Featured Book Review
Newly Noted Books
Bats of the World
Newly published in the U.S. as of March 2026, “Bats of the World: A Guide to Every Family” by Winifred Frick and M. Teague O’Mara offers a richly illustrated profile of every family of the Order Chiroptera.
Butterflies of Britain and Western Europe and Their Caterpillars
For those aurelians who have been eagerly awaiting the publication of Jean-Pierre Moussus’ “Butterflies of Britain and Western Europe and Their Caterpillars: An Identification Guide” to be published in the United States following its publication last December in the United Kingdom, the wait is finally over.
The Lives of Bats
Through overviews of their general life history, biology, and particular abilities such as echolocation, enhanced with profiles of representative as well as particularly interesting bat species, “The Lives of Bats” offers all interested in these remarkable mammals a very useful way to develop their understanding of them.
The Mystery in the Rye
In “The Mystery in the Rye; Ergot and LSD – A Cultural-Historical Quest,” Prof. Dr. Frank Petersen presents a lively and eye-opening history of the ergot fungus and its relationship to medical research and pharmacology as well as to human – particularly popular – culture.
Biographies
The Last Universal Naturalist
“The universal intellectual, the free-standing man or woman making a living more or less from writing or talking, and being known for that in a variety of old fashioned media has disappeared. We shall not see a return or a revival, I think, of that kind of intellectual.” So spoke the late Tony Judt in his […]
A Bloody Marvellous Book
In Roxanne, the 1987 film adaptation of the Cyrano de Bergerac story, Steve Martin – in the leading male role of the a small mountain resort town’s erudite fire chief somewhat obviously named C.D. Bales – chastises his lovable but incompetent band of volunteer fire fighters upon finding a trash can ablaze inside the fire […]
Life Science Books
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.
Physical Science Books
A Cross Cultural Life
In 1959, C. P. Snow, the noted British chemist and novelist, delivered the Rede Lecture at Cambridge University that has come to be far more discussed and debated than perhaps any other of such in the past century. In his The Two Cultures, as it was later published, Baron Snow described the existence of two […]
In the Palm of One’s Hand
When it comes to geology, I have long had what you might call “a bit of block.” For years I’ve tried to find the proper lever to shift that block out of my way in order to allow me to progress in my understanding – and enjoyment – of the subject, but nothing has quite […]
Interdisciplinary Natural Science Books
Essaying the Possibilities
How do you begin to understand something you’ve never before seen – or perhaps even knew existed? Do you try to relate it to a thing about which you do know? Do you seek out the counsel of those you consider knowledgable, or those who have at least been identified to you as knowledgable? And […]
History (of Natural History, of Science, of Medicine) Books
Lesser Living Creatures of the Renaissance
As someone who nourishes active interests in both the arts and the sciences, particularly natural philosophy, and the literature and history of early modern England, I could scarcely believe my good fortune to have been made aware of “Lesser Living Creatures of the Renaissance.”
Reading the World
If one was to make a list of the words potentially appearing on the cover of a book that would most likely stop me in my tracks whilst perusing the shelves in a bookshop, “reading,” “British,” and “natural history” would all be in the top ten.
Natural History Books
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 […]
The Rachel Carson Collection Boxed Set
This coming October, The Library of America will publish a new boxed set of their Rachel Carson Collection. I doubt that most regular readers of “The Well-read Naturalist” need any introduction to Rachel Carson or her work, but but for those who might be just beginning their journey into the wonders of natural history, she was a marine biologist whose trilogy of books about the sea have introduced the wonders of the ocean world and the challenges facing it to readers all around the world.
Nature Writing
Books for Children
Incredible Arthropods
Bringing to a subject that is all-too-often considered “icky” by even some natural history enthusiasts, The Bug Chicks combine their extensive education and experience in the field of entomology with a delightfully humor that puts their audiences at ease with creatures from which they might otherwise recoil and as a result allows them to learn just how fascinating arthropods can be and how important they are to the natural world.