If you love this blog you should buy the book !
I started bone collecting when I was six, and at that time I couldn't find any books to help me. So when Octopus Publishing asked me whether I would like to write a book about bones, based on my blog, I leapt at the chance. This is the book I wish I'd had when I was starting out.
You should buy it. The quickest way is probably through Amazon (UK link here, and US link here). But I recommend asking your local bookshop to order it in. Local bookshops are brilliant, full of great people, and they love your business. If you're in the UK, find your local bookshop here, and ask them to order in "Jake's Bones" by Jake McGowan-Lowe, (ISBN 978-1783250257 in the UK, or 978-1848988521 in the US and everywhere else).
So who has a copy ?
Lots of people - but here are some people you might know.
Yes - that's Sir David Attenborough reading his copy just before we went on live TV together:
Oh, and did I mention Prince William and Kate have a copy for Prince George ?
And here's me showing Chris Packham in his copy that he's mentioned in the dedication.
And here's Martin Hughes-Games with his copy:
So what's in it ?
It's about real bones in my collection that I've written about here on my blog. See the fox skeleton here ?
She's called Vulpy, and she hangs from my ceiling. My cats are in it too as cartoon characters. That's Eisie under the skeleton's foot. Here's my monkey skulls:
Here's me looking at a real skeleton near my house, and what I take on walks with me.
Some of the book is about bones I don't have, and there are eight fantastic pages on dinosaurs (or more if you think birds are dinosaurs too):
My cats even get to appear in the book !
Other stuff I LOVE in the book:
- How to find and recognise bones
- Looking at some of my great skulls from around the world , like my leopard, crocodile and python skulls.
- The biggest bones ever
- Dinosaur bones
- How to start your own bone collection
- ...and my seven golden rules of bone collecting.
There's 64 pages of boney goodness like this in it. It's come a long way from my very first meeting when I brought this scrapbook of ideas:
I've blogged about writing the book here as well:
- the first announcement of my book deal (March 2013)
- the first sneak peek of it, (July 2013)
- when I finished writing it (September 2013)
- the book launch itself in the UK ! (February 2014)
Don't forget - when you buy the book, you can send me an email at jakesbones@gmail.com to tell me what you think. And send me a picture of you with it so I put together a gallery of people with the book. (If you're under 18, check with your parent or guardian first !)
