I seem to have reviewed 32 books on this site in 2014. They are all listed below.
Reviewing books is a personal affair. I try not to say that books are good or bad – only that I like them or not. From that, you’ll have to make your own minds up. And I know that what I like may not be what you like.
But these first 10 books are ones that brought me the most pleasure this year. They aren’t the ‘best’ books, or the most ‘important’, they are just the ones I liked most.
1. The Twitch by Kevin Parr is published by Unbound
2. John Muir – the Scotsman who saved America’s wild places, by Mary Colwell, is published by Lion Hudson.
3. 100 things that Caught My Eye by Chris Packham is published by Blink Publishing.
4. The Ash Tree by Oliver Rackham is published by Little Toller Books.
5. A Sparrowhawk’s Lament by David Cobham (illustrated by Bruce Pearson) is published by Princeton University Press.
6. A history of birdwatching in 100 objects by David Callahan (edited by Dominic Mitchell) is published by Bloomsbury
7. Meadowland by John Lewis-Stempel is published by Doubleday
8. Bird Populations by Ian Newton is published as a New Naturalist by William Collins
9. The Book of 365: all the numbers with none of the maths by Hugh Brazier and Jan McCann is published by Square Peg.
10. My Year with Hares by Martin Hayward Smith is published by the author and produced by Red Hare Publishing Limited. You can buy it direct from the author.
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And in no particular order, these are the other books reviewed here during the year.
A Guide to the Birds of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson is published by Penguin.
Dusk Until Dawn by Martin Bradley is published by Ceratopia Books and is fantastic value at £4.99 + £1.60 P&P. All books can be signed by the author and can be bought direct from him by contacting [email protected]
National Birds of the World by Ron Toft is published by Bloomsbury, as is Mark Avery’s A Message from Martha .
Birds and Climate Change: impacts and conservation responses by James Pearce-Higgins and Rhys Green is published by Cambridge University Press
The Nature Magpie by Daniel Allen is published by Icon Books.
Norfolk Bird Sketches by Robert Gillmor is published by Red Hare Publishing.
The Dragonfly Diaries by Ruary Mackenzie Dodds is is published by Saraband.
England’s 100 best views by Simon Jenkins is published by Profile Books.
Shrewdunnit: the nature files by Conor Mark Jameson is published by Pelagic Publishing.
Forest Vision: transforming the Forestry Commission by Roderick Leslie is published by New Environment Books and is available from the author for £12.99 (+£2.50P&P in the UK) from 8 Somerset Street, Bristol BS2 8NB.
buzzing by Anneliese Emmans Dean is published by bramblebybooks and is available from them, or from the author (signed, and she has lovely writing) at £14.99.
Urban Peregrines by Ed Drewitt is published by Pelagic Publishing and is available from them,
Birds of a Feather: seasonal changes on both sides of the Atlantic by Colin Rees and Derek Thomas is published by Troubador (from whom you can also buy it)
A Field Guide to Monitoring Nests is available directly from the BTO.
Birds at the Bottom of the Garden by Carl Mynott is available from British Wildlife Tales.
Top Gun of the Sky by Martin Bradley is published by Ceratopia Books and is fantastic value at £4.99 + £1.60 P&P. All books can be signed by the author and can be bought direct from him by contacting [email protected]
Tweet of the Day by Brett Westwood and Stephen Moss is published by Saltyard Books
The Art of Conservation: 25 years of Birdfair posters, by Robert Gillmor, Martin Davies and Tim Appleton is published by Red Hare Publishing Ltd but seems a bit tricky to track down on the web.
The Global Pigeon is published by The University of Chicago Press
The Birds of Berkshire is available from those who produced it at £35 +P&P.
Ten Thousand Birds by Tim Birkhead is published by Princeton University Press
The Birds of Buckinghamshire, edited by David Ferguson, is published by the Buckinghamshire Bird Club.
Our Once and Future Planet by Paddy Woodworth
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As it was published in 2013 it cannot be a candidate for ‘book of the year’ this year, I suppose, but I’d like to put in a plug for Dave Goulson’s charming book about bumblebees ‘A sting in the tail’.
Feeling extremely humbled – thank you very much, Mark – it means an awful lot…