1) Alderfer, Jonathan and Jon Dunn. National Geographic Complete Birds of North America, 3rd Edition. 2021. National Geographic. Hardbound: 752 pages. Price: $45.00 U.S.
PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: This desk reference is the most up-to-date and comprehensive source of knowledge on North American bird identification, distribution, behavior, habitat, and conservation concerns available today.
More an encyclopedia than a field guide, National Geographic's Complete Birds is a browsable treasure trove of facts. This comprehensive volume profiles every bird observable in the continental United States and Canada, featuring species accounts with details that include calls and songs, breeding behaviors, molting patterns, and the vast extent of their polar and neotropical migrations. The precision maps, illuminating photographs, and more than 4,000 exquisite pieces of annotated art make this the biggest and best bird book ever.
- Information on more than 1,000 species and subspecies
- Overviews of every family
- Organization reflecting current taxonomy
- 850 range maps, more than half updated since the last edition
- Sidebars on identification challenges such as distinguishing between Bay-breasted and Blackpoll Warblers in fall or separating the various species of white egrets
RECOMMENDATION: The taxonomy in this book is through July 2018. This title is basically an expanded version of the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America (7th edition).
2) Gibson, Sarah. Swifts and Us: The Life of the Bird that Sleeps in the Sky. 2021. William Collins. Hardbound: 328 pages. Price: $29.99 U.S.
PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Swifts live almost entirely in the air. They eat, drink, sleep, mate and gather their nesting materials on the wing, fly thousands of miles across the world, navigating their way around storms, never lighting on tree, cliff or ground, until they return home with the summer.
Sarah
Gibson has written a fascinating story of discovery, exploring what is
known about these mysterious birds, their ancient ancestry and how they
have been regarded through history. But the swifts are in real danger:
often unintentionally, we are sealing our homes against wildlife of any
kind. Cracks, gaps and crevices which for thousands of years have
offered nesting space in buildings, are being closed off, while new
housing rarely offers entry holes for nesting birds. Loss of breeding
places is considered to be a significant factor in the steep decline of
these birds over the last twenty years.
Thankfully, there are
people in the UK and across Europe striving to ensure a future for
swifts. Their actions and stories are woven into the narrative,
demonstrating how change is brought about by passionate, determined
individuals, whose actions show that everyone can do something to keep
these superb birds screaming through our skies.
RECOMMENDATION: I see this book as the modern day version of David Lack's Swifts in a Tower, so it's a must read for anyone with an interest in the Common Swift!
3) Birding in an Age of Extinctions. 2021. Whittles Publishing. Paperback: 171 pages. Price: $24.95 U.S.
PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: This is a book about what it's like being a birder in an age of natural decline. It is part autobiographical - tales of spell-binding birding encounters that left indelible memories - and it is part reflective. The travellers' tales of birding adventures are about places and events that were variously entertaining, amusing, captivating, inspiring, exciting and awesome, literally. They also feature the amazing, eccentric, dedicated, inspiring people in the birding community. There is birding in the Himalayas, in the Australian outback, on the Southern Oceans and in hotel gardens and city parks and there are tales of the 'big-listers', 'big-lensers', professional guides, and local conservation workers who try to keep their habitats safe for us.
Martin's experiences in becoming a birder late in life revealed some strange behaviour which he soon learnt to take for granted as a member of the birding community. Why tear off chasing the next tick when we were having such a good time in the forest we were already exploring? Why was seeing a rare parrot in a cage less significant than seeing a 'wild' one that was being hand-fed in a nature reserve?
There are chapters about all of these puzzles and oddities, and more - their origins and, in some cases, how they shape our behaviour in somewhat perverse ways. All these tales and reflections are shaped by birding during an extinction crisis and the growing biodiversity crisis. As he observed trashed habitats and vanishing bird populations during his travels, Martin's growing dismay and alarm about these issues coloured everything. There is the paradox of 'extinction birding' - it is not difficult today to see some vanishingly rare birds because they are hanging on in reserved, fenced spaces, kept alive by artifices such as captive breeding. Because our visits to these places provide funds, we are among these species' last hopes for survival. Is this the best we can do? Faced with the growing crisis, we can all do better.
