The biggest-ever selection of first-hand accounts and news reports of shark attacks, both recent and historical, shows how sharks are masters of the ocean and how we enter their domain at our own risk.

Think you're safe in the Med? Read about the Great Whites that thrive near holiday beaches.

Think you're safe in large groups? Read about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis in 1945 when hundreds of sailors floated for days in shark-infested waters, being picked off one-by-one.

Think you're safe at home? Read about the 69-year-old man, taking his regular evening swim, jumping off his backyard dock straight into the mouth of a bull shark.

Many more extraordinary and gruesome accounts, including the shark-boat skipper who slit open the belly of a 360-kg tiger shark only to have a human head, pelvis, and arm come tumbling out, provide horrific and moving tales of shark encounters. The courage of survivors and those who have risked their lives to save shark attack victims is truly inspirational.

Where can you find sharks? Features on different shark species with illustrations, fact boxes and maps show where they lurk around the world. Also included are a selection of full-colour photographs and special sections on the life cycle of a shark, how to avoid a shark attack and how to survive one.


The Mammoth Book of Predators

by Alex MacCormick

Published 1 September 2011

Don't go into the woods today. . .

If you're on a cruise, tramping through a forest or holidaying in an exotic location, you are constantly being watched - somewhere close by a creature is lurking, stalking and eyeing your every move. The variety and range of these potential predators is truly astonishing, from Asiatic wolves to rogue elephants, fire ants to sharks, snakes, crocodiles and grizzlies. In this definitive anthology survivors recall their terrifying ordeals, while hunters and other witnesses describe the final bloody moments of victims and their killers.

Including:
The British climber alone in the mountain wilderness pursued for days by a vengeful bear
The African traveller's unhappy encounter with a crocodile
A member of the Royal Family's gory meeting with a shark in the Caribbean
A tiger breaking out of the jungle to grab a woman from her village