A New Adventure

Now that – as my grandpa was fond of saying – the kitty is out of the burlap, I thought I should take a few paragraphs to explain my new forthcoming adventure. As some of you may have already learned, as of the first of March I will take up the position of product manager for sports optics with Celestron. Needless to say, I am absolutely delighted, as well as deeply honored, to have been offered this opportunity. However as it is a full-time position that will require a substantial amount of travel, the question has already been asked of me “what will become of The Well-read Naturalist.”

I will be very clear about this: publication of The Well-read Naturalist will continue. I still fully intend to continue reviewing natural history books and the occasional bit of field kit that catches my attention, although it should go without saying that optics will no longer be included in this mix. I also intend to continue publishing items of news pertaining to the publication of new books.

Will my publication schedule still be as vigorous as I intended it to be at the first of the year? At this point I rather doubt it. I’ve got a lot of work and travel ahead of me and I just don’t see how I’ll be able to devote the amount of time I formerly did to reading and reviewing what I’ve read. That said, the books I read for The Well-read Naturalist are the same genre of books I would read anyway for relaxation, so I don’t see the reading half of the equation slowing down much. As to the writing half… well, we’ll just have to see how things play out.

To all of you who have been readers of The Well-read Naturalist for years, thank you very much for being such loyal readers; I hope that you’ll continue to turn to it for news and reviews of natural history books. To those who have recently discovered it, welcome! You’re joining in just as things may be a bit irregular right now but stick around – it’ll all work out in the end.