Aristotle believed hedgehogs could predict the weather. Arthur Schopenhauer, a philosopher, used them to illustrate the challenges of human intimacy. Beatrix Potter’s Mrs Tiggy-Winkle has enchanted children and adults alike since 1905, while Sonic, her modern-day counterpart, is one of the world’s best-known video game characters.

In this engaging memoir Hugh Warwick draws on 20 years of knowledge to explain why hedgehogs have gained such iconic status. He sprinkles his book with facts: hedgehogs snooze through the winter in an aptly named hibernaculum; they have up to 7,000 spines; their fleas are species specific; North America has no native hedgehogs although thousands of imported ones are kept as pets.

Mr Warwick also introduces several characters whose obsession with hedgehogs is all encompassing. Most memorable is Zug Standing Bear, a former war-crimes investigator, one-time bodyguard to Gerald Ford and now owner of Buttercup, whose athletic prowess won her a gold medal at the International Hedgehog Olympic Games in Denver, Colorado. As they say, it takes all sorts.

© The Economist Newspaper Limited 2008