Built for Speed

By John A. Byers,

Book cover of Built for Speed: A Year in the Life of Pronghorn

Book description

North America's fastest mammal, the pronghorn can accelerate explosively from a standing start to a top speed of 60 miles per hour-but it can also cruise at 45 miles per hour for many miles. What accounts for the speed of this extraordinary animal, a denizen of the American outback, and…


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Why read it?

1 author picked Built for Speed as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I love this book for the same reason that I love all the books on this list. That is, I learned as much about pronghorn antelope as I did about the scientist-author who studies these curiously fast creatures of the open grasslands.

Byers brings the reader on one field trip after the next, showing how he’s studied pronghorn and what it’s like to be there–there in the big sky country and there in Byers’ mind as he assembles his observations into a fascinating account of why pronghorn are so fast.

What I love most is Byers’ sharing–by word and deed–of…

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