4) The Bird: The Great Age of Avian Illustration. 2021. Laurence King Publishing. Hardbound: 352 pages. Price: $60.00 U.S.
PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: The Bird explores the fascinating world of eighteenth- and
nineteenth-century ornithological illustration. This was a period of
scientific, artistic and geographic discovery, when people began to
fully appreciate the immense variety of form and colour within the
natural world. This book celebrates this beauty through the lavish
illustrations produced at that time.
Each chapter focuses on a
category of birds, from shorebirds to birds of prey. Feature sections on
key ornithological artists such as John James Audubon, Elizabeth Gould
and Edward Lear demonstrated how technology, travel and ambition shaped
these amazing images, and how their work transformed our understanding
of the wonderful world of birds.
RECOMMENDATION: A must have for anyone with an interest in bird art!
5) The World Encyclopedia of Fossils & Fossil-Collecting. 2020. Southwater. Paperback: 256 pages. Price: $13.99 U.S.
PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: How to find, classify and date fossils, and assess their geological context, together with an illustrated directory of more than 375 fossil examples.
RECOMMENDATION: A well illustrated introductory guide to fossils and fossil hunting.
6) Tropical Arctic: Lost Plants, Future Climates, and the Discovery of Ancient Greenland. 2021. University of Chicago Press. Hardbound: 138 pages. Price: $30.00 U.S.
PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: An illustrated visit to the tropical arctic of 205 million years ago when Greenland was green.
While today’s Greenland is largely covered in ice, in the time of the dinosaurs the area was a lushly forested, tropical zone. Tropical Arctic tracks a ten-million-year window of Earth’s history when global temperatures soared and the vegetation of the world responded.
A project over eighteen years in the making, Tropical Arctic
is the result of a unique collaboration between two paleobotanists,
Jennifer C. McElwain and Ian J. Glasspool, and award-winning scientific
illustrator Marlene Hill Donnelly. They began with a simple question:
“What was the color of a fossilized leaf?” Tropical Arctic
answers that question and more, allowing readers to experience Triassic
Greenland through three reconstructed landscapes and an expertly
researched catalog of extinct plants. A stunning compilation of paint
and pencil art, photos, maps, and engineered fossil models, Tropical Arctic
blends art and science to bring a lost world to life. Readers will also
enjoy a front-row seat to the scientific adventures of life in the
field, with engaging anecdotes about analyzing fossils and learning to
ward off polar bear attacks.
Tropical Arctic explains our
planet’s story of environmental upheaval, mass extinction, and
resilience. By looking at Earth’s past, we see a glimpse of the future
of our warming planet—and learn an important lesson for our time of
climate change.
RECOMMENDATION: A must have for anyone with an interest in paleobotany and/or prehistoric Greenland!
7) Wilkinson, David M.. Ecology and Natural History (Collins New Naturalist Library). 2021. William Collins. Paperback: 368 pages. Price: $50.00 U.S.
PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Ecology is the science of ecosystems, of habitats, of our world and its future. In the latest New Naturalist, ecologist David M. Wilkinson explains key ideas of this crucial branch of science, using Britain’s ecosystems to illustrate each point.
8) Shipman, Pat. Our Oldest Companions: The Story of the First Dogs. 2021. Belknap/Harvard. Hardbound: 247 pages. Price: $25.95 U.S.
PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: How did the dog become man’s best friend? A celebrated
anthropologist unearths the mysterious origins of the unique partnership
that rewrote the history of both species.
Dogs and humans
have been inseparable for more than 40,000 years. The relationship has
proved to be a pivotal development in our evolutionary history. The same
is also true for our canine friends; our connection with them has had
much to do with their essential nature and survival. How and why did
humans and dogs find their futures together, and how have these close
companions (literally) shaped each other? Award-winning anthropologist
Pat Shipman finds answers in prehistory and the present day.
