Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)

tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, animal books, natural history books, ecology books

The Birdbooker Report is a special weekly report of a wide variety of science, nature and behavior books that currently are, or soon will be available for purchase. This report is written by one of my Seattle birding pals and book collector, Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, and is edited by me and published here for your information and enjoyment. Below the fold is this week's issue of The Birdbooker Report which lists ecology, environment, natural history and bird books that are (or will soon be) available for purchase.

FEATURED TITLE:

1. Chu, Miyoko with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Birdscapes: A Pop-Up Celebration of Bird Songs in Stero Sound. 2008. Chronicle Books. Hardbound: 7 pop-up dioramas and a 5 page guide-key. Price: $60.00 U.S. [Amazon: $48.00]. SUMMARY: The seven pop-up dioramas depict birds founds in the following North American habitat types: Sonoran Desert, Pacific Seabird Colony, Eastern Deciduous Forest, Arctic Tundra, Cypress Swamp, Grassland and Pacific Coast Rainforest. As each diorama is opened, 8-12 bird songs are played in stero. This is a fun book!

New and Recent Titles:

1. Blomdahl, Anders, Bertil Breife and Niklas Holmstrom. Flight Identification of European Seabirds. 2003. Christopher Helm. Paperback: 374 pages. Price: $69.00 U.S. [Amazon $38.36]. SUMMARY: Over 650 photographs highlight this guide to European seabirds. Seabirders of the east coast of North America will find this book very useful! Available in North America from Buteo Books.




2. Hirschfeld, Erik (editor). Rare Birds Yearbook 2009. 2008. Birdlife International. Paperback: 274 pages. Price: about $28.00 U.S. (plus shipping). [Amazon: $55.00 or Rare Birds Shop £18.95]. SUMMARY: Contains information on 190 critically endangered birds of the World. The 2009 edition of this yearbook updates the 2008 version with new information and 130 new photos.




3. Miller, Jonathan and Borin Van Loon. Darwin For Beginners. 1982 (2003). Pantheon Books. Paperback: 176 pages. Price: $12.00 U.S. [Amazon: $9.60]. SUMMARY:This book takes a "graphic novel" approach to explain Charles Darwin's work on evolution. Using humor (sometimes in the "Monty Python" style) Miller makes Darwin and evolution easy to understand. Originally published in 1982, some material is dated and should be updated in a second edition.




4. Redmond, Ian. The Primate Family Tree: The Amazing Diversity Of Our Closest Relatives. 2008. Firefly Books. Hardbound: 176 pages. Price: $35.00 U.S. [Amazon: $23.10]. SUMMARY: An overview of the World's four primate groups: Prosimians (Lemurs and relatives), New World Monkeys, Old World Monkeys, and Apes. The foreward is written by Jane Goodall.




5. Sale, Richard. A Complete Guide to Arctic Wildlife. 2006. Firefly Books. Hardbound: 464 pages. Price: $49.95 U.S. [Amazon: $36.46]. SUMMARY: This guidebook features two in-depth field guides: the first one covers over 200 species of birds and the second 77 mammals. This book also has more than 450 photographs, 294 maps and 39 color plates.