New Titles

 

1) Hume, Rob et al.. Europe's Birds: An Identification Guide. 2021. Princeton University Press. Flexibound: 640 pages. Price: $29.95 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Covering more than 900 species, and illustrated with 4,700 photographs, Europe’s Birds is the most comprehensive, authoritative and ambitious single-volume photographic guide to Europe’s birds ever produced. Easy-to-use, practical and accessible, this guide provides the information necessary for birdwatchers of all abilities to name any bird they see. Detailed descriptions cover the birds in all their plumages―male, female, breeding, non-breeding, adult and immatures, as well as distinctive subspecies. The clear text covers all aspects of identification, including moult and vocalizations, and provides details on range, status and habitat. An unrivalled selection of photographs, chosen to be as informative as possible, makes this a beautiful book to enjoy, as well as an up-to-date and essential source of identification knowledge.

     Europe’s Birds is produced by the same team that created Britain’s Birds, which has been described as “without doubt the best photo guide on the market” (Andy Stoddart, Rare Bird Alert). The authors include top-class wildlife photographers, writers and editors, and an imaginative, highly skilled designer. All are experienced birdwatchers themselves, who know what is needed in an identification guide for birdwatchers living or travelling in Europe.

• Illustrates all 928 species recorded in Europe, including established introductions
• Features 4,700 stunning photographs showing the birds as you really see them
• Focuses on identification, covering all plumages and subspecies
• Provides detailed comparison of similar and difficult species
• Includes details of moult, vocalizations, status and favoured habitats
• Contains 540 maps, prepared in association with BirdLife International

RECOMMENDATION: This is the best photographic guide to the birds of Europe currently available!

 

 

 

2) Campbell, Iain et al.. Habitats of the World: A Field Guide for Birders, Naturalists, and Ecologists. 2021. Princeton University Press. Flexibound: 568 pages. Price: $35.00 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: The first field guide to all of the world’s major land habitats―richly illustrated and packed with essential information to help you get the most out of your outdoor adventures.

     Accurately identifying and understanding habitats in detail is essential to any birder, naturalist, outdoor enthusiast, or ecologist who wants to get the most out of their experiences in the field. Habitats of the World is the first field guide to the world’s major land habitats―189 in all. Using the format of a natural history field guide, this compact, accessible, and comprehensive book features concise identification descriptions and is richly illustrated―including more than 650 color photographs of habitats and their wildlife, 150 distribution maps, 200 diagrams, and 150 silhouettes depicting each habitat alongside a human figure, providing an immediate grasp of its look and scale. Each major habitat has an illustrated “climate box” that allows easy comparisons between habitats. Thirty other illustrated boxes present clear explanations of complex phenomena affecting habitats―from plate tectonics and mountain formation to fire regimes and climate change. Requiring no scientific background, Habitats of the World offers quick and reliable information for anyone who wants a deeper understanding and appreciation of the habitats around them, whether in their own backyard or while travelling anywhere in the world.

• Covers 189 of the world’s major land habitats
• Provides all the information you need to quickly and accurately identify and understand habitats anywhere in the world
• Features concise text, more than 650 color photographs of habitats and their wildlife, an up-to-date distribution map for each habitat, and hundreds of helpful diagrams and illustrations

RECOMMENDATION: A MUST have for all World traveling birders, naturalists, and biologists!

 

3) Futuyma, Douglas. How Birds Evolve: What Science Reveals about Their Origin, Lives, and Diversity. 2021. Princeton University Press. Hardbound: 269 pages. Price: $29.95 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: How Birds Evolve explores how evolution has shaped the distinctive characteristics and behaviors we observe in birds today. Douglas Futuyma describes how evolutionary science illuminates the wonders of birds, ranging over topics such as the meaning and origin of species, the evolutionary history of bird diversity, and the evolution of avian reproductive behaviors, plumage ornaments, and social behaviors.

     In this multifaceted book, Futuyma examines how birds evolved from nonavian dinosaurs and reveals what we can learn from the "family tree" of birds. He looks at the ways natural selection enables different forms of the same species to persist, and discusses how adaptation by natural selection accounts for the diverse life histories of birds and the rich variety of avian parenting styles, mating displays, and cooperative behaviors. He explains why some parts of the planet have so many more species than others, and asks what an evolutionary perspective brings to urgent questions about bird extinction and habitat destruction. Along the way, Futuyma provides an insider's perspective on how biologists practice evolutionary science, from studying the fossil record to comparing DNA sequences among and within species.

      A must-read for bird enthusiasts and curious naturalists, How Birds Evolve shows how evolutionary biology helps us better understand birds and their natural history, and how the study of birds has informed all aspects of evolutionary science since the time of Darwin.

