New Titles

 

1) Best, Troy L. and John L. Hunt. Mammals of the Southwestern United States: Biology of Native and Some Extirpated, Extinct, and Introduced Species. 2025. Lynx Nature Books. Hardbound: 622 pages. Price: $76.67 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Mammals of the Southwestern United States is the definitive reference to the mammals of Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. Written by Troy L. Best and John L. Hunt, this comprehensive work compiles decades of research into the biology, taxonomy, and conservation of the region’s mammalian fauna. Inside you’ll find: · Detailed accounts of 246 species, including extant, extirpated, extinct, and introduced mammals. · More than 500 photographs and illustrations, along with maps of current and historical ranges. · Insights into habitats, reproduction, diets, behaviors, and conservation status. · Summaries of threats to mammals, from habitat loss and fragmentation to invasive species and climate change. · Appendices, glossary, and a complete reference list for deeper study. With its combination of scientific depth and accessible style, this volume is essential for students, educators, naturalists, wildlife managers, and professional mammalogists―as well as anyone interested in the remarkable diversity of mammals in the Southwest.

RECOMMENDATION: This book is a MUST-HAVE for those with an interest in the region's mammals!

 

2) Jørgensen, Dolly. Ghosts Behind Glass: Encountering Extinction in Museums. 2025. University of Chicago Press. Paperback: 264 pages. Price: $20.00 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: While it’s no longer possible to encounter a dodo in the wild, we can still come face-to-face with them in museums. The remains of extinct species—whether taxidermied, skeletal, drawn, or sculpted—stare back at us from display cases.
 
     In this moving meditation on what’s lost and what endures, environmental historian Dolly Jørgensen visits natural history collections worldwide—from Shanghai to Philadelphia, from Edinburgh to Hobart, Australia—to understand the many ways that museums tell stories about extinction. She encounters extinct animals that are framed as cultural artifacts and as rare valuables, that are memorialized with lists, and that are brought to life through augmented reality. She draws our attention to creatures with prominent afterlives—passenger pigeons, giant moas, thylacines—as well as those that are less likely to be discussed or displayed. Throughout, Jørgensen examines the relationship between museums and the natural world, so readers can look more closely at exhibits about extinction, studying the displays for what is there, as well as what is missing. During a period of rapid species loss driven by humanity’s environmental impact, Ghosts Behind Glass asks what we can learn about our world from the presence of the extinct.

RECOMMENDATION: A readable overview of the subject. 

 

 

3) Lomax, Dean R.. The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs: Unearthing the Real Behaviors of Prehistoric Animals. 2025. Columbia University Press. Hardbound: 340 pages. Price: $38.95 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Buried within a lost world, astonishing evidence reveals the behavior of extinct animals, giving us a glimpse at both everyday and epic events. If we look at these discoveries carefully, the untold stories of these magnificent creatures come into view, breathing new life into the prehistoric past.

     The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs tells the remarkable tales of ancient animals through some of the most distinctive and unusual fossils ever found, offering an intimate, behind-the-scenes look into the story of life in deep time. Venturing hundreds of millions of years into the past, Dean R. Lomax takes us on a journey through the grand cycle of life, infused with anecdotes from his own adventures and sprinkled with a touch of dinosaur humor.

     These fossils tell real-world stories of prehistoric parenting, the quest for survival, and the endless struggle between predator and prey. Unbelievable moments are captured: saber-toothed cats clashing, mega-millipedes mating, dinosaurs swimming. From ammonite eggs to mosasaur mealtimes, and from a pregnant ichthyosaur that chowed down on a bird to the mammal that took down a dinosaur, these behaviors challenge what we thought we knew about the prehistoric world.

     This book looks into the private moments of long-extinct creatures as never before, letting us see them not just as fossils in a museum but as living, breathing animals with personalities and emotions. Vivid illustrations by Bob Nicholls bring these incredible stories to life in full color. 

RECOMMENDATION: A readable and well-illustrated overview of the subject. 

