After covering such subjects as beetles, frogs, eggs, caterpillars, and even orchids, the University of Chicago Press’ Life-Size series is finally showing signs of going to seed – well, “seeds” actually (sorry, I couldn’t resist).
The Book of Seeds
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Plants of the World
I could spend paragraphs explaining how significant the recent publication of “Plants of the World; An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Vascular Plants” is to the history of the literature of botany; how it’s “the first book to systematically explore every vascular plant family on earth,” and how it’s “organized in a modern phylogenetic order [with] detailed entries for each family.”
Dr. Eleanor’s Book of Common Spiders
I’ll be honest, having read Dr. Eleanor Spicer Rice’s four books about ants and found them to be absolutely brilliant, I may have actually squealed (in a manly, dignified way, of course) with glee upon learning of the publication by University of Chicago Press of her new “Dr. Eleanor’s Book of Common Spiders.”
Feral
Rather than his own review of a book this week, Mark has dedicated his Sunday book review to the winner of his recently concluded book reviewing contest. The challenge: review George Monbiot’s book “Feral; Rewilding the Land, the Sea, and Human Life.” The submitted reviews were then read, critiqued, and scored by a most eminent and distinguished panel of judges. The one with the best marks was then declared to be the winner.