“So, what gives with the silence?”

It’s a fair question.

The answer is that there are changes taking place behind the scenes – changes that will, I hope, make The Well-read Naturalist more easy to use as well as more attractive to see.

However as a result, there will be a period of silence as these changes are made (I’m not much of a multi-tasker; I can either read and write, or tinker with the machinery – but not both).

So please check back in a couple weeks to see what’s been done. I really hope you’ll like it.

Princeton University Press has announced it’s Autumn 2012 natural history list. As might be expected given their taking on select WILDGuides backlist titles in the creation of the new Princeton WILDGuides imprint, a substantial portion of this season’s list is comprised of these books – including (we were very pleased to learn) such international favorites as Chris Gooddie’s The Jewel Hunter.

Among the wholly new books is one that by initial appearances promises to be one of the most original as well as intriguing publications on the subject of bird anatomy that we have seen in quite some time: Katrina van Grouw’s The Unfeathered Bird – a collection of over three hundred drawings of birds in action-oriented poses sans plumage (as well as quite often skill, muscles, etc.). Given the few images we have thus far seen from the book (which are stunning) and its being described by Princeton as “aimed at the general reader,” this could potentially be an out-of-the-park home run for the 2012 holiday book buying season.

As I have previously mentioned, one of the challenges of reading Charles Darwin’s On The Origin of Species is for the reader to “match wits,” as it were, with the vast breadth of knowledge that Darwin – as well as his fellow naturalists of the Nineteenth Century – possessed. However as Professor Reznick so astutely points out in The Origin Then and Now, to understand Darwin’s Origin to the fullest, it is also important to know what Darwin didn’t know. In the case of the chapter titled “Variation Under Domestication” (chapter 1), what Darwin, nor anyone else at the time, understood were the laws of inheritance.

However Darwin knew that he didn’t understand these laws; he states it quite clearly,”the laws governing inheritance are quite unknown.” (Origin, p.20) However as Professor Reznick points out in The Origin Then and Now, it wasn’t absolutely essential that Darwin understood then what we know now about inheritance; his theory does not suffer as a result. (Nevertheless, one does have to wonder at just what the effect Gregor Mendel’s Experiments in Plant Hybridization, published shortly after the initial publication of the first edition of The Origin, might have been on Darwin’s thought process had he known of it.)

Yet the reader of The Origin today quite likely assumes that Darwin did understand inheritance. Versed as we now commonly are in at least the rudimentary elements of genetic inheritance,  we look upon Darwin’s complex circumlocutions of thought in this first chapter of The Origin with confusion. Where we expect him to come straight to the point and move on, he seems to indulge in unnecessary speculation. What are we missing?

Nothing – that’s the point. What is more or less understood about inheritance – at least at a basic level by most people today – had yet to be discovered at the time Darwin published The Origin. Lacking this understanding, he had to wrestle with the potential explanations. He was obliged to at times write in what appear to be circles for it was the only way he could establish a foundation for his larger theory based upon the state of knowledge contemporary to his work. In essence, the challenge one faces in reading this first chapter of The Origin is created not by what Darwin wrote in it but by what the modern reader brings to it.

One of the most poignant as well as multifaceted metaphors in the literature of the English language is that of Autumn. Often employed as an image of the wisdom that can only come from maturity, “No man can taste the fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of spring” (Samuel Johnson); sometimes reflective of the imminent decline toward old age, “Autumn wins you best by this its mute appeal to sympathy for its decay” (Robert Browning) – Autumn is almost always a symbol of transition.

Naturalists of a poetic disposition know this perhaps better than anyone else. They see the transitions inherent in the world; they mark well the time as one season passes into another. Not unexpectedly, they often also mark the changes they observe in themselves. Which is why it is so very appropriate that Pete Dunne, one of America’s most poetically disposed naturalists, has taken Autumn as theme of his third book in his series of seasonal biome portraits. Perhaps more so than any of his previous works, it is a book he could not have written ten years ago nor would he have been able to do so ten years from now. Near the top of the world, he and his subject met face to face at the right time in both their respective lives and Arctic Autumn was the result.

Just as the Autumn of one’s life begins much sooner than it might have been expected, so too begins Arctic Autumn. As Dunne so well repeatedly depicts, our modern interpretations of time are not appropriately applied to the Arctic. Autumn does not begin with the turning of the leaves; it begins – biologically as well as metaphorically – at the first second following the Summer Solstice. Thus it is only appropriate that this is when we meet Pete and his wife, the renowned photographer Linda Dunne, as they prepare to record this moment of transition. It will not be the last transition Dunne discovers.

