This book examines a range of cases in nature where organisms have used subterfuge to obtain what they need. It would be a good source of up-to-date information for biology students from KS3 to A Level, and even touches on some human examples, such as fake news.

The key question at the heart of this book is perhaps this – if honesty is the best policy, why is dishonesty so rife in nature? It must have a survival value.

The author has managed the seemingly impossible by making quite complex theories and rules both enjoyable to read about and relatively easy to understand. Having said that, it’s possibly more a book for teachers to draw from than for students, given how it deals with what amounts to a narrow thread of the curriculum at such length.

This review was first published in Teach Secondary magazine. If you wish to comment on this review, please do so here.