Reviewed by Ian Carter Not What Birds are Good? as I initially thought having misread the title but What Good are Birds?, a somewhat broader and altogether more interesting question. His initial answer (to an inquisitorial family passing his regular sea-watching spot in Galicia, north-west Spain) was rather good I thought – ‘for flying’…
Category: BOOK REVIEWS
Sunday book review – Birds of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East: a photographic guide by Frederic Jiguet and Aurelien Audevard
This is a photographic field guide which covers all European bird species including vagrants and some species which have not yet occurred but are quite likely to do so eventually. In one slimmish volume the reader has images (over 2200 of them) of every species of bird (860) they might see on the continent….
Sunday book review – Kingfishers by David Chandler
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This book, published on Thursday, is a celebration of one of our favourite birds; everyone loves a Kingfisher. If you are out with other birdwatchers and one of you spots a Kingfisher then there is always a note of excitement as the bird is mentioned – ‘Kingfisher!!’. Nobody ever announces a Kingfisher with a…
Sunday book review – Birding in the Bristol region (edited by William Earp)
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The Bristol Ornithological Club is 50 years old and this book is a celebration of its first half century. I was a member from 1970-76 and so my memories are mostly from its early years when I was a schoolboy and starting (mad) keen birding. This is a friendly warm book which sketches the…
Sunday book review
Sunday came early this week – see here
Book review – Climate Change by HRH The Prince of Wales
It’s a while since I bought a Ladybird book – but I still have a lot of the original series dotted around the house. This book, published today, is one of the ‘Expert’ series and the three authors can rightly be classed as such (but even if they weren’t, this book has been peer-reviewed by…
Sunday book review – A Tree Miscellany by Ian Parsons
This is a small book (88 pages) of interesting facts about trees written by Ian Parsons, an occasional Guest Blogger here. They are the sort of facts that you can use to amaze your friends with your knowledge. That’s what I shall be doing anyway. Do you know what is the oldest tree in the…
Sunday book review – Bobby the Birdman eds J Wills and M Mcdonnell
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Bobby Tulloch was a Shetlander whose fame spread far beyond the isles of his birth. Born on Yell in 1929 he died in 1996. For many of us his name will ever be associated with the Snowy Owls which nested on Fetlar from 1967 to 1975. To those of us who never knew the man…
This blog’s books of the year
I have reviewed 31 books on this blog this year – three more than last year. Some of these are sent to me by publishers or authors, some I simply go out and buy. Which books you like is as personal a choice as what music you like. But for what it’s worth, here are…
Book review – The Nature of Sex by Carin Bondar
This book is a review about how animals beget other animals. It must be quite difficult to write about sex in a way that is neither coy nor coarse and which will keep the attention of the reader with whatever moral and personal baggage they might bring to the subject. The author tells us of…