 

 

 

4) Arens, Nan Crystal. The Princeton Field Guide to Mesozoic Plants. 2025. Princeton University Press. Hardbound: 208 pages. Price: $35.00 U.S. 

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: The Mesozoic was dominated by a spectacular array of flora, from ferns, conifers, and cycads to ginkgos and flowering plants, as well as some enigmatic species with no modern-day descendants. This wide-ranging illustrated guide provides an unparalleled, in-depth look at the era’s extraordinary plant life, exploring its natural history, biology, and evolution over a span of 185 million years. Blending the latest discoveries in paleontology with informative profiles of extinct species and their living descendants, The Princeton Field Guide to Mesozoic Plants is a one-of-a-kind reference to the botanical wonders of the prehistoric world.

• Features hundreds of breathtaking illustrations, from life studies and scenic landscapes to detailed sketches of representative species
• Introduces the history of plant paleontology and the dating, geography, and extinction of Mesozoic flora
• Profiles hundreds of Mesozoic species, tracing the evolutionary relationships of fossil plants with living ones
• Discusses photosynthesis, reproduction, growth, climate, plant communication, partnerships with fungi and animals, and conservation
• Reveals how Mesozoic plants evolved in response to predation and changing environmental conditions
• Journeys through the forests of the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods
• A must-have guide for anyone interested in the lost world of the dinosaurs

RECOMMENDATION: This book is a must-have for those with an interest in fossil plants!

 

 

5) Ropa, Anastasija. The Medieval Horse. 2025. Reaktion Books. Hardbound: 215 pages. Price: $25.00 U.S. 

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: This book explores the role of horses across the global medieval world. Covering the early medieval period to the late Middle Ages, Anastasija Ropa examines how horses shaped societies, warfare, and culture as well as how their legacy persists in equestrian sports today.
 
     Drawing on little-known primary sources, artifacts, and the author’s own experience with historical horsemanship, the book offers a vivid account of the deep connection between medieval people and horses. Combining scholarly insight with practical knowledge, this is the most comprehensive study of medieval horses in Europe and Asia to date.

RECOMMENDATION: This book is a must-read for those with an interest in Medieval history and/or horses.

 

 

 

6) Telford, Max. The Tree of Life: Solving Science's Greatest Puzzle. 2025. W. W. Norton & Company. Hardbound: 320 pages.  Price: $29.99 U.S. 

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Are humans really fish? Why are we the only animals with chins? How much of our DNA do we share with the trillions of bacteria in our bodies? For centuries, scientists have chased the secrets of how life on our planet arose, how it assumed its dazzling diversity of forms, and how we humans are related to everything else on earth. With increasingly sophisticated genetic methods now bringing us ever closer to answers, leading evolutionary biologist Max Telford takes us inside one of science’s greatest quests. In the intellectually thrilling The Tree of Life, Telford shows how reconstructing the web of relationships between all our planet’s species, from birds and butterflies to mushrooms and moose, allows us to unravel the epic history of life on our planet.

     In Telford’s hands, the many-branched evolutionary trees that biologists assemble―from Charles Darwin’s first sketches to the vast computer-generated diagrams scientists are building today―become time machines that take us on a vivid journey through four billion years of life’s history. We meet long-lost ancestors, picturing them in the environment of a much younger earth, and discover where we first acquired our backbones and nipples and, conversely, where we lost our tails. We learn how insects are “actually” crustaceans, and how dogs and wolves are more closely related to whales than to the recently extinct Tasmanian wolves they so resemble. Far from a dry representation of the dead, the tree of life is a living, shifting thing that constantly alters our perspective on the past, present, and future of life on earth.

     For any reader fascinated by evolution and natural history, The Tree of Life is an essential portal to the distant past and a window onto our collective origins.

RECOMMENDATION: A readable overview of the history of life on Earth. 

 

 

New Titles

 

1) Rennie, Frank. The Merlin: The Ecology of a Magical Raptor. 2025. Pelagic Publishing. Paperback: 240 pages. Price: $42.00 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: The Merlin (Falco columbarius) is Europe’s smallest falcon, and its breeding presence is often regarded as a key indicator of a healthy natural environment. A highly adaptable species, it displays a variety of intriguing and contrasting behaviours across its extensive Northern Hemisphere range.

