Safari:A Photicular Book Created by Dan Kainen and written by Carol Kaufmann

Sometimes a book just reaches out and grabs me. "Safari: a photicular book", grabbed me and I am having trouble letting it go. I had it with me for days while out at the Reference Desk because I wanted to write about it and couldn't figure out how to describe it. But now it is ready for another reader and I  have to say goodbye.  At least while I had it at the desk I was able to share it with others, (whether they really wanted to see it or not).

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-9LuTp7HnU&w=460&h=315]

In the introduction Kainen he shares that his grandfather was an inventor, his father an artist and the curator of graphics at the Smithsonian, and that as a child, he was a magician. He explains that photicular imaging is an old technology, lenticular or integrated photography, done in a new way. His third patent is for the Motion Viewer, his first product in the field of integrated imaging and the Motion Viewer is what makes "Safari" so spectacular. The writer, Carol Kaufmann,  tells the story of the safari from its day of big game hunting to the important role it plays today in animal conservation and preservation in Africa.

While it isn't a large book, it is thick. It contains eight remarkable photicular pages, each of an animal one might encounter while on a safari  on the Masai Mari in Kenya. Each time you turn the page you encounter another animal, and the animal moves. The lion is running toward you and you can control the speed.  The gorilla is chewing, slowly or very quickly, depending upon you the reader. The cheetah is my favorite  with its fluid stride. The image is from the side and it is as if you are running along side it. For each of the animals Kaufmann includes the size, land speed, habitat and distribution the current population, if known, and its lifespan in the wild.  Pick it up, you will want to see these animals move.