New and forthcoming books that are worthy of attention but that have not been fully reviewed.
What is the purpose of studying an unfamiliar living creature? Is it to confirm what others have previously declared to be true about it, or is it to examine the creature in and of itself to discover what is true about it? And how does one interpret something that obviously once was alive but that resembles nothing known to presently exist – particularly if the idea of extinction does not fall within your understanding of how nature functions?
Although I am well known for avoiding self-published books, I am also experienced enough to know that for many photographers, self-publishing is often the only way they can get their work into print. Thus when a publicist contacts me with a book of photography, I am more likely to give it a hearing than other books. Such was the case with TreeGirl; Intimate Encounters with Wild Nature.
It has likely been a year or so since I first heard of Dmitri Belyaev’s and Lyudmila Trut’s project to determine if foxes could be domesticated. Begun in 1959, their research has since brought to light a host of discoveries about the process and effects of domestication, and as well has yielded fifty-six generations of domesticated Silver Fox.
Is what I hear when I hear a bird singing the same as what you hear? What about what someone else heard fifty years ago, or perhaps a hundred? Not specifically the notes, mind you, rather what we interpreted from the song itself? What meaning, if any, did we find in it; what effect did it have upon us or upon something we did as a result?