RECOMMENDATION: A readable introduction to the evolution of birds.

 

4) Sax, Boria. Avian Illuminations: A Cultural History of Birds. 2021. Reaktion Books. Hardbound: 415 pages. Price: $35.00 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Avian Illuminations examines the many roles birds have played in human society, from food, messengers, deities, and pets, to omens, muses, timekeepers, custodians, hunting companions, decorative motifs, and, most importantly, embodiments of our aspirations. Boria Sax narrates the history of our relationships with a host of bird species, including crows, owls, parrots, falcons, eagles, nightingales, hummingbirds, and many more. Along the way, Sax describes how birds’ nesting has symbolized human romance, how their flight has inspired inventors throughout history, and he concludes by showing that the interconnections between birds and humans are so manifold that a world without birds would effectively mean an end to human culture itself. Beautifully illustrated, Avian Illuminations is a superb overview of humanity’s long and rich association with our avian companions. 

RECOMMENDATION: A well illustrated introduction to the Human cultural history with birds.  

5) Carson, Rachel. Rachel Carson: The Sea Trilogy: Under the Sea-Wind / The Sea Around Us / The Edge of the Sea. 2021.‎ Library of America. Hardbound: 743 pages. Price: $40.00 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson explores the wonders of the Earth's oceans in these classics of American science and nature writing.

      Rachel Carson is perhaps most famous as the author of Silent Spring, but she was first and foremost a "poet of the sea" and the three books collected in this deluxe Library of America volume are classics of American science and nature writing.

     Under the Sea-Wind (1941), Carson's lyrical debut, offers an intimate account of maritime ecology through the eyes of three of the ocean's denizens, the individual lives of sanderling, mackerel, and eel dramatically intertwined in the enduring ebb and flow of the tides.

     The Sea Around Us (1951)--a winner of the National Book Award--draws on a wealth of oceanographic, meteorological, biological, and historical research to present its subject on a grand, biospheric scale, revealing not only many mysteries of the still-unfathomed depths, but a reverence for the sea as a source of global climate and of life itself.

     Concluding Carson's "sea trilogy," The Edge of the Sea (1955) explores the habits of the many small creatures that live on shorelines and in tidepools accessible to any beachcomber: part identification guide, part hymn to ecological complexity, it is a book that conveys the "sense of wonder" in nature for which Carson is justly celebrated.

     At a moment when overfishing, pollution, and global warming are causing catastrophic changes to marine environments worldwide, Carson's lyrically detailed accounts of these environments offer a timely reminder of their beauty, fragility, and immense consequence for human life. 

RECOMMENDATION: A MUST have for anyone with an interest in Rachel Carson's works!

6) Astro, Richard and Donald Kohrs. A Tidal Odyssey: Ed Ricketts and the Making of Between Pacific Tides. 2021. Oregon State University Press. Paperback: 232 pages. Price: $29.95 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Between Pacific Tides by Edward F. Ricketts and Jack Calvin is arguably the most important book about marine ecology on the Pacific coast of North America. At a time when almost all studies of life in the intertidal zones were taxonomic, Ricketts and Calvin revolutionized the field and helped to lay the groundwork for studies of the impact of environmental change on the natural world. Though Ricketts is perhaps best known as a quirky character in John Steinbeck’s fiction, he was a serious marine biologist who conducted pioneering research.

      In A Tidal Odyssey, literary scholar Richard Astro and archivist Donald Kohrs explore how Between Pacific Tides came to be, covering both the writing process and the long journey to publication. They tell three interwoven stories: the development of ecology as a valuable new approach to the study of marine life in the intertidal zone; a case study of how new and dynamic science is published and reaches a larger audience; and the intellectual development of Ed Ricketts.

      Not only a scientist but also an expert in music, philosophy, history, and literature, Ricketts and his work impacted a broad range of writers and scholars. A number of these intellectual figures appear in A Tidal Odyssey, including Ricketts’s co-author, Jack Calvin, and illustrator, Ritch Lovejoy; mythologist Joseph Campbell; novelist Henry Miller; composer John Cage; and of course John Steinbeck. The authors have drawn extensively from Ricketts’s archive, including previously unpublished letters, memoranda, notebooks, and photographs.

      A Tidal Odyssey is for anyone interested in the world of Ed Ricketts as well as marine biology, intertidal ecology, and how ecological studies underpin our understanding of the impact of environmental change on the well-being of our planet.

RECOMMENDATION: A must have for anyone with an interest in Ricketts's Between Pacific Tides.