Quite honestly, I’m not sure what I could reasonably write following the words “books bound in human skin” that would have any greater power to induce anyone horrified at the prospect of reading a book about such a subject to overcome their aversion, or for that matter that would inspire anyone already keen to take up a such a subject even more willing to do so. Such is the division the long-whispered rumours of anthropodermic book binding has upon people.
Nevertheless, I’ll have a go.
After discovering, during my research in the writing of my review of “The Remarkable Life of William Beebe,” that only three of Beebe’s nearly two dozen books were still in print, I set about to discover if the same sorry ratio held true for the works of other noteworthy naturalists. Looking up Marston Bates, author of “The Nature of Natural History” and many other fine books, it was even worse than that – zero of his books were still being printed.
This Spring, thanks to a gift from The Gould Family Foundation Foundation that not only supported the creation of the volume but that will also keep it in print in the series, “Rachel Carson: Silent Spring & Other Writings on the Environment” will join the works of Muir, Leopold, the Bartrams, and all the other great works contained in the series.
Back in 2009 when The Well-read Naturalist had just published its first review, Grant McCreary was already approaching the third anniversary of his own book reviewing website, The Birder’s Library. Now, seven years later, his superb site is celebrating its tenth anniversary.