From business and economic cycles to human and animal population shifts, not forgetting of course climactic changes and the effects they bring as well, Arctic Autumn is a study in transitions. As one season slides into another, so changes the land and the wildlife that calls it home – either for a few weeks or all throughout the year. So too change the lives of those who seek these wild creatures, professionally, recreationally, or as an essential element of their very own survival.

Through Dunne’s eyes, the Autumn of the arctic is not limited to a quarter of a calendar year, it encompasses much of what is happening in the arctic today. Just as it’s plants and wildlife are, for most of their existence, widely scattered and cryptic to the point of being generally difficult to see, so the biome itself is, being separated from the majority of us in the more populated areas of the globe, similarly obscure and its changes difficult to perceive.

Nevertheless, Dunne challenges the reader to do so. Not through an unceasing torrent of data or eco-political posturing, but by, as E. M. Forster so eloquently proposed, “only connecting.” Connecting across geographic boundaries and political lines; connecting what we do with the results it causes. It is a wisdom as seemingly plain as a water-smoothed rock plucked from beside an arctic stream – yet the longer one contemplates it, the more perfectly formed one perceives it to be.

Book Title: Arctic Autumn; A Journey to Season’s Edge
Author: Pete Dunne
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Imprint: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Format: Clothbound
ISBN-13/EAN: 9780618822218
Published: September 20, 2011

This review was originally published in Bird Watcher’s Digest.

In accordance with Federal Trade Commission 16 CFR Part 255, it is disclosed that the copy of the book read in order to produce this review was provided gratis to the reviewer by the publisher.

Birds do it.

Bees do it.

According to some authorities, even educated fleas do it.

The question is how they do it – find their way around, that is.

In their forthcoming book Nature’s Compass; The Mystery of Animal Navigation, James L. Gould and Carol Grant Gould examine the methods employed by various species, both those traveling long distances for migration as well as those whose entire lives are lived within a relatively small area but within which the ability to locate particular objects (known sources of food, nests, etc.) with pinpoint precision is an essential survival skill, in “finding their way around.”

Nature’s Compass is scheduled to be published by Princeton University Press in June of 2012.

Of all the books ever published, Charles Darwin’s 1859 work On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life – later shortened in a subsequent edition to the more familiar The Origin of Species – is likely tied only with the Bible, if even that, as having the most drastic ratio between its societal influence versus actually being read. From those who praise it to those who condemn it, surprisingly few people, in relation to how many may claim to know what was written in it, have ever actually read it cover to cover – and even fewer can honestly claim to have thoroughly understood it.

It’s not surprising. Darwin was a man of astonishingly broad intellect – as were many of the natural philosophers of his time. Specialization had not yet become the norm so to make any claim to be a scientist required one to be versed in a wide variety of subjects. Thus, when he wrote what would become the single most important of all his vast number of publications, he incorporated an astonishingly varied range of subject matter and wrapped it up in such exquisitely crafted Victorian prose that much of what it contains  is largely impervious to modern readers.

I have read it in its entirety, but I will be the first to admit that much of what I read, such is the high level of context it contains, was lost upon me at the time. For years now I have been intending to read it once again, but as may be expected, it is an intention I have managed to put off successfully as I feared it would still be, upon a second reading, little more intelligible than it was the first time.

Which is why I was so delighted that during a conversation with Robert Kirk, Princeton University Press’ executive editor for biology, natural history, ornithology, and field guides, he brought to my attention David N. Reznick’s The Origin Then and Now: An Interpretive Guide to the Origin of Species. With such a guide at hand to guide me through a fresh reading of The Origin my hope of finding the experience far more productive (and enjoyable) than the previous time could be greatly increased.

Thus it came to me that, as Professor Reznick’s book is still relatively new – only recently released in a paperback edition, in fact – and therefore deserving of a review, rather than examine it as a work unto itself, I’d put it to the ultimate test: consider it in relation to a full reading of The Origin itself.

Hence I will, from time to time, be publishing observations in The Well-read Naturalist about my present complete reading of The Origin as guided by The Origin Then and Now. These will be collected in their own section of the publication titled “Reading the Origin” and, it is hoped, when complete will provide not only a thorough review of the book itself but also a profile of its usefulness not only as a discrete commentary upon Darwin’s magnum opus but as a running guide to a reading of the work itself.

Almost immediately following the publication of his remarkable 2008 book The Young Birder’s Guide to Birds of Eastern North America, renowned author  and editor-in-chief of Bird Watcher’s Digest Bill Thompson III began to be asked “When is the volume for western North America to be published?” (I know this for a fact as I was one of those asking.) Now, with the release of Thompson’s The Young Birder’s Guide to Birds of North America, those questions have been answered – and it is a most welcome answer indeed.