     Frank Rennie has spent many years observing and researching the characteristics of this important raptor. His landmark volume brings together for the first time many important sources of information from Europe, Asia and North America to better explain the complex and adaptive nature of the Merlin, which make it such a fascinating bird to observe.

     The book provides in-depth coverage of the complex origins and behaviours of the Merlin, from its obscure fossil ancestors through to the contemporary challenges it faces from habitat destruction, environmental pollution and climate change. Close investigation of its hunting methods, habitat selection and breeding activities reveals some surprising regional differences that offer a new understanding of this critically important, elusive and quietly majestic indicator species.

RECOMMENDATION: This book is a must-have for those with a serious interest in the Merlin! 

 

 

 

2) Brooke, Michael. No Island Too Far: Searching for Seabirds on Remote Specks of Land. 2025. Pelagic Publishing. Hardbound: 280 pages. Price: $42.00 U.S. 

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Throughout a lifetime of biological and seabird research, Michael Brooke has been blessed with the opportunity to visit a huge array of islands dotted across all the oceans of world. His is an island list fit to make the armchair traveler green with envy – and potentially seasick. Truly no island has been too far: from St Kilda to Spitsbergen, from Hawaii to the furthest reaches of the Southern Ocean, with all manner of destination in between.

     In this deeply knowledgeable and at times humorous book, the author shares the experience of stupendous scenery, amazing wildlife and cutting-edge scientific investigation, all blended with idiosyncratic adventures. We discover a great deal about the peculiar ecology and unique species of islands, looking at everything from plants, mammals, reptiles and birds to human aspects, with a splash of history and anecdote.

     The engaging journey will appeal to anyone who wants to learn about islands that they will probably never visit in person. The reader will share the day-to-day grind and exhilaration of undertaking fieldwork in remote situations, reflecting on the curiosity of a mindset that enables equal pleasure to be extracted from, say, Sicilian architecture and the inexpressibly brown landscape of Cape Verde.

RECOMMENDATION: This book is a must-read for Seabirders and/or world travelers.

 

 

 

3) Strassmann, Joan. The Social Lives of Birds: Flocks, Communes, and Families. 2025. Tarcher. Hardbound: 291 pages. Price: $31.00 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: In The Social Lives of Birds, evolutionary biologist and author of Slow Birding Joan Strassmann examines what it means for birds of a feather to flock together. Some birds sleep together. Some join the foraging groups of other species. Some are only social during breeding season, forming nesting colonies in trees, cliffs, and sandbanks. Some are altruistic, helping to rear young that are not their own. Some males perform mating dances together.

     Strassmann explains how flocks provide safety in numbers, roosts offer warmth and shelter, and colonies allow for protected breeding. But group behavior is not without its costs—including increased competition, tick infestations, and more. Strassmann exposes the conflicts birds face and the many ways in which they resolve these conflicts.

     With stories of birds from around the world—from broad-winged hawks that migrate south together in the fall, tree swallows that roost together in the thousands, and guira cuckoos that nest in communes—The Social Lives of Birds explores the different kinds of bird groups and what to look for when watching them. Above all, it reveals this fact: solitary life, it seems, is not for the birds.

RECOMMENDATION: If you liked the author's other works, you should like this one!

 

 

 

4) Nicholls, Will, Paul Sterry, and Andy Swash (editors). Bird Photographer of the Year: Collection 10. 2025. Princeton University Press. Hardbound: 256 pages. Price: $39.95 U.S. 

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Celebrating the artistry of bird photography from around the globe, the Bird Photographer of the Year is the leading international bird photography competition, and this gorgeous, large-format book showcases the best images from the contest—some of the most spectacular bird photographs ever taken. A remarkable record of avian beauty and diversity across the globe, the book demonstrates the astonishing skill of bird photographers and the incredible quality of today’s digital imaging systems. Previous volumes of this annual series of books have garnered rave reviews. Writing about Collection 9, The Washington Post said, “This stunning collection of images . . . presents the avian world in all its soaring grandeur, stunning color and, yes, accidental comedy.”

