Although the new Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum officially opened its doors to the public for the first time on 28 April 2015, the full history of this extraordinary new museum in fact goes back in time for more than a century and a half.
Edited by John van Whye, this first-of-its-kind edition of Wallace’s famous work promises not only to make Wallace’s ideas and discoveries more accessible to modern readers, it also seeks to put his work as a whole in much richer context by placing Wallace and his writings squarely in their time.
You likely already knew that the national bird of the United States is the American Bald Eagle, and – if you know a bit about birds – you could probably have guessed that the national bird of Guatemala is the Resplendent Quetzal, but what is the national bird of Estonia? How about Israel? Jamaica? If you don’t know, don’t feel bad; I didn’t either – at least until I read Ron Toft’s new book National Birds of the World.
In case you forgot to mark your calendar, National Moth Week 2012 in the U.S. begins July 23 and lasts through July 27. So if you haven’t sugared a few trees, strung up a wine rope, and strung up and illuminated your white sheet, you had better get to it or rush being left out of all the fun.