Whenever I pack for a field excursion, whether it be just for a day-long bird watching trip to a nearby wildlife sanctuary or to some far distant country for a more prolonged stay, there are a few items that are guaranteed to be in my field bag, among which are my trusty Swiss Army Knife and a general purpose first aid kit. However it recently came to my attention that I have been neglecting to also take along something that could indeed prove very useful and perhaps even life-saving should the need arise: a length of durable cord.

Although it’s not something that immediately springs to mind when packing a field bag, when you stop and think about it, having a bit of strong cord on hand can be remarkably important. From lashing into place an important piece of equipment (a camera tripod, for instance) to first aid (binding a splint in place or constructing a travois for a stretcher) to, should it come to that, survival (building a shelter). Sure, you could improvise with boot laces or belts, but neither of these would work nearly as well as a few meters of paracord.

Fortunately, the folks behind the Survival Straps® figured this out and have brought to market a solution for all who venture forth into any field – from those in search of butterflies to those engaged in armed combat – as well as simply for those who like to proclaim publicly their favorite sporting team or worthy cause. Wrap any of their made in the U.S.A. myriad variations of paracord woven bracelets around your wrist and in seconds, should the need arise, you can have at your disposal up to twenty-four feet of 550 test military spec paracord.

Having worn a Survival Straps Fish Tail Survival Bracelet™ every day for three weeks as a test to see how comfortable it would be, as well as to see if it would get in the way of mundane everyday tasks such as typing on my laptop (let’s face it, this particular model wraps roughly ten feet of paracord around one’s wrist and secures with a steel shackle closure), I have to admit that it is not only perfectly comfortable but astonishingly untroublesome. The only alteration to the position in which I found myself normally wearing it – with the steel shackle closure aligned to my little finger – was to rotate it so that the closure was in line with my thumb while typing. (Indeed, I am wearing it as I type this review on my MacBook Pro laptop and not once has it clinked or scratched against the computer’s aluminum chassis.)

Of course, for those who might not like the steel shackle closure, there is also a plastic slide release buckle closure option available. And for those who do like the steel shackle closure but who might work in a capacity in which such a strongly secured band around the wrist might pose a safety hazard, each strap featuring this type of clasp also includes a break-away pin that is designed to do precisely that if significant force is applied.

As a Survival Strap is something meant to be worn every day, it has to look good as well as be both functional and comfortable. Which is why the folks at Survival Straps produce a veritable host of different designs and colors, as well as straps that prominently display college logos, public safety agency crests, and (one of my favorites) special Wounded Warrior Project™ identified straps, key fobs, gear tags, and neck cords from which fifty percent of the proceeds go directly to that very worthy organization.

Finally, because the folks at Survival Straps understand that as their products are worn as a daily accessory by their owners, when the time comes to unravel one for use, some people might hesitate to do so because they’ve become fond of it. For this reason, Survival Straps has a “If You Use It, We’ll Replace It Policy.” Just send them your story and a photo of how it was used and they’ll send you a new one for the cost of the postage.

I’ll admit it, when I first heard of Survival Straps I was a bit dubious. After all, just how often would having a few yards of paracord be important? But the more I thought about it, how many of all the other things that I unthinkingly carry around on a daily basis do I use very often? And unlike all the odds and ends I stuff in my pockets or into a field bag, my Survival Strap bracelet not only may provide me with the one necessary thing that might get me or someone else out of a jam one day, it looks good as well and it makes me happy to wear it. That’s more than anyone could reasonably ask from most of the rest of their everyday accessories.

The May / June 2012 edition of Bird Watcher’s Digest contains two original Well-read Naturalist produced reviews:

The Princeton Illustrated Checklist: Birds of North America and Greenland by Normal Arlott (Princeton University Press)

In the Field, Among the Feathered: A History of Birders and their Guides by Thomas R. Dunlap (Oxford University Press).

Moth enthusiasts rejoice! For on 17 April, 2012, David Beadle and Seabrooke Leckie‘s long-awaited Peterson Field Guide to Moths of Northeastern North America was officially released for sale.

The first significant field guide to the moths of any North American geographic area since the publication of Covell’s famous 1984 Peterson Field Guide to the Moths of Eastern North America (discontinued in 1996 and dashedly difficult to obtain since then), the new Beadle and Leckie volume, while admittedly confined to a smaller region than the Covell, presents all of its nearly 1,500 included species in full color with facing page textual descriptions and detailed maps.