     The Collection 10 volume features more than 250 of the best photographs selected from a record 33,000-plus entries submitted for the tenth anniversary of the competition, including all the winning and short-listed pictures. Taken by experienced professionals and enthusiastic amateurs, these richly various photos are organized by contest category, including Birds in the Environment, Bird Behavior, Birds in Flight, Urban Birds, Conservation, and the Young Bird Photographer of the Year. A portion of the Bird Photographer of the Year’s profits goes to Birds on the Brink, a charity that supports bird conservation around the world.

     Filled with unforgettable images of a kind that simply weren’t possible before digital photography, this book will delight anyone who loves birds or great photography.

• Large (11 x 9 inches / 28 x 23 cm), beautifully designed, and lavishly produced hardcover volume
• Features more than 250 stunning photographs
• Provides details about how each image was captured—including camera, lens, and shutter speed

RECOMMENDATION: This book is a must-have for anyone with an interest in bird photography.

 

 

 

 

5) Morris Bishop, Ellen. Living with Thunder: Exploring the Geologic Past, Present, and Future of the Pacific Northwest (Second Edition). 2025. Oregon State University Press. Paperback: 301 pages. Price: $34.95 U.S. 

 

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Updated throughout, this second edition of Living with Thunder provides readers with a robust introduction to the geological history of the Pacific Northwest—a landscape born of thunderous volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and island-continent collisions. By combining engaging science writing with stunning color photographs, Ellen Morris Bishop presents an up-to-date geologic survey of Washington, Oregon, Northern California, and western Idaho. Whether examining new findings about the Yellowstone hotspot's rampage across Oregon, an updated history of Cascadia earthquakes, Mount Hood's 1793-1795 eruptions, the arrival of Indigenous peoples at least 18,000 years ago, or how Pacific Northwest eruptions and tectonics influenced past climate changes, Bishop’s gift as a scientist and storyteller engages general readers, geological nonspecialists, and students of the Earth sciences, alike.

     Highlighting the Northwest’s exceptional record of past climate changes and the implications for our future, the book outlines new understandings about the climatic consequences of major geologic events and their dramatic influences on ecosystems and ancient life. It also examines the confluence of scientific findings with Native American experience, stories, and traditional knowledge of earthquakes, eruptions, and more. With new illustrations, enhanced maps, the latest geologic timescale, and an extensive list of updated references and recommended readings, Living with Thunder offers a key to understanding the Northwest’s unique, long-term geologic heritage by giving voice to the rocks and their histories.

RECOMMENDATION: This book is a must-read for anyone with an interest in the geology of the region!  

 

 

 

 

6) Mayor, Adrienne. Mythopedia: A Brief Compendium of Natural History Lore. 2025. Princeton University Press. Hardbound: 188 pages. Price: $17.95 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Mythopedia is a fun, fact-filled A-Z treasury of myths inspired by natural events. Bringing together fifty legends from antiquity to the present, this delightfully entertaining book takes you around the world to explore sunken kingdoms and lost cities, accursed mountains and treacherous terrains, and lethal lakes and singing sand dunes, explaining the historical background and latest science underlying each tale.

     As soon as humans invented language, they told stories to explain mysterious things they observed around them—on land, in the seas, and in the skies. Even though these tales are expressed in poetic or supernatural language, they contain surprisingly accurate insights and even eyewitness descriptions of catastrophic events millennia ago. Drawing on her unique insights as a pioneer in the exciting new field of geomythology, Adrienne Mayor describes how cultural memories of tsunamis, volcanic disasters, and other massive geological events can reach back thousands of years as the stories were preserved, elaborated, told, and retold across generations. She shows how geomythology is expanding our understanding of our planet’s history over eons, revealing the human desire to explain nature and weave imaginative stories intertwined with keen observation, rational speculation, and memory.

