Let’s face it – natural history enthusiasts can sometimes be a tough lot for whom to buy gifts; especially if you don’t personally share, or even know much about, their particular interests. Alternatively, even if you do share a common interest with the gift-worthy person or people in your life, you might be at a bit of a loss as to just which of the superb collection of recently released titles from which to choose. For that reason, we present The Well-read Naturalist list of holiday gift book picks to help with your gift-giving needs. Some have already been previously reviewed on this site while others are still awaiting a full and complete published review; however even those titles appearing in this list that have not yet received a formal review here have been nevertheless been critically examined and deemed worthy of detailed published comment in the very near future.
Dry Storeroom No. 1
Quite possibly one of the finest natural histories of natural history museums yet written, Dry Storeroom No. 1 is an essential read for all natural history as well as museum enthusiasts. Explore the main galleries and labyrinthine back-rooms of London’s famed Natural History Museum with Prof. Richard Fortey FRS who, with both exceptional erudition and a superb wit as dry as one of James Bond’s martinis, regales the reader with fascinating explanations of aspects of the natural world often little known by the general public but extensively studied by the scholars of the museum, as well as tidbits of the natural history of those very scholars themselves and the culture in which they work.
Birdscapes: Birds in Our Imagination and Experience
Of all those who have intellectually delved into the myriad ways, from science to symbolism, in which birds have played a role in human society, Jeremy Mynott, former chief executive of Cambridge University Press, is certainly among the most eloquent and expansive of mind. From the passions that drive birders in their never-ending quest to enlarge theirlife lists through the inspiration birds have provided to artists, and into the scientific developments illuminating the lives of birds as well as those in which birds have allowed us to learn something about ourselves, Birdscapes is a veritable smorgasbord of food for thought.
Macro Photography for Gardeners and Nature Lovers
The visual discoveries to be made by getting very, very close to a flower or insect through the use of a magnified lens are satisfying on a level far beyond what might be commonly imagined. In Macro Photography for Gardeners and Nature Lovers, Renowned nature photographer Alan Detrick brings what was once an exotic and difficult-to-learn sub-specialty of photography easily within the reach and practice of even the most beginning of photographers. In addition to being an exceptionally well-written explanation of how to get started in macro photography and how to further develop additional skills once the activity has been begun, Mr. Detrick additionally provides inspiration to more advanced photographers in the type if images that can be captured in both the areas of close-up and true macro photography. (full review)
Mammals of North America
Getting to know the four hundred sixty-two mammals found in North America north of the U.S. Mexico border has never been so easy as it is now thanks to the recent release of the second edition of Princeton Field Guides’ Mammals of North America. Expertly researched, lavishly illustrated, and containing many helpful physiologic as well as geographic details to help everyone from beginner amateur naturalists to professional biologists quickly identify mammals in the field (particularly useful to field naturalists are the appendices containing identification images of select carnivore and herbivore scat as well as the integrated illustrations of many small mammal bones that might be found in owl pellets), Mammals of North America will be a superb addition to any naturalist’s library or field pack.
Bringing Nature Home
As more people become increasingly concerned about the state of the environment and determine to take a personal role in helping to restore it to a more healthy state, interest has substantially risen in discovering what can be done right around the home to make the world a more ecologically vibrant place. Bringing Nature Home provides precisely the type of information needed for both the average person as well as the experienced gardener or naturalist better to understand the role and importance of native plants and insects in creating a healthy domestic landscape, as well as how both of these classes of life provide the groundwork for attracting a much wider variety of other wildlife to the home and its environs.
