For those who count themselves regular readers of Mark Avery’s blog, the recent uptick in new book reviews can’t have gone unnoticed. When I recently called up the site, I thought “Blimey! Is Mark doing anything other than reading these days?” However I then noticed by-lines indicating that two of the four most recent reviews were penned by none other than the noted ornithologist Ian Carter acting a as a guest reviewer.
This past week has seen Ian’s guest reviews of two new RSPB Spotlight volumes: Swifts and Swallows by Mike Unwin, and Hedgehogs by James Lowen (the latter a book that was also featured in the Newly Noted section of this publication as well). Mark also gets some words his own in as well with a review of Atlas of Poetic Botany by Francis Halle, and another intriguing title from Little Toller Books: Carol Donaldson’s On the Marshes; A Journey into England’s Waterlands. I have to say, Little Toller doesn’t make very much noise about themselves but they are truly a publisher to keep in your field of view in light of the number of interesting nature and natural history themed books they’ve been publishing recently.
Links to Mark Avery’s Sunday book reviews appear in The Well-read Naturalist by special arrangement. You can find all of Mark’s past reviews as well as a wide-ranging collection of his other writings on his Standing Up for Nature website. Mark’s opinions regarding the books he reviews are his own.
