Of all the books I’ve heard about as forthcoming in 2015, one of the most intriguing thus far has been John Wright’s The Naming of the Shrew: A Curious History of Latin Names.

For those who have already spent a bit of time learning the craft of taxonomic nomenclature, this book should help to shed light on some of the practice’s more unusual and quirky developments (why, for example, was a land-dwelling species of mole given the species name aquaticus?). And for those who might not yet have begun to explore this fascinating subject, it should provide a lively and interesting introduction to it.