This is not a text-book “Congratulations on ‘Sponge – The Animal That Gave Us Oxygen’. It is eccentric, fun and very colourful (the writing and the artwork).

I love it and would want a copy on my shelf. However, I cannot offer a text endorsement for publication.

The blend of fact and imagination is so tight that it is difficult for me to assess which is which. I cannot fact check this, and I suspect that fact checking would somewhat defeat the object.

In particular, there are pictures of sponge species that are known to me, against names that you have created (I think). There is a risk that a scientific reader would assume I have approved these instances and a non-scientific reader may interpret and accept them as fact.

There are similar concerns where you link some texts to places, people, and organisations, some of which exist, some of which are creations. The pages are a wonderful homage to the spirit of Porifera and will inspire people to look further.

I am passionate about encouraging science-art fusions, but this can be complicated. As a marine scientist, I think there is a fair risk of any endorsement I give being interpreted as a sign-off of the scientific content which, as I’ve said, is next to impossible to assess so closely blended are the poetic and scientific genres.

A fantastic piece of work. ” These are the words of a marine scientist who read this book in draft.

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