As regular readers know, when I am “looking for the entry-way” into a new subject – be it scientific, cultural, political, or what-have-you – I often seek out one of the remarkably handy Very Short Introductions series volumes from Oxford University Press. However sometimes the perspective I’m seeking on a new subject is not necessarily one of of it as a scholarly area of study but rather one of it as a topic of public discussion or debate. In these cases I turn to another Oxford University Press series, their What Everyone Needs to Know books.
Recently, two new volumes were added to this growing series: The Arctic; What Everyone Needs to Know by Klaus Dodds and Mark Nuttall, and Antarctica; What Everyone Needs to Know by David Day. Covering topics ranging from the history, geography, and ecology of these two polar opposites, to aspects of modern global geopolitics and international law that affect them, to – of course – the effects that changes to the planet’s climate are having upon them, both these books would be well placed on the bookshelves of not just naturalists but all who wish to approach the news of significant current events from a more well-informed perspective.