In Our Oldest Companions,
Shipman untangles the genetic and archaeological evidence of the first
dogs. She follows the trail of the wolf-dog, neither prehistoric wolf
nor modern dog, whose bones offer tantalizing clues about the earliest
stages of domestication. She considers the enigma of the dingo, not
quite domesticated yet not entirely wild, who has lived intimately with
humans for thousands of years while actively resisting control or
training. Shipman tells how scientists are shedding new light on the
origins of the unique relationship between our two species, revealing
how deep bonds formed between humans and canines as our guardians,
playmates, shepherds, and hunters.
Along the journey together,
dogs have changed physically, behaviorally, and emotionally, as humans
too have been transformed. Dogs’ labor dramatically expanded the range
of human capability, altering our diets and habitats and contributing to
our very survival. Shipman proves that we cannot understand our own
history as a species without recognizing the central role that dogs have
played in it.
RECOMMENDATION: If you enjoyed the author's The Invaders, you will want to read this book!
9) Markel, Howard. The Secret of Life: Rosalind Franklin, James Watson, Francis Crick, and the Discovery of DNA's Double Helix. 2021. W. W. Norton & Company. Hardbound: 564 pages. Price: $30.00 U.S.
PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: An authoritative history of the race to unravel DNA’s structure, by one of our most prominent medical historians.
James Watson and Francis Crick’s 1953 discovery of the double helix structure of DNA is the foundation of virtually every advance in our modern understanding of genetics and molecular biology. But how did Watson and Crick do it―and why were they the ones who succeeded?
In truth, the discovery of DNA’s structure is the story of five towering minds in pursuit of the advancement of science, and for almost all of them, the prospect of fame and immortality: Watson, Crick, Rosalind Franklin, Maurice Wilkins, and Linus Pauling. Each was fascinating and brilliant, with strong personalities that often clashed. Howard Markel skillfully re-creates the intense intellectual journey, and fraught personal relationships, that ultimately led to a spectacular breakthrough. But it is Rosalind Franklin―fiercely determined, relentless, and an outsider at Cambridge and the University of London in the 1950s, as the lone Jewish woman among young male scientists―who becomes a focal point for Markel.
The Secret of Life is a story of genius and perseverance, but also a saga of cronyism, misogyny, anti-Semitism, and misconduct. Drawing on voluminous archival research, including interviews with James Watson and with Franklin’s sister, Jenifer Glynn, Markel provides a fascinating look at how science is done, how reputations are undone, and how history is written, and revised.
A vibrant evocation of Cambridge in the 1950s, Markel also provides colorful depictions of Watson and Crick―their competitiveness, idiosyncrasies, and youthful immaturity―and compelling portraits of Wilkins, Pauling, and most cogently, Rosalind Franklin. The Secret of Life is a lively and sweeping narrative of this landmark discovery, one that finally gives the woman at the center of this drama her due.
RECOMMENDATION: A must read for anyone with an interest in the history of science!
10) Jandam, Kasem. Birds' Nests: Business and Ethnicity in Southeast Asia: An Anthropological Study of Business. 2021. Silkworm Books. Paperback: 396 pages. Price: $45.00 U.S.
PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Southeast Asia is renowned for birds' nests and the bird's nest trade. A bird's nest is often referred to as "White Gold" or "the Caviar of the East." In Birds' Nests: Business and Ethnicity in Southeast Asia, Kasem Jandam explores the history of using birds' nests and outlines key aspects of the business: consumption and its impact on ecology and the environment, market innovations, and the legal system related to public, private, community, and nonexclusive economic nesting resources. This book also discusses the trade and relationships among ethnic groups and the influence of Hong Kong's bird's nest market on the bird's nest business in Thailand and Southeast Asia.
RECOMMENDATION: Everything you always wanted to know about the edible swiftlet nest business but were afraid to ask!
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