Prairie Spring
When Pete and Linda Dunne stepped out their back door into the cold New Jersey pre-dawn of New Year’s Day, 1989, they were taking the first step into a year-long birding journey that would take them across North America, reach its conclusion on the prairie in Baldwin City, Kansas, and be chronicled in one of Dunne’s most well known and beloved books – The Feather Quest: a North American Birder’s Year. Eighteen years later, we meet the Dunnes once again on the American prairie, this time on the Pawnee National Grasslands near Briggsdale, Colorado. It’s Groundhog Day and they are just beginning a journey that will be chronicled in Prairie Spring: A Journey Into the Heart of a Season – a work that, while confined to a shorter frame of time, exceeds The Feather Quest in both depth and aspiration, and should justly be regarded as one of Dunne’s finest works to date. (full review)
Gathering Moss
Mosses – too small to be seen in detail without a strong hand lens and existing in a layer of atmosphere surrounding all terrestrial objects that is too subtle for our crude senses to perceive, they flourish throughout the world playing roles in the global ecosystem that we are only beginning to understand. By most people they are scarcely noticed at best; simply acknowledged as that fuzzy green stuff filling in sidewalk cracks and clinging to the bark of trees. At worst they are reckoned, often by home-owners, as the bane of house roof longevity and well-groomed lawns; something to be killed and removed whenever possible. Yet to those who would stop, even if only briefly to consider them, mosses are as fascinating as they are ancient. These last messages, along with a solid, introductory account of their natural history, are what Robin Wall Kimmerer seeks to convey to the reader in her book Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. In this she succeeds marvelously in ways that are not only scientific but philosophical and poetic as well. (full review)
Peterson Field Guide to the Birds of North America
Published in honor of the centennial of his birth, this most recent update to Roger Tory Peterson’s classic and ground-breaking original field guide combines the Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Birds and Peterson Field Guide to Western Birds into a single, larger format volume that allows for greatly enhanced imagery and maps to be at the finger tips of all seeking to identify any bird species found in North America north of the U.S. – Mexico border. Carrying on the great tradition of innovation Peterson designed into his very first field guide, this latest edition includes forty entirely new paintings, digital updates and enhancements to many of the existing plates to reflect recent discoveries and techniques of species identification, and even a URL to take the reader to an on-line library containing nearly three hours of video podcasts that superbly explain Peterson, his work, and birdwatching in general.
The Bird Watching Answer Book
Those familiar with Laura Erickson will recall that in her previously published 101 Ways to Help Birds she provided bird watchers with an invaluable reference for bird conservation activities that were presented in an easily accessible format which could be either read straight through or casually browsed. To The Bird Watching Answer Book she has brought a similarly user-friendly format and infuses it with both her vast ornithological expertise as well as her enthusiastic writing style that helps impart to bird watchers of all levels of experience valuable information on everything from bird watching field craft to the multi-faceted subject of bird biology. (full review)
The Darwin Experience
As a reviewer I am frequently given the opportunity to examine many fine and exemplary books; books that, due to the author’s style and effectiveness, the subject’s ability to hold the reader’s attention, or even the publisher’s manner of presentation, rise above mere common informational tomes to become something truly memorable. Yet even amongst all these, The Darwin Experience stands almost in a category by itself. Drawing upon not only Dr. van Wyhe’s extensive knowledge of his subject, and National Geographic’s editorial and publishing expertise, The Darwin Experience additionally draws upon the museum curator’s art in presenting a collection of information, imagery, and artifacts (reproduced, of course) to lead the reader through the story of not only Charles Darwin and the world in which he lived, but of the history previous to and the lasting effects of his work as well. (full review)
The Voyage of the Beagle: Anniversary Edition
Despite being one of the most famous (and in some circles, infamous) of all naturalists as well as one of the most influential writers of the English language, most people have never read much more than selected passages – if even that much – from any of his four major works. Now, thanks to the bicentennial of his birth, National Geographic has published this remarkable anniversary edition of his most accessible of books. In The Voyage of the Beagle, the reader is taken along on the five year voyage the great naturalist took on the H.M.S Beagle from which eventually emerged many of the discoveries that would form the foundation for his most important theories about the world, its myriad life forms, and how they came to be what they are today.
