1) Best, Troy L. and John L. Hunt. 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. University of Chicago Press. Paperback: 264 pages. Price:
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.. Columbia University Press. Hardbound: 340 pages. Price:
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.
4) , Princeton University Press. Hardbound: 208 pages. Price: $
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. Reaktion Books. Hardbound: 215 pages. Price: $
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. W. W. Norton & Company. Hardbound: 320 pages. Price: $
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.
