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
university
Oxford Atlas of the World, 24th Edition
In a world that seems to be changing so rapidly – indeed changing in ways that often seem entirely out of control and beyond anyone’s ability to comprehend – it is reassuring to have a tangible reminder that someone, somewhere is indeed making a valiant attempt to keep at least some of the larger changes in our world under observation and publishing an annual record of what they have noticed.
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.”
Frog Pond Philosophy
I think it was the same day I opened the package containing a bright, fresh copy of Strachan Donnelley’s new posthumously published “Frog Pond Philosophy; Essays on the Relationship Between Humans and Nature” that I also received the news that Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin had proposed cutting all funding to the University of Kentucky Press that published it.