Midas Dekkers is a bestselling author and biologist. Pieces on hundreds of animals were brought together in his All Animals (2010) and he has met with great acclaim, both at home and abroad, for the wonderful illustrated bestsellers Dearest Pet (1992), The Way of All Flesh (1997), The Larva (2002) and Physical Exercise (2006).
(Contact, 1997, 256 pages)
After Dearest Pet, his stunning book about the flip side of animal love, Midas Dekkers carries on in a familiar fashion, lashing out at sacred institutions and established norms and values. This time he concentrates on the conflict between beautiful, young and firm on the one hand, and ugly, old and decrepit on the other. Mortality is considered in the broadest sense: along with death, decay and destruction, he also looks at buildings that are demolished before they get a chance to deteriorate into romantic ruins, and ageing people who would do anything to stay young, if only in appearance.
(Contact, 2002, 288 pages)
Writer-biologist Midas Dekkers has a great passion: the deeply rooted similarity between humans and animals. His style is ironic and at times simply sarcastic, but attests consistently to a warm love for nature and the animal-in-man. With pointed questions and sometimes disconcerting comparisons Dekkers succeeds in holding the attention of his readers like few others. In The Larva Dekkers addresses the subject of youth.
(Contact, 2006, 356 pages)
In Physical Exercise biologist Midas Dekkers concentrates his fire on the contemporary cult of fitness. All those hours spent in gyms and sports clubs he sees as a complete waste of time; they will not make your life any better or longer. In fact, sport causes injuries and heart attacks and is therefore likely to shorten your life.
(Querido Kind, 2007, 95 pages)
Not just anyone can write a good, educational book for children: expert knowledge of the subject is extremely important, as is accurate presentation of the facts. The book should have an attractive appearance. The words and the pictures should complement each other. The style of the writing should be accessible, but not too didactic or too babyish. And the enthusiasm of the writer must be so infectious that the book fills the reader with curiosity and amazement. Botjes, the fourth collaborative non-fiction project by biologist Midas Dekkers and illustrator Angela de Vrede, is the ultimate example of a book that satisfies all of these criteria.
(Contact, 2011, 208 pages)
Red hair may be a freak of nature, but Midas Dekkers cannot imagine a more beautiful outcome of a genetic mutation. He attributes powerful qualities to redheads, from beauty to self-awareness. Even at conception they are conscious of their hair colour: ‘When she is but a single cell, a redhead knows all she needs to know to make her skin white, her freckles numerous and her eyebrows as fine as a swirl of mist.’ Clearly the author cannot claim absolute objectivity, but his personal passion emerges as one of the strengths of his book, which combines a declaration of love with the fruits of a lifelong fascination.
(Atlas Contact, 2014, 256 pages)
What is the biggest turd ever found? A dinosaur turd forty-five centimetres long. How long are a hippo’s intestines? Fifty-five metres. What is a fart? A turd with all the shit scraped out. These and many more fascinating facts about bowel movements, metabolism and the intestines of humans and animals down the centuries are to be found in What a Relief by biologist Midas Dekkers.
