Recommended reading material on marine mammals.

For Children:

* NSW Wildlife Atlas -- Found in many Australian libraries, useful for school projects.

* Whales and Dolphins by Eva Plaganyi and Vic Cockcroft, New Holland Press 1994. Q&A for young readers, good also for adults at the start of the learning curve.

* Physty by Richard Ellis, Courage Books USA 1993 -- True story of a sperm whale stranding.

For Adults:

* Whales Dolphins and Porpoises by James Darling, Flip Nicklin, Ken Norris, Hal Whitehead, Bernd Würsig, National Geographic Society, 1995, ISBN 0-7922-2952-5. Hard to beat for an introduction to the subject. Readable, totally authoritative and superbly illustrated.

* Dolphin Days: The Life and Times of the Spinner Dolphin by Kenneth S. Norris, WW Norton and Company, 1991, ISBN 0-393-02945-X. Acclaimed prizewinning book, giving a unique insight into the lives of dolphins. Extremely readable.

* Whales and Man by Tim Dietz, Yankee Publishing 1987, ISBN 0-899-09-120-2. Whale stories and whale people. Engrossing and enlightening.

* Into the Blue by Virginia McKenna (of Born Free), Aquarian Press 1992, ISBN 1-85538-254-7. Sensitive approach to dolphins and their plight.

* Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises by Mark Carwardine, Dorling Kindersley 1995, ISBN 0-7513-1030-1. Detailed information on all species. Excellent reference for species identification in the field. Midget-sized version also available.

* Sierra Club Handbook of Whales and Dolphins by Stephen Leatherwood and Randall Reeves, Sierra Club Books 1983, ISBN 0-87156-340-1. Ideal pocket handbook when studying whales and dolphins in the field. Highly reliable with excellent descriptions and drawings of all species.

* Sierra Club Handbook of Seals and Sirenians, by Randall Reeves, Brent Stewart and Stephen Leatherwood, Sierra Club Books 1992, ISBN 0-87156-656-7. The best pocket handbook on seals for field work. Authoritative and comprehensive, yet compact.

* The Pinnipeds by Marianne Riedman, University of California Press 1990, ISBN 0-520-06497-6. Readable reference work on seal biology, covering all species. For the person wanting in-depth knowledge on seals.

* Western Australian Humpback and Right Whales, by John Bannister, published by Western Australian Museum 1994, ISBN 0-7309-6155-9. Introductory but authoritative treatment of Australian whale populations, with excellent photographs by Doug Coughran et al.

* Orca - The Whale Called Killer by Erich Hoyt, published by Camden House 1981, ISBN 0-920656-29-3. An entertaining classic, the first book ever published on killer whales.

* A Whale for the Killing by Farley Mowat, Pan Books 1972, ISBN 0-330-25889-3. On whaling.

* The Natural History of Whales and Dolphins by Peter Evans, published by Christopher Helm London 1987, ISBN 0-7470-0800-0. Readable reference work on cetaceans covering biology, species and history. Excellent drawings for species identification. Gives in-depth knowledge on cetaceans.

* Dolphin Societies - Discoveries and Puzzles, edited by Karen Pryor and Kenneth Norris, University of California Press 1991, ISBN 0-520-06717-7. A wide range of scientific papers on dolphin behaviour.

* The Hawaiian Spinner Dolphin, edited by Kenneth Norris, Bernd Wursig, Randall Wells and Melany Wursig, published by University of California Press 1994, ISBN 0-520-08208-7. A collection of scientific papers, the background to Dolphin Days (above).

* Among Whales by Roger Payne, published by Scribner 1995, ISBN 0-684-80210-4. Intriguing and long-awaited labour of love by one of the great humpback and right whale pioneers. The book has been compared to Stephen Jay Gould's Wonderful Life.

* Whales, by E.J. Slijper, Basic Books New York, English translation 1962, first published as Walvissen in 1958, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 62-13870. The soaring classic. Serious students should read this early to get oriented.

* Handbook of Marine Mammals (5 volumes), edited by Sam Ridgway and Sir Richard Harrison, published by Academic Press 1985-1994, ISBN 0-12-588505-9. The definitive reference.

* Handbook of Marine Mammal Medicine: Health, Disease and Rehabilitation 2nd Edition, edited by Leslie Dierauf, published by CRC Press July 2001, ISBN 0-8493-0839-9). Reference on veterinary aspects.

* Marine Mammals Ashore, by Joseph Geraci and Valerie Lounsbury, published by Texas A&M University Sea Grant Program 1993, publication TAMU-SG-93-601, ISBN 1-883550-01-7. Best reference for techniques of specimen and data collection.

* Whalebone Whales of the Western North Atlantic, by Frederick True, pre-1914, reprinted 1983 by Smithsonian Institution Press, ISBN 0-87474-922-0. A pioneering work demonstrating outstanding powers of observation.

* The Dugong, edited by Helene Marsh, published by James Cook University of North Queensland 1981, ISBN 0-909714-73-8. Seminar proceedings. Dugong biology.

Note for Australian readers:

Not many these books are available over the counter in Australia. However they can be ordered via local booksellers, who will import them for you. An exception is Carwardine's Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises, which is usually available through local book stores.

Some books are available from lending libraries. In Sydney, the best reference collection is in the Badham Library at Sydney University.