Last night in New York, the National Book Foundation announced the recipients of their 2009 awards. As previously reported here on The Well-read Naturalist, two natural history titles, Sean B. Carroll’s Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species and David M. Carroll’s Following the Water: A Hydromancer’s Notebook, were in contention for the non-fiction award. Sadly, it was not the year for either of these two very fine books to be honored with the award, which was bestowed upon T.J. Stiles’ The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt.

The results of the awards notwithstanding, I have found both Remarkable Creatures as well as Following the Water to be well worth the attention of all those interested in natural history. Look for reviews of both these titles to appear on The Well-read Naturalist in the weeks to come.

It was with great pleasure that I noticed among the recently published list of finalists for the 2009 National Book Award not just one but two titles that fell squarely inside the category of natural history: Sean B. Carroll’s Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species and David M. Carroll’s Following the Water: A Hydromancer’s Notebook. While I have not had the opportunity to read and review either of these books (yet…), the mere fact that two natural history titles are in the running for the non-fiction category of the 2009 National Book Award fills me with great satisfaction as to the level of natural history writing presently being published in our country.

The winners in all categories will be announced at the 60th National Book Awards Benefit Dinner and Ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City on Wednesday, November 18, 2009. I will not be there; however I will certainly be reporting the results here on The Well-read Naturalist.