Reviews will appear closer to publication date. Rebirding by Ben Macdonald is published by Pelagic Publishing. Bird Therapy by Joe Harkness is published by Unbound.
Category: BOOK REVIEWS
Sunday book review – Noor by Andy Rouse and Aditya Singh
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I’ve never seen a Tiger in the wild and I probably never will. But this book introduces the reader to one tigress, Noor, and her family, and the place she lives, Ranthambhore National Park. This is a feast of images and a pleasure to hold in one’s hands and turn the pages. Aren’t Tigers amazing?…
Sunday book review – A Field Guide to the Carnivores of the World by Luke Hunter and Priscilla Barrett
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This is an updated edition of a book which covers many of the most charismatic speces on this planet. From Polar Bear to Least Weasel (that’s our Weasel Mustela nivalis) this book beautifully illustrates mammals with sharp teeth from the biggest to the smallest. The illustrations are very attractive and cover many subspecies and a…
This blog’s books of the year 2018
This blog has reviewed 41 books this year (and many thanks to Ian Carter for his reviews). My selection of the ‘top 4’ books of the year is as follows; Number 4 A tour-de-force of clear writing about a technical subject. Deserves to be widely read. Which birds are related to which others most closely?…
Guest blog – Nature Books 2018 by Stephen Moss
Stephen Moss is one of Britain’s leading nature writers, broadcasters and wildlife television producers. He was the founding producer of Springwatch, and has written a stream of wildlife books (eg see Tweet of the Day (with Brett Westwood), Natural Histories (also with Brett Westwood), and Wild Kingdom). A lifelong naturalist, he is passionate about communicating…
Sunday book review – The Seabird’s Cry by Adam Nicholson
Reviewed by Ian Carter Adam Nicolson’s father bought the Shiant Isles in the Hebrides when he was twenty: £1,300 for 500 acres including a rat-infested bothy and, at the right time of year, no small number of breeding seabirds. We are told he loved the place more than anywhere else in the world, a love…
Book review – Swifts and Swallows by Mike Unwin
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Reviewed by Ian Carter This is another book in the burgeoning RSPB Spotlight series, this time dealing with a duo of well-known and superficially similar species. I can see the merits of covering both birds in the same book but it seems odd that the House Martin misses out. It shares the association with our…
Sunday book review – Atlas of Poetic Botany by Francis Halle
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This is not an atlas and it has no poems, but it is certainly botanical. What we have here is a delightful book about tropical botany. Originally written in French, by a rainforest expert, this introduces the reader to a few dozen remarkable tropical plants, many of which are trees. The illustrations, by the author,…
Book review – Hedgehogs by James Lowen
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Reviewed by Ian Carter Aficionados of the humble, yet hard-pressed, Hedgehog are spoilt for choice these days. Hedgehog books are multiplying, as the animal itself becomes ever more difficult to track down. This mirrors a general trend in natural history writing. We have a rapidly expanding library of information at our finger-tips but, with every…
Sunday book review – On the Marshes by Carol Donaldson
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Reviewed by Ian Carter I’ve always liked books about alternative lifestyles, especially by people seeking out a gentler pace of life, more attuned to the natural environment. This is a good example and it’s a book I gradually warmed to as the author’s journey across the North Kent Marshes (contrary to the sub-title) unfolds. In…