The Birdbooker Report 1: Notes on Bird (and Natural History) Books

tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, natural history books

A friend of mine, Ian Paulsen, loves books as much as I do, and possibly (gasp!) moreso! I know this is difficult to believe, but he has collected books about birds and natural history themes for as long as I've known him, which has been a fairly long period of my life. As far as I know, Ian reads all of his collected books, too, unlike most book collectors. Further, Ian knows just about every publisher out there who has ever published a book about birds or natural history, whether they have a large agency or a small press, and he has provided the impetus to more than one publisher to reissue a rare out-of-print book that was previously "lost" to the public.

Ian volunteered to write a weekly "Birdbooker Report" where he provides information to the public about which new titles are available on the market, as well as those titles that will be re-released. If you have comments or questions about any natural history books, or wish to see an out-of-print book re-released to the public, feel free to post about these topics in the comments section, and Ian will answer them for you. Below the fold is Ian's first report;

These new bird books reached my desk this past week:

1. Shimba, Tadao. A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Japan and North-East Asia. 2007. Yale University Press (New Haven and London). 504 pages. Paperback. $40.00 US [review].
2. Kenefick, Martyn, Robin Restall, and Floyd Hayes. Field Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago. 2008. Yale University Press (New Haven and London). 256 pages. Paperback. $40.00 US. The illustrations in this book are from Restall's Birds of Northern South America (2007).

Forthcoming Title:

• Brazil, Mark. Birds of East Asia. (Spring 2009). Princeton University Press. 528 pages with 234 color plates. Price: TBA (Probably around $50.00 US).

That's all for this, the inaugural edition of the Birdbooker Report!