Darwin in Galápagos: Footsteps to a New World
K. Thalia Grant and Gregory B. Estes’ narrative reconstruction of Charles Darwin’s 1835 exploration of the islands that are perhaps more than any other single geographic location most closely associated with his name is a remarkable work that expertly rejoins the man and the place, and adds to them both the results of recent scientific discoveries arising from his work to bring to readers one of the most intricate portraits of this pivotal moment in natural history yet written. Whether read on its own or in conjunction with The Voyage of the Beagle, Darwin in Galápagos should be considered an essential book by anyone hoping better to understand the man, his work, and his continuing influence upon the scientific world today. (In addition to its interest and value to naturalists and historians of science, this would also make an excellent gift for lovers of travel literature.)
Illustrated Birds of North America Folio Edition
Enlarged to 150% of their original size, Jonathan Alderfer’s superbly illustrated plates from the classic National Geographic field guide bring to mind Audubon’s landmark folio edition of his own famous Birds of America. Effective both as a field guide as well as a marvelous “browsing album,” The Illustrated Birds of North America Folio Edition is a work that would be a most welcome gift to any bird or wildlife enthusiast as well as to those who appreciate the intricate art of wildlife illustration. Truly a great gift idea for that birdwatcher or naturalist on your list who has been extra good this past year.
For the Young and Young-at-Heart
Those Darn Squirrels!
Written by Adam Rubin and illustrated by Daniel Salmieri, Those Darn Squirrels! recounts the age-old struggle of man versus squirrel. Man, in this book played by the grumpy Old Man Fookwire, is a dedicated feeder of birds; however the local squirrels are generally the beneficiaries of his efforts. Try as he might, he is unable to thwart them in their never-ending attempts to purloin the seed he leaves out for his feathered friends. But when his familiar birds migrate south for the winter, Old Man Fookwire is left alone and depressed. Fortunately, the squirrels are not truly as malicious as Old Man Fookwire had assumed them to be.
Oscar and Olive Osprey
Janie Suss’ photo illustrated tale of an osprey pair who made their home on a nesting platform she and her family built near their home on the shore of Maryland’s Chesapeake is a remarkably accessible look into the life cycle of these remarkable birds. From nest building through the fledging of the young and on into the cycle of migration and return, Mr. Suss’ anthropomorphic portrayal of the lives and challenges of these beautiful birds is one that will grab and hold the interest of both young and old alike.
The Young Birder’s Guide to the Bird of Eastern North America
Despite it’s title, The Young Birder’s Guide is applicable to all “young” bird watchers regardless of age. It is such as a result of Thompson’s superb understanding of the mental processes of both the chronologically young who are still discovering many of their cognative skills as well as the adult beginner to bird watching. The similarities between the two are indeed profound, especially the danger of being overloaded with information in a greater quantity than can be readily put to use. In both cases, the process is one of perpetual advancement from commencement of an activity to competence and onward toward mastery. Regardless of at what age anyone begins watching birds, the initial years are a time of learning and discovery in which a masterful teacher is needed to help establish, refine, and improve developing skills. Fortunately for the young birders (of all ages) of the world, Thompson has incorporated his understanding of these matters into The Young Birder’s Guide. (full review)
Gaia Girls: Enter the Earth
Young Elizabeth Angier lives a happy and carefree life with her family on their organic farm in upstate New York – at least she did until the summer after fourth grade. Suddenly faced with having to confront the possible loss of not only her best friend but her family’s loss of their farm as well, Elizabeth discovers that she can tap into an ancient and deep power that will help her not only through this present difficult time but which could also lead to adventures beyond her wildest dreams. The first volume of what is planned as a long-running multi-volume series, Gaia Girls: Enter the Earth is a wonderful adventure that not only entertains readers but also presents them with many important concepts of ecology and conservation.
In accordance with Federal Trade Commission 16 CFR Part 255, it is disclosed that copies of some of the books read in order to produce these reviews were provided gratis to the reviewer by the publisher while others were purchased by the reviewer.
