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Your favorite books of 2021 (1 Viewer)

Melanie

Melanie

Well-known member
Germany
This year I've bought 35 books, including two (The Black Robin: Saving the World's Most Endangered Bird and The Toolache Wallaby (Macropