A climate journalist finishes his encyclopaedia of animals 

Are you someone who has often loved spending your time reading encyclopaedias? Well, then we have great news for you. Turns out, there is a brand new encyclopaedia that will soon be out. It’s based on the animal kingdom. How lovely is that! 

Titled Josh’es Book of Animals, it has been compiled by a 30-year-old British climate journalist based in south London named Josh Gabbatiss. He was nine when he started writing the book in 2001. It comprises information on all living creatures, starting with corals, worms to jellyfish. Deemed as his life’s project, Josh’s last entry was incidentally on one of human ancestors, aka, the chimpanzee.  

He believes that over the years, with a lot of real-life experience, his grammar and drawings have improved a lot, but his handwriting still remains pretty much undecipherable. It was Josh who himself announced the completion of his project on Twitter and even confessed that initially, he was copying the format from “rival” books on animals. 

The final rendition of the animal encyclopaedia comprises of 118 pages. It is divided into six sections including: invertebrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. The book has an index at the end of each section to help readers find something specific. Besides, there are also detailed descriptions on the species and scientific terminology.  

Growing up in Oxfordshire, Gabbatiss reveals how he dedicatedly worked on the book through his adolescence. He started with fish, followed by amphibians, reptiles and birds (probably his weakest section). He had even finished more than half of the mammals but had to stop due to his university studies. But as soon as he wrapped that up, he got back to his dream project and finished it by entering chimpanzee at the end.  

Gabbatiss also revealed how he had kept his book a secret except for a very close friends and family. In fact, he was so possessive about it that he refused to carry it to a different part of the world during his higher education. He believes that it was the Covid-19 lockdown that got him back to his life’s most precious work. It gave him the time to dive right back in and work through a few obscure mammal groups such as tree shrews and flying lemurs.  

But he had to again push it aside until recently, when he got the time to wrap his two-decade project up finally. Interestingly, Gabbatiss have openly tweeted that if anyone was keen on publishing his work, they are more than welcome to approach him. What’s more exciting is that as soon his tweet got viral, many well-known publishers have already contacted him. That’s good news for all avid readers out there, isn’t it? 

In conclusion, Gabbatiss has urged everyone to hold on to their childhood passions and not take them lightly.