New Title

                                                                             
1) de Boer, Bart, Eric Newton, and Robin Restall. Birds of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire. 2012. Princeton University Press. Paperback: 176 pages. Price: $27.95 U.S.

SUMMARY: Located in the southern Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela, the islands of Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire are home to a colorful diversity of bird species. Birds of Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire is the first comprehensive field guide to the birds of the region and the ideal companion for identifying the islands' remarkable avian population. This compact and portable book contains close to 1,000 superb color illustrations on 71 color plates and detailed descriptions of every species. Concise text on facing pages highlights key identification features, including voice, habitat, behavior, and status. This field guide is essential for all birdwatchers and wildlife enthusiasts interested in this part of the world.
     This book features:

*First-ever comprehensive field guide to the birds of the Netherlands Antilles
*Complete coverage of the islands' bird species, including residents, migrants, and vagrants
*Close to 1,000 illustrations on 71 color plates depicting every species and all major plumages and races
*Concise text on facing pages highlights key identification features, including voice, habitat, behavior, and status.
                                                                                 
RECOMMENDATION: A must have for those birding the region.

                                                                            

                           This title is available through Buteo Books here.   

The Weekly Birdbooker Report

                                      Photo copyright: Joe Fuhrman
                                 
My WEEKLY Birdbooker Report can be found here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/grrlscientist/2012/feb/26/1

New Title

                                                                              
1) Goodwin, Jason. An Evil Eye: An Investigator Yashim Mystery. 2012. Picador. Paperback: 328 pages. Price: $15.00 U.S.

SUMMARY: It’s Istanbul in 1839, and as the new sultan installs his harem in the palace, the intrepid investigator Yashim is set adrift on the swirling currents of loyalty and betrayal. The dramatic treachery of Fevzi Ahmet, the admiral of the fleet, brings Yashim up against the one man he has ever hated…the only man he has ever feared.
     Drawn ever deeper into the closed and mysterious world of the Sultan’s harem, Yashim must search for a secret that could save a life or destroy an empire. An Evil Eye is a heart-pounding mystery of exotic Istanbul and a riveting journey into a veiled realm.
RECOMMENDATION: This is the fourth book in the Investigator Yashim series. If you have an interest in fictional historical mysteries, you might enjoy this book.

New Titles

                                                                              
1) Manakadan, Ranjit et al.. Birds of the Indian Subcontinent: A Field Guide. 2011. BNHS/Oxford. Hardbound: 409 pages. Price: $34.99 U.S.

SUMMARY: This book is a revised edition of a pictorial guide to the birds of the Indian subcontinent first published in 1983. The book deals with the birds of the Indian Subcontinent--India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, including the islands of Andaman and Nicobars, Lakshadweep, and Maldives and not includes Afghanistan and the Chagos Archipelago. The main part of the book is taken up by bird topography and complemented by 112 plates containing illustrations of 1251 species to describe how their family/species perceived in the society. Additional notes of over 100 definite species are also provided to add special flavour to the reader. The Guide contains species descriptions to aid field identification, as there are quite a few bird species where a pictorial representation is not sufficient, especially to identify similar looking birds. The brief descriptions of the species have been added to enable quick identification, except for species where more detailing is required.
     The detailed indices--of group and stand-alone names, common names, and scientific names of the birds of the Indian Subcontinent--would be of immense help to the serious scholars and researcher of birds of the Indian Subcontinent. This book features:

*Revised edition of a pictorial guide to the birds
*Brief descriptions on similar looking birds
*112 plates containing illustrations of 1251 species

RECOMMENDATION: This book lacks range maps and the artwork by John Henry Dick looks out-of-date. I prefer Birds of the Indian Subcontinent by Grimmett and the Inskipps.

