Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The insect featured on the cover of Oracle Power Objects is a praying mantis. These large, predatory insects are widely scattered throughout the world; some of the approximately 1500 species are endangered. They have highly specialized prehensile legs, with elongated front segments allowing them greater reach. Their long neck-like thorax enables them to swivel their heads completely to the rear, making them the only insects who are able to look directly behind themselves.

The word "mantid" is Greek for "prophet" or "seer." The insects were so named because the position in which they hold their legs while at rest or preparing to attack their prey gives them the appearance of folding their arms in prayer. In African art the praying mantis is often depicted as a god or spirit.

Mantises lie in wait and then quickly pounce on their prey, giving them no time to flee. It is not uncommon for a mantis to hold onto its prey with one leg while going after another with the second leg. They will eat almost anythinginsects, small reptiles, small birds, and other mantids. Females often eat their mates during copulation. Once copulation has begun, she bites off his head. The male's copulatory activity is not curtailed by this, and in some species is stimulated, because it is controlled by a ganglion center completely distinct from that controlling the head. By eating her mate, the female ingests extra protein to nourish her eggs.

A praying mantis female will lay 1000-2000 eggs, protected in foamy, papery capsules that hold 100-200 eggs each. The eggs are laid in the fall and hatch in the spring. Young mantises immediately begin hunting, and disperse themselves over a wide area, presumably to avoid fratricide. Edie Freedman designed the cover of this book, using a 19th-century engraving from the Dover Pictorial Archive. The cover layout was produced with Quark XPress 3.3 using the ITC Garamond font.

The inside layout was designed by Nancy Priest and implemented in FrameMaker by Mike Sierra. The text and heading fonts are ITC Garamond Light and Garamond Book. The illustrations that appear in the book were created in Macromedia Freehand by Chris Reilley. This colophon was written by Clairemarie Fisher O'Leary.