     With captivating drawings by Michele Angel, Mythopedia is a compendium of many marvels, from the Hindu monkey god Hanuman and his army of bridge-building primates to the terrifying sand demon Shensha shen of China, the gnawing glaciers of Austria, and the vengeful fish-headed snake god Nyami Nyami of Africa’s Zambezi River.

• Features a cloth cover with an elaborate foil-stamped design

RECOMMENDATION: If you enjoyed the author's other works, you should enjoy this one!

 

 

 

X) 

New Titles

 

 

 

1) Lambert, Frank. Pittas, Broadbills and Asities: Second Edition. 2025. Helm. Hardbound: 480 pages. Price: $85.00 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Inhabiting tropical and subtropical forests of the Old World, pittas, broadbills and asities include some of the most beautiful, elusive and sought-after birds on the planet. Pittas are medium-sized, insectivorous terrestrial birds that are rather thrushlike in their behaviour. Most are brilliantly coloured, generally solitary, and have a well-deserved reputation for secretive, skulking habits, adding to the challenge of seeing them in their often dark environment. The 52 species of pitta largely occur from Asia through Wallacea to New Guinea and Australia, with two (perhaps three) species in Africa.

     Broadbills are very different to pittas, being typically chunky birds with large heads, broad flattened beaks and short legs. The majority are colourful and sociable, but none are terrestrial. Three are highly frugivorous, but the others are largely insectivorous. They form a diverse group of 18 species in nine genera, of which four species are confined to Africa, with the rest in Asia.

     The four species of asities form an endemic Madagascan family. Two species are similar to broadbills, but the other two resemble sunbirds, even in their feeding habits. Breeding males have facial wattles (as do two broadbill species).

     The first monograph of these three groups was published in 1996; this book, by the same author, is its follow-up. Completely revised and updated, it draws together a wealth of material from the literature and from online and unpublished sources to provide the ultimate reference to these fascinating birds, from taxonomy and identification to habitat requirements, biology and ecology, accompanied by a stunning photographic selection, and the art of Martin Woodcock.

RECOMMENDATION: The page count has increased from 271 to 480. This book is a MUST-HAVE for anyone with an interest in these birds!

 

 

 

2) Floyd, Ted. National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of the United States and Canada, 8th edition. 2025. National Geographic. Flexibound: 591 pages. Price: $32.99 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: This new edition of the trusted National Geographic field guide combines fresh new text, updated taxonomy, expanded art including 240 new illustrations, and authoritative, data-derived maps, organized in the user-friendly format for which our field guides are known.

     For the first time including the birds of Hawaii as well as Alaska, Canada, and the continental United States—a total of 1,150 bird species—all these revisions make this new edition the most authoritative birding book on the market, whether you have treasured our previous editions for decades or you are selecting a bird field guide for the first time ever.

     Written by Ted Floyd, editor of the American Birding Association's Birding magazine, this new edition features larger pages and flexible yet durable paperback binding, with thumb tabs and a visual index inside the covers for quick reference.

Its easy-to-read layout includes:

• convenient page layout, with maps and text on the left and matching art on the right
• up-to-date taxonomic organization [through 2023 in main text with appendix D listing 2024 changes]   
• new maps developed with eBird data from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• key statistics in bulleted lists
• new text, emphasizing not only bird IDs but also habitats and evolution
• images by the world's top bird illustrators, including important details
• annotations on the images, pointing to field marks critical for identification

     Combining exciting new features with tried-and-true traditions, this new edition of a beloved field guide will satisfy birders young and old, experienced life-listers and backyard birdwatchers alike.

RECOMMENDATION: This book was formerly titled: Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Although the page count remains the same, this edition is physically larger than the seventh. Biggest changes between editions (besides the authors) are the inclusion of Hawaiian birds and the species are listed by genera. The in flight plates have been removed. Plus the font in the main text is pale and hard to see. The biggest weakness for this book is the range maps. They lack the subspecies info (and the separate subspecies maps) from the 7th, the political boundaries and the yellow color are both hard to see (but better than in the East/West guides published in February 2025). They also lack lines showing extralimital occurrences. This book is best for more experienced birders. 

