Featured Book Review
A Remarkable New Type of Field Guide
Back in May of 2025, whilst attending The Biggest Week in American Birding, Dr. Robert Kirk, Princeton University Press’ Publisher of the Press’ Princeton Field Guides and Natural History categories, drew my attention to the then recently published Habitats of North America: A Field Guide for Birders, Naturalists, and Ecologists. Right away I could tell it was a particularly significant book, and I took it up for reading promptly. I even wrote a Newly Noted article about it. But there was something not quite right; I had the nagging feeling that I wasn’t understanding it properly. And as it turns out, I was correct in that.
The problem wasn’t that it is not a significant, or innovative, or extraordinarily useful book – it most certainly is. The problem was that I hadn’t done the background reading necessary to understand fully the significance of what I was reading. The background reading in question being the inaugural volume of what is proving to become a remarkable series indeed: Habitats of the World: A Field Guide for Birders, Naturalists, and Ecologists.
Newly Noted Books
Outsider Animals
Cockroaches, cowbirds, gulls, raccoons; all widely derided animals, and yet all also remarkable in their lives and ecological roles if only ill-informed popular prejudices are put aside to learn more about them. Prof. Marlene Zuk provides a superb opportunity to do exactly this in her new book “Outsider Animals.”
Moths of Western North America
To write that I’m pleased that Seabrooke Leckie’s “Moths of Western North America” has finally been brought to publication by Princeton University Press is like writing that Henry VIII had minor marital commitment challenges; I’m positively giddy with excitement about it.
Birds of India (Third Edition)
Some years ago, I failed to make a planned journey to India as I caught a nasty case of the flu just before I was scheduled to depart. Because of this, I didn’t get to use the copy of Princeton University Press’ “Birds of India” that I had been studying for two months prior in preparation for the trip.
Elephants and Their Fossil Relatives
For those interested in discovering and learning about the truly remarkable evolutionary story of the Proboscideans, the new “Elephants and Their Fossil Relatives: A 60 Million Year Journey” by Asier Larramendi and Marco P. Ferretti is a book well worthy of note.
Biographies
Reaching the Stars
When I think about all the people I know presently involved in science – either actively working in one of the many disciplines from biology to astronomy, studying to one day do so, or working in an occupation supporting the dissemination of discoveries therein or for the greater widespread understanding thereof – the majority who […]
Designated Smart Person
Years ago, I was employed by a manufacturing firm that was overflowing with engineers. Manufacturing engineers, design engineers, optical engineers, even a civil engineer; not a day went by that I didn’t have easily a dozen conversations with some of the most highly skilled people with whom it has ever been my pleasure to work. […]
Life Science Books
The Descent of Man: An Annotated Edition
The first ever annotated edition of Charles Darwin’s “The Descent of Man” will be published this month; very welcome news indeed to someone such as myself with a passion for… well, let’s just say that in addition to liking big books, I also like small notes.
Wild Pavements
As my impromptu urban naturalizing activities have mostly only gained me quizzical looks and the odd hesitant question, I long thought I was the only person who did such things. Then I recently discovered the writings of Amanda Tuke.
Physical Science Books
Extracting the Future
Once a very unusual type of battery, lithium cells in their many different forms have become more than just common, they have become essential to technology-dependent societies in such ubiquitous devices as mobile phones and electric motor vehicles. And therein lies the problem.
Delicate and Subtle Illumination
Many years ago, when I was just a boy, the night sky seemed much blacker than it does today, but the stars seemed much brighter as well. Camping one long past night at Ft. Stevens State Park, I vividly recall lying on my back with my head outside the tent, looking up at a sky […]
Interdisciplinary Natural Science Books
From This Point
In 1964, U.S. Supreme Court decided the case Jacobellis v. Ohio, involving whether the state government of Ohio could ban the showing of the Louis Malle film The Lovers (Les Amants), which the state had deemed to be obscene. In deciding the case, Justice Potter Stewart (now) famously declared, “”I shall not today attempt further […]
Palaeontology in Public
Edited by Dr. Chris Manias, “Palaeontology in Public” features a collection case studies, each published as a chapter, by a remarkable assembly of noteworthy authors in the field. It’s as informative as it is lively and interesting, and if you’re interested in the subject, it’s a book about which you should know.
History (of Natural History, of Science, of Medicine) Books
Unnatural Habitat
For an upcoming business trip to Los Angeles, I’m taking full advantage of a very interesting book published in 2024 by Heyday, Craig Stanford’s “Unnatural Habitat; the Native and Exotic Wildlife of Los Angeles,” to prepare myself for opportunities to observe and casually study the native and non native plants and animals I may see while there.
A Tour Through One of History’s Greatest Minds
The legacy of the late eighteenth, early nineteenth century polymath Alexander von Humboldt is as extraordinary as the life he lived. Natural philosopher, world traveler, explorer, mountain climber, geographer, social and political thinker, von Humboldt packed so much into his eighty-nine years of existence on our planet that in reading his biography it is sometimes […]
Natural History Books
Outsider Animals
Cockroaches, cowbirds, gulls, raccoons; all widely derided animals, and yet all also remarkable in their lives and ecological roles if only ill-informed popular prejudices are put aside to learn more about them. Prof. Marlene Zuk provides a superb opportunity to do exactly this in her new book “Outsider Animals.”
An Infuriatingly Delightfully Complex Bird
When I first took up birdwatching, any mention I heard, any reference I read, any non-verbal cue I perceived regarding the European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) – at least when in regard to their existence in North America – was universally negative. “Trash birds!” was a common epithet. “Ought to be exterminated” and “invasive” were two […]
Nature Writing
The Stubborn Light of Things
After my beloved wife and daughter, one of the people who has most helped me to survive the madness of this past year is Melissa Harrison. Although we’ve never met in person, hearing her gentle and soothing voice asking me “Hi, how’re you doing?” at the beginning of each episode of her superb “The Stubborn Light of Things” podcast has more times than I can recall helped me to pick up and carry on in the face of all that was wearing me down.
Seasonal Devotions
As regular readers of The Well-read Naturalist know, I make a habit of reading from the collected essays in Melissa Harrison’s Seasons quartet of anthologies from Elliott & Thompson. However what you may not know is just how regular this habit is, or why I do it. It’s easy enough to assume that I find […]
Books for Children
By Ash, Oak and Thorn
It’s no secret that I have for years been deeply impressed by the writing and editorial taste of Melissa Harrison. From her quartet of seasonal nature-themed literature, to her novels – most recently the captivating as well as somewhat haunting “All Among the Barley” – to her recently published collection of of her “Nature Notebook” column from The Times titled “The Stubborn Light of Things” – which also shares the name of her superb 2020 podcast series that helped so many of us, myself included, to endure the mental and emotional strains of the CoVid-19 lockdowns, she has demonstrated over and again her remarkable creative talents.
Exploring the Critter Verse
One of the activities I frequently enjoyed as a boy was “playing in the dirt.” I’d flip rocks, rummage in leaf piles, and make a host of other explorations that caused the knees of my dungarees to become stained with soil and grass pigments that drove my mother to distraction every wash day. As I […]