Dr. Avery took a bit of a well deserved break over the holiday season, but now with turn of the year having passed, he’s back at his books and has brought us his thoughts about a book that I was not previously aware: Susanne Masters’ “Wild Waters; A Wildlife and Water Lover’s Companion to the Aquatic World.”
I slowly arose from my feasting-induced state of inertia this weekend, still a bit fuzzy-headed from a lingering high blood-to-gravy ratio, and called up Mark Avery’s blog on my laptop to see what book he had selected for his Sunday Book Review this week. Much to my surprise, and very much in keeping with the spirit of the just concluded U.S. holiday from which I was still recovering, his list of book recommendations was overflowing, not only with his own choices, but with those brought by his guest contributor Stephen Moss as well.
With new book on an ornithological subject now announced for publication very soon in the UK, and its US publication scheduled for early next year, I would have wagered a moderate sum of money that I’d soon see a review of it in our friend Dr. Avery’s blog for his Sunday Book Review. And it’s a wager I would have won, as this present Sunday saw the publication of just such a review.
Back in July of 2020 (and I hope you’ll forgive my for mentioning that annus horribilis) Mark Avery reviewed Roy Dennis’ then recently published collection of nature essays titled “Cottongrass Summer;” a review in which Mark placed it beside Aldo Leopold’s classic book “A Sand County Almanac” in regard to his perception of both its “quality and worth.”