 

 

 

3) Bannick, Paul. Woodpecker: A Year in the Life of North American Woodpeckers. 2025. Braided River. Hardbound: 224 pages. Price: $39.95 U.S.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Woodpeckers are one of the most remarkable bird species found in the avian world. They have evolved in ways that make them ecologically critical to forest health, serving as keystone species in a variety of wooded habitats across North America. Their activities support a variety of other creatures, making them catalysts of diversity in the places they inhabit. They are, in many ways, the heartbeat of the forest.

     Informed by his own experiences in the field as well as extensive research, author and photographer Paul Bannick delves into the natural and cultural history of woodpeckers from the boreal forest of northern Canada to oak woodlands and conifer forests in the United States to the wet tropical forests of Mexico and the Caribbean. He captures the woodpeckers’ charismatic behavior as well as their colorful displays and sensitive habitats in astonishing images. And with accessible, science-based text, Bannick explores their courtship and nest selection process in spring; life in the nest during summer; fledging and gaining independence in autumn; and the challenges of winter survival. He compares and contrasts typical behavior and anomalies among the 41 woodpecker species in North America, and shares their conservation outlook for the future. Robust captions, interesting sidebars, and a comprehensive field guide round out this extraordinary volume.

RECOMMENDATION: This book also includes species from Mexico and the Caribbean. It's a must-have for those who enjoyed the author's other works! A 2026 "The Owl and the Woodpecker" wall calendar is also available.  

 

 

 

4) Poe, Steven. A Guide to the Anolis Lizards (Anoles) of Mainland Central and South America. 2025. Princeton University Press. Flexibound: 422 pages. Price: $39.95 U.S. 

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Anoles are highly visible and aesthetically pleasing lizards that are abundant throughout Central and South America. The subjects of countless evolutionary and ecological studies that have advanced our understanding of basic principles in biology, these colorful reptiles are notoriously difficult to identify, and species names are often confusing and inconsistent. A Guide to the Anolis Lizards (Anoles) of Mainland Central and South America is the first book to enable the identification of all known species of anole in the region while establishing baseline knowledge for further research. Drawing on the latest findings, this comprehensive field companion and taxonomic reference is the ultimate guide to these extraordinary lizards.

• Provides the first stable taxonomy of mainland anoles while aiding field identification of these marvelous neotropical reptiles
• Features hundreds of stunning photos depicting most species, including several species never before photographed
• Describes the key identification features and natural history of over 200 species of mainland anoles
• Facilitates scientific research on evolution, ecology, and species discovery
• An ideal travel companion for ecotourists and other visitors to Central and South America
• Accompanied by an online identification key

RECOMMENDATION: This book is a must-have for those with a serious interest in these lizards! 

 

 

 

5) Bessette, Alan et al.. Puffballs, Earthstars, Stinkhorns, and Other Gasteroid Fungi of Eastern North America. 2025. University of Texas Press. Hardbound: 188 pages. Price: $55.00 U.S. 

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY: Gasteroid fungi are one of the most diverse groups of mushrooms. Unlike the majority of mushrooms that produce spores externally, these unusual fungi produce spores within their fruitbodies. Puffballs, Earthstars, Stinkhorns, and Other Gasteroid Fungi of Eastern North America is the first color-illustrated reference guide for this unique group of fungi in North America.

     Providing information for the identification of more than one hundred species, it includes keys based on macroscopic features, detailed species descriptions with both common and scientific names, accurate and beautiful color images, and key identification features. Additionally, the book contains a plethora of useful information about the biology of gasteroid fungi, current taxonomy, mechanisms of spore dispersal, as well as fun facts. A much-needed volume from well-known mycologists Alan and Arleen Bessette, William Roody, and Dianna Smith, this comprehensive book is a must-have for all fungi enthusiasts, from mushroom hunting hobbyists to professional mycologists.

RECOMMENDATION: This book is a must-have for those with a serious interest in these fungi!