I write many positive reviews here–and I honestly consider that a good thing–but I did not expect to be doing that when I first opened these pages. With a flashy title I anticipated a lot of science fluff, where the author uses showy cool facts to wow the reader, but lacks the substance. I have… Continue reading Book Review: Great Adaptations

Reading the Forested Landscape is a bit like a cross of The Diversity of Life and Sherlock Holmes. Like The Diversity of Life it’s broad and encompasses so much, but it’s also a bit like mystery novel where the crimes often include who killed the trees. At times the book could be easy to read… Continue reading Book Review: Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England

It’s a rather great thing that there is so much fascinating nonfiction out there to read. In a world of ridiculous videos claiming ridiculous things like archeologists uncovered buried aliens, we can still rely on people like Nick Lane to teach us about the world. Oxygen: The Molecule That Made the World isn’t simply an… Continue reading Book Review: Oxygen: The Molecule that Made the World

I went back to trying out a text book because there were surprisingly few books on cockroaches. In fact, something I learned from this book is that there is surprisingly little research on cockroaches. A numerous and diverse group of insects, most research seems to be on the pest varieties and how to kill them.… Continue reading Book Review: Cockroaches: Ecology, Behavior, and Natural History

This book has great balance of being in-depth, technical, and readable, making it a very digestible way of learning a lot about this relatively small group of ants. I learned a lot, recalled more, and enjoyed the experience.

Edward O. Wilson, one of the authors of The Ants reviewed earlier, was an accomplished author as well as researcher. The book is, as clearly titled, about the diversity of life–how it appears, how it disappears, and what we can do about it.

Tales From the Ant World is an easy, casual read, and perhaps a decent introduction to further reading, but further reading is necessary.

Summer World is yet another of Bernd Heinrich’s prodigious collection of works. Coming nearly a decade after Winter World, which I really enjoyed, Summer World is good, but not great.

This is a mammoth of a book and not for the casual reader. It straddles the line of book and text book, so be warned. I doubt a similar book could be written today, as it is so encompassingly thorough, that to expand it would be to break your desk.

Read this book to learn about owls and you will not be disappointed, but it’s not as in-depth as the title may have you expect.