of each chapter, with space to write your answers and an answer key at the back.
- Glossary
Every technical term explained in plain English.
Eleven chapters, one honest look at sharks.
- 01
Meet the Sharks
Six very different sharks, from the fastest hunters to the gentlest giants.
- 02
Why Sharks Bite Humans
What the evidence actually says about why bites happen — and how rare they are.
- 03
Sharks Through Time
Older than trees. Older than dinosaurs. And still here.
- 04
Famous Shark Incidents
The stories everyone knows, told carefully and with respect.
- 05
Famous Extinct Sharks
Megalodon, and the stranger sharks that came before it.
- 06
Shark Reproduction
Eggs, live young, and the shallow nurseries where pups grow up.
- 07
Shark Cannibalism
Inside the sand tiger shark, the competition begins before birth.
- 08
Territory, Body Language and Behaviour
How sharks share space, send warnings, and avoid a fight.
- 09
Bull Sharks
The shark that swims up rivers.
- 10
Great White Sharks
The most famous predator in the ocean, and the animal behind the myth.
- 11
Teeth, Skin and Super Senses
The biology that makes a shark a shark.
Real pages from the book.
Six spreads from the printed edition — chapter openers, fact tables, quizzes, and the wildlife photography that runs through every chapter.
How big was Megalodon?
The largest shark that ever lived, against the largest sharks alive today — and a diver for scale. The same diagram is printed in the book, drawn to a shared metre grid so the comparison is honest.
A few of the numbers in the book.
years sharks have been in Earth’s oceans — before trees, before dinosaurs.
confirmed unprovoked shark bites are recorded worldwide in a typical year. Only a handful are fatal.
years ago the last Megalodon vanished. Its fossil teeth still wash up on beaches.
long, with a full set of teeth — the size a sand tiger pup can reach before it is born.
Get the book.
- Paperback, gloss cover, 152 × 229 mm, full colour throughout
- 88 pages, 11 chapters, 18 wildlife photographs, glossary and quiz answer key
- Printed on demand and shipped to your door — secure checkout on IngramSpark, the book’s printer
- ISBN 978-0-6459793-3-6
Questions, schools and bulk orders: send us a message.
Get in touch.
Questions about the book, orders for a school or a shop, or a note for the author — send it here and we’ll reply by email.
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- Readers who want to say hello