                                                                              
2) Moran, Jeffrey P.. American Genesis: The Evolution Controversies from Scopes to Creation Science. 2012. Oxford University Press. Hardbound: 196 pages. Price: $29.95 U.S.
SUMMARY:The question of teaching evolution in the public schools is a continuing and frequently heated political issue in America. From Tennessee's Scopes Trial in 1925 to recent battles that have erupted in Louisiana, Kansas, Ohio, and countless other localities, the critics and supporters of evolution have fought nonstop over the role of science and religion in American public life.
     In American Genesis, Jeffrey P. Moran explores the ways in which the evolution debate has reverberated beyond the confines of state legislatures and courthouses. Using extensive research in newspapers, periodicals, and archives, Moran shows that social forces such as gender, regionalism, and race have intersected with the debate over evolution in ways that shed light on modern American culture. He investigates, for instance, how antievolutionism deepened the cultural divisions between North and South--northerners embraced evolution as a sign of sectional enlightenment, while southerners defined themselves as the standard bearers of true Christianity. Evolution debates also exposed a deep gulf between conservative Black Christians and secular intellectuals such as W. E. B. DuBois. Moran also explores the ways in which the struggle has played out in the universities, on the internet, and even within the evangelical community. Throughout, he shows that evolution has served as a weapon, as an enforcer of identity, and as a polarizing force both within and without the churches.
     America has both the most advanced scientific infrastructure as well as the highest rate of church adherence among developed nations, and the issues raised in the evolution controversies touch the heart of our national identity. American Genesis makes an important contribution to our understanding of the impact of this contentious issue, revealing how its tendrils have stretched out to touch virtually every corner of our lives. This book features:

* Goes beyond a depiction of legal and political battles to explore the ideology and identities of both creationists and evolutionary scientists.
* Analyzes the roles that race and gender have played in the antievolution controversies and, conversely, examines the ways in which overlooked groups have made their own use of creationism and evolutionary thought.
* Situates the antievolution impulse within the context of American populism and regionalism.

RECOMMENDATION: For those with an interest in the creationism/evolution debate.

The Weekly Birdbooker Report

                                         Photo copyright: Joe Fuhrman                                     

My WEEKLY Birdbooker Report can be found here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/grrlscientist/2012/feb/19/1

New Title

                                                                              
1) Waldbauer, Gilbert. How Not to Be Eaten: The Insects Fight Back. 2012. University of California Press. Hardbound: 221 pages. Price: $27.95 U.S.

SUMMARY: All animals must eat. But who eats who, and why, or why not? Because insects outnumber and collectively outweigh all other animals combined, they comprise the largest amount of animal food available for potential consumption. How do they avoid being eaten? From masterful disguises to physical and chemical lures and traps, predatory insects have devised ingenious and bizarre methods of finding food. Equally ingenious are the means of hiding, mimicry, escape, and defense waged by prospective prey in order to stay alive. This absorbing book demonstrates that the relationship between the eaten and the eater is a central—perhaps the central—aspect of what goes on in the community of organisms. By explaining the many ways in which insects avoid becoming a meal for a predator, and the ways in which predators evade their defensive strategies, Gilbert Waldbauer conveys an essential understanding of the unrelenting coevolutionary forces at work in the world around us.
RECOMMENDATION: For those with an interest in insect biology and/or evolution.

New Title

                                                                              
1) Burnett, D. Graham. The Sounding of the Whale: Science and Cetaceans in the Twentieth Century. 2012. The University of Chicago Press. Hardbound: 793 pages. Price: $45.00 U.S.

SUMMARY: From the Bible’s “Canst thou raise leviathan with a hook?” to Captain Ahab’s “From Hell’s heart I stab at thee!,” from the trials of Job to the legends of Sinbad, whales have breached in the human imagination as looming figures of terror, power, confusion, and mystery.
     In the twentieth century, however, our understanding of and relationship to these superlatives of creation underwent some astonishing changes, and with The Sounding of the Whale, D. Graham Burnett tells the fascinating story of the transformation of cetaceans from grotesque monsters, useful only as wallowing kegs of fat and fertilizer, to playful friends of humanity, bellwethers of environmental devastation, and, finally, totems of the counterculture in the Age of Aquarius. When Burnett opens his story, ignorance reigns: even Nature was misclassifying whales at the turn of the century, and the only biological study of the species was happening in gruesome Arctic slaughterhouses. But in the aftermath of World War I, an international effort to bring rational regulations to the whaling industry led to an explosion of global research—and regulations that, while well-meaning, were quashed, or widely flouted, by whaling nations, the first shot in a battle that continues to this day. The book closes with a look at the remarkable shift in public attitudes toward whales that began in the 1960s, as environmental concerns and new discoveries about whale behavior combined to make whales an object of sentimental concern and public adulation.
     A sweeping history, grounded in nearly a decade of research, The Sounding of the Whale tells a remarkable story of how science, politics, and simple human wonder intertwined to transform the way we see these behemoths from below.
RECOMMENDATION: A must have for anyone with an interest in the history of whaling.