As the new year begins, I find myself reflecting upon not only the past one but upon many others more distant than that. 2015 will see the sixth anniversary of my publishing a review of Alan Detrick’s Macro Photography for Gardeners and Nature Lovers in what was then merely a new section I had named “The Well-read Naturalist” in my bird watching blog Born Again Bird Watcher. That blog, already at that time beginning to become somewhat stale, would limp along for another two years before I finally retired it. The book review section, however, I would go on to develop into a full website – to this date still the only online publication wholly dedicated to publishing news and full-length reviews of natural history books.
According to my count The Well-read Naturalist has, as of this writing, published sixty-four full length book reviews – all written by me of books I’ve read from cover-to-cover – as well as more news entries about natural history books and their authors than I can readily count. It is a time-consuming task to say the least, and far more a labor of love than a profit-making enterprise. But I continue to do it for the same reason that I began doing it more than half a decade ago: because I think it needs to be done and no one else is doing it.
Many nature-focused bloggers occasionally review books on subjects of which they have special knowledge; particularly bird watchers. However only one, Grant McCreary, has created an entire site for the purpose: The Birder’s Library, a blog I very much respect and – due to its consistently high level of quality – to which I frequently make reference. But while I consider myself an avid bird watcher – indeed, for a decade I could even, as product development manager for binoculars and spotting scopes as well as market development manager for bird and nature watching at Leupold have been said to possess professional standing in the activity – I am just as much a devote of natural history in general. And not just natural history in its various subject areas but in the history of natural history itself. Hence my continued dedication to this website.
So what will 2015 bring for The Well-read Naturalist? That, my friends, is the proverbial $64,000 question. One of my main goals is to improve the publication cycle for the site. Ideally I would like to publish one full length review each week but given my other responsibilities I suspect this may not be feasible; therefore at least one each fortnight is on the schedule. I would also like to publish at least two news items regarding new and forthcoming books each week – something I think is well within reason.
For some time now I have been contemplating the addition of a podcast. The problem is that I haven’t the slightest idea at the moment of how those are either recorded or published. I have a microphone of respectable quality, the Garage Band program on my main computer, and (so I am told) a radio-suitable speaking voice, so it should be possible for me to record tracks that would be useable for podcasting. Thus don’t be surprised if in 2015 you see my initial bumbling attempts at podcasting on the site. As for videocasts, don’t hold your breath; my grizzled visage is best suited to radio.
I’m also trying to discover new ways to bring attention to The Well-read Naturalist through providing something useful to social media users. Prior to Foursquare splitting up into I honestly don’t know what, I had begun to add nature reserves, parks, and other similar places to their catalog of places to check in. I’m now thinking of doing something similar with Yelp. We’ll see how it goes…
In any case, while I no longer travel as far afield as I was once able to (not for lack of desire but for lack of money), I plan to get out and explore my own region whenever possible. The Pacific Northwest is an area rich in natural beauty and widely diverging habitats; many of which I have not yet explored. I hope that all of you will do likewise in your own parts of the world.
May 2015 be a good year for us all. May we spend more of it outdoors. May we deepen our understanding of the natural world. May we do what we can to make one another’s lives a little better.
Cheers.
