(This column was first published in the December 10,
2001 Buffalo News.)
Here
are a few of the quite remarkable number of excellent natural history books
published recently to consider for holiday gifts.
The
Roger Tory Peterson Institute's Natural History
Atlas
to the
Chautauqua-Allegheny Region by Mark Baldwin and others.* This
book
-- just
out this week -- sets a high standard for regional guides. The coverage is
encyclopedic and I cannot imagine a better introduction to these two counties.
I only wish I had this book on my visits to southwestern New York last summer.
Although we have several good guides describing places to visit in Erie and
Niagara Counties, none approach the thoroughness of this volume. I hope that it
will encourage a local team to undertake a comparable
project.
Alfred
Russel Wallace: A Life by Peter Raby (Princeton University
Press)
is, I believe, the
finest biography of this co-discoverer with Charles Darwin of natural
selection, the driving force of evolution. Wallace has always been a personal
favorite: like so many Victorian scientists who made major contributions to our
thinking, today he would be considered an amateur -- and therefore second-rate
-- by many academics. Self-trained he was, but he brought to his
collecting expeditions
to South America and the East Indies a first class mind, always concerned with
the larger forces at work. Raby honors this intellectual giant by making his
important work completely accessible to us.
If
you own a dog or are considering bringing one into your home, you should read
Dogs by Raymond and Lorna Coppinger.
This book
completely lives up
to its sub-title: A Startling New Understanding of
Canine Origin,
Behavior and Evolution. You may not always agree with the authors,
but
you owe it to your pet to read and consider carefully what they have to
say.
The
Cornell Lab of Ornithology compiles bird feeding reports nationally. Drawing on
them, Margaret Barker and Jack Griggs have written The
FeederWatcher's
Guide to Bird Feeding (HarperResource).** Jammed with
information about
identification, food, feeders, landscaping, raiders (AKA squirrels) and
predators, this book will serve as well inside as your feeder does
outside.
One
book for the serious scientist: Charles Michener's The
Bees of the
World (Johns Hopkins University Press). Only specialists may be
interested in the 16,325
bee species, but a number of the 30 brief introductory essays are of far
broader appeal and the author's two page Preface autobiography should be read
by any youngster interested in nature.
Scott
Ensminger's guide this year is Finger Lakes
Falls.*** Falls hunting
may seem to many a strange hobby, but having joined Scott and Ross Markello on
several of their expeditions, I can appreciate their excitement. By following
Scott's instructions, you can share those experiences.
For
any of those who, like me, are both frightened and hypnotized by snakes, I
strongly recommend Jeremy Seal's The Snakebite
Survivors' Club
(Harcourt). Seal has collected stories from around the world but none are as
genuinely scary as that of Darlene Summerford of Scottsboro, Alabama. Well
worth retelling around a midnight campfire.
For
this list's finest prose I recommend Hannah Holmes, The Secret Life of
Dust (Wiley). In this book dust rises from "dry as"
to
remarkably interesting -- and important as our recent brushes with anthrax have
demonstrated.
Finally
and far too briefly noted: Carl Zimmer's Evolution:
The Triumph of an
Idea (HarperCollins) which supplements the TV series perfectly.
The
Granite Landscape: A Natural History of America's Mountain Domes, from
Acadia
to Yosemite by Tom Wessels will provide Adirondack climbers much
information about the rocks on which they tread. And Errol Fuller's
Extinct Birds (Comstock), beautiful
portraits
and brief essays
about our missing avifauna.-- Gerry Rising
Here is some information about where to obtain the harder-to-find books:
* From Jim Berry at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute: "We do not have a Buffalo outlet for the book a the present time. We need one. Orders can be made by calling (800)758-6841 or by e-mail."
** From Allison Wells at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: "They can purchase it from our online store or from the Wild Birds Unlimited store here in Sapsucker Woods at (877) 266-4928." This suggests the possibility of obtaining the book from the local Wild Birds Unlimited store at 3835 McKinley Avenue in Blasdell (823-7889).
*** From Scott Ensminger: People can order the book directly from me. The prices are: $17.55 (non-New York residents) or $18.95 (New York residents). Prices include tax and postage. Make your check or money order payable to and order from: Falzguy Publishing, c/o Scott A. Ensminger, 784 Meadow Drive, North Tonawanda, NY 14120.