Birdbooker Report 337
SUMMARY: Books, books, beautiful books! This is a list of biology, ecology, environment, natural history and animal books that are (or will soon be) available to occupy your bookshelves and your thoughts.
“Words in leather and wood”. Bookshelves in the “Long Room” at the old Trinity College Library in Dublin.
Image: Nic McPhee from Morris, MN, USA. 2007. (Creative Commons.)
Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.
~ Arnold Lobel [1933-1987] author of many popular children's books.
Compiled by Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, the Birdbooker Report is a weekly report that has been published online for years, listing the wide variety of nature, natural history, ecology, animal behaviour, science and history books that have been newly released or republished in North America and in the UK. The books listed here were received by Ian during the previous week, courtesy of various publishing houses.
New and Recent Titles:
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McMullan, Miles and Lelis Navarrete. Fieldbook of the Birds of Ecuador: Including the Galápagos Islands. 2013. Fundación de Conservación Jocotoco. Paperback: 207 pages. Price: $29.95 U.S. [UK: NHBS; Amazon US].
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: Fieldbook of the Birds of Ecuador is the first book to cover both Ecuador and the Galápagos islands, and includes 50 mainland species not included in previous guides for Ecuador.
Plates are arranged to show illustrations, maps, text, fieldnotes as well as information on endemism and threat status in a single information cell. Emphasis is placed on quick comparison of species in the field, with notes focusing on those features most useful in identification. The format is designed with outdoor use in mind. The maps show the distribution in Ecuador, while information on the Galápagos is given as a birdlist in an appendix at the end of the book.
Fieldbook of the Birds of Ecuador is designed to have a broad appeal among both serious birders and beginners and dabblers, and so increase awareness of the birds of this accessible country. A percentage of the proceeds from the sales of this book will go toward conservation efforts in Ecuador.
IAN'S RECOMMENDATION: For birders that don't want to lug around the larger The Birds of Ecuador by Ridgely et al. This title is available in the U.K. from NHBS -
Marzluff, John M.. Welcome to Subirdia: Sharing Our Neighborhoods with Wrens, Robins, Woodpeckers, and Other Wildlife. 2014. Yale University Press. Hardbound: 303 pages. Price: $30.00 U.S. [Amazon UK; Amazon US/kindle US].
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: Welcome to Subirdia presents a surprising discovery: the suburbs of many large cities support incredible biological diversity. Populations and communities of a great variety of birds, as well as other creatures, are adapting to the conditions of our increasingly developed world. In this fascinating and optimistic book, John Marzluff reveals how our own actions affect the birds and animals that live in our cities and towns, and he provides ten specific strategies everyone can use to make human environments friendlier for our natural neighbors.
Over many years of research and fieldwork, Marzluff and student assistants have closely followed the lives of thousands of tagged birds seeking food, mates, and shelter in cities and surrounding areas. From tiny Pacific wrens to grand pileated woodpeckers, diverse species now compatibly share human surroundings. By practicing careful stewardship with the biological riches in our cities and towns, Marzluff explains, we can foster a new relationship between humans and other living creatures -- one that honors and enhances our mutual destiny.
IAN'S RECOMMENDATION: Fans of Marzluff's writing should enjoy this book. -
Pickrell, John. Flying Dinosaurs: How Fearsome Reptiles Became Birds. 2014. Columbia University Press. Hardbound: 215 pages. Price: $29.95 U.S. [Amazon UK: paperback/hardcover; Amazon US: paperback/hardcover/kindle].
PUBLISHER'S SUMMARY: The discovery of stunning, feathered dinosaur fossils coming out of China since 2006 suggest that these creatures were much more bird-like than paleontologists previously imagined. Further evidence—bones, genetics, eggs, behavior, and more -- has shown a seamless transition from fleet-footed carnivores to the ancestors of modern birds.
Mixing colorful portraits with news on the latest fossil findings and interviews with leading paleontologists in the United States, China, Europe, and Australia, John Pickrell explains and details dinosaurs’ development of flight. This special capacity introduced a whole new range of abilities for the animals and helped them survive a mass extinction, when thousands of other dinosaur species that once populated the Earth did not. Pickrell also turns his journalistic eye toward the stories behind the latest discoveries, investigating the role of the Chinese black market in trading fossils, the controversies among various dinosaur hunters, the interference of national governments intent on protecting scientific information, and the race to publish findings first that make this research such a dynamic area of science.
IAN'S RECOMMENDATION: A readable introduction to the subject.
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This guest piece was written by Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen and formatted by GrrlScientist. Ian is an avid book collector who is especially well-known to the publishing world. He collects newly-published books about nature, animals and birds, science, and history, and he also collects children's books on these topics. Ian writes brief synopses about these books on his website, The Birdbooker Report.