When something is decreasing in quality, the common expression is that it has “gone to the dogs.” (As a dog enthusiast, I’ve never been particularly fond of this expression, but there it is…) However as the cover of the new second edition of the the Princeton Field Guide series’ Carnivores of the World has “gone from the dogs” of its first edition “to the cats,” can we interpret this as a sign that it has increased in quality?
One of the great treats of attending scholarly events is the presence of university presses and other academic publishers who – on occasion – will have with them a copy of a highly anticipated forthcoming book for examination. Such was the good luck I had recently at Entomology 2017 with the forthcoming second edition of “Garden Insects of North America” by Whitney Cranshaw and David Shetlar.
Now approaching its thirtieth anniversary, Wintergreen is widely considered to be one of Pyle’s best works. So much so that Pharos Editions has recently republished it in a special anniversary edition with a new introduction written by David Guterson and an updated afterword penned by Pyle himself.
In the world of natural history books, few things elicit more excitement than a new edition of a much-respected classic work. Thus when I opened a recently-arrived package from Mountain Press and discovered in it a freshly printed copy of Marli Miller’s Roadside Geology of Oregon, Second Edition I was rendered nearly speechless.