“Everyone is a birdwatcher, but there are two kinds of birdwatchers: those who know what they are and those who haven’t realized it yet.” So begins The Life of the Skies: Birding at the End of Nature, Jonathan Rosen’s investigation into not only the history of bird watching but into its very underlying spirit. While others have previously produced histories of the activity, anthologies of its artistic creations both written and pictorial, and veritable libraries full of instructional guides, Mr. Rosen, an accomplished novelist and presently the editorial director at Nextbook, has in this present work given the bird watching community a portrait of itself that discloses many of its deeper psychological aspects that have been too often missed by previous authors. Read the rest of this entry »

The decision to review the recently published National Geographic Ultimate Field Guide to Travel Photography (National Geographic Photography Field Guides) in The Well-read Naturalist was not one made lightly. After all, WRN is explicitly dedicated to books pertaining directly to the study of natural history in all its myriad forms. Would a book providing advice and instruction in how to be a better photographer, particularly as understood from the perspective of a traveler, or a photojournalist assigned to document the sights to be seen and experiences to be had in a specific geographic place, be of use or interest to naturalists? However after having read it and discovering that the information, advice, and inspiration it provided began almost immediately to influence my own field photographic work on natural history subjects for the better, I could not but help to record my impressions of the book here for the benefit of all. Read the rest of this entry »

With the recent announcement from Apple regarding the forthcoming iPad product, particularly its applicability as an electronic text (e-book) reading device, a number of questions regarding the possible effects it may have upon the book trade should begin to be contemplated. As many people are touting the iPad as being as revolutionary to the written word as the iPod was to recorded music, the potential for it dramatically to change the way books are published, bought, collected, and read is indeed very high. That said, what follows are a few of the questions I have been pondering since the announcement of the iPad. The posting of them here is intended as an invitation to all who may also be contemplating these as well as their own questions on the subject to engage in a discussion that may help all concerned to develop a more rich and nuanced understanding of the topic. Read the rest of this entry »

In his famous work Parerga und Paralipomena, the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer put forth the dilemma faced by a group of hedgehogs who need to huddle together in order to share one another’s body heat and thus better survive the cold. However despite their best intentions, the closer they get to one another, the more pain each one causes the others due to their respective spiny exteriors. This parable has, since Schopenhauer’s first publication of it, been widely used to explain the dichotomy of human relationships – how it is often the case that the more two people want to be emotionally close to another, despite their best intentions, they cannot but help increasing the amount of pain inflicted upon each other. However in Hugh Warwick’s The Hedgehog’s Dilemma: A Tale of Obsession, Nostalgia, and the World’s Most Charming Mammal, the situation is given a slight twist in that it is not the hedgehog that is wanting to be close to humans, rather it is the humans who are becoming closer to hedgehogs, either willingly or simply as a resulting effect of the human-caused changes on the natural world, and thus inflicting harm upon the hedgehogs – and quite possibly ourselves as well. Read the rest of this entry »

The search for the solution to what Sir John Herschel famously called the “mystery of mysteries” – how new species come to exist – has brought a myriad of remarkable creatures to the attention of science. From Deinonychus to Darwin’s Galapagos finches, every discovery has added another clue to the assembled body of knowledge that may someday yield the solution. Yet after reading Sean B. Carroll’s Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species, the reader is left with another tantalizing question to ponder in addition to Herschel’s mystery; that question being which are really the more remarkable – the creatures that have been discovered in the one-hundred-fifty year old quest for the mystery’s answer or the “creatures” (meant rhetorically and with the greatest possible respect, of course) who made the discoveries. Read the rest of this entry »

Lee Welles, author of the award winning Gaia Girls novels, recently provided her readers with a sneak preview of the long-awaited third volume in the series. Ms. Welles read from the first chapters of the forthcoming book, titled Air Apparent, during the December 31, 2009 “Blue Moon Special” webcast of her Blog Talk Radio program. Judging from the portions of the work Ms. Welles read during the webcast, readers can expect Air Apparent to be just as captivating and enlightening as were the first two Gaia Girls volumes – Enter the Earth and Way of Water. No date for the publication of Air Apparent has yet been announced.

Prior to reading Richard Fortey’s Dry Storeroom No. 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum, I honestly cannot recall audibly exclaiming “Bravo!” upon completing a reading of any book. Such is the effect of Professor Fortey’s prose – it wraps one up in a continuous flow of fascinating scientific insights, superbly wrought historical vignettes, and exceptionally human biographical portraits such that upon completing it the first emotion that one feels is the wish for it not to have come to an end.

With a style that is at once both learned and familiar, Professor Fortey leads the reader not only through the public galleries of the London’s magnificent Natural History Museum but back into the labyrinth of unseen passages, scholars’ chambers, research labs, storerooms, and other hidden places. Along the way, not only are the various areas of research undertaken by museum staff, both past and present, discussed, but a generous amount of legend and lore are also disclosed such as would only be known to someone who has spent an entire professional life as a member of the museum’s scientific staff – and be assured, not all of it is of an entirely scientific nature (wink, wink). Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s face it – natural history enthusiasts can sometimes be a tough lot for whom to buy gifts; especially if you don’t personally share, or even know much about, their particular interests. Alternatively, even if you do share a common interest with the gift-worthy person or people in your life, you might be at a bit of a loss as to just which of the superb collection of recently released titles from which to choose. For that reason, we present The Well-read Naturalist list of holiday gift book picks to help with your gift-giving needs. Some have already been previously reviewed on this site while others are still awaiting a full and complete published review; however even those titles appearing in this list that have not yet received a formal review here have been nevertheless been critically examined and deemed worthy of detailed published comment in the very near future. Read the rest of this entry »

More bad news from the world of professional book reviewing: Publisher’s Weekly is reporting that Nielsen Business Media has announced that it will close the highly influential book review publication Kirkus Reviews as well as Editor & Publisher magazine. In publication since 1933, Kirkus Reviews publishes roughly 5,000 book reviews annually covering a wide variety of genres. Its closing will undoubtedly cause a significant decrease in the availability of professional, well-written book reviews. Editor & Publisher, the “bible of the newspaper industry” has been in print even longer; tracing its origins as far back as 1884.

Natural history podcast enthusiasts will be very pleased to learn that Timber Press, the acclaimed Portland, Oregon based publisher of books on gardening, ornamental and edible horticulture, garden design, sustainability, natural history, and the Pacific Northwest in general, has begun a regularly updated podcast. Inaugurated with a four part interview of Tracy DiSabato-Aust, author of The Well-designed Mixed Garden, the discussion topic has now shifted to a fascinating interview with Douglas Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants, about the importance of cultivating  truly healthy landscapes at all levels of the biome through the use of native plants and developing a more holistic understanding of the role insects play in the ecological health of an area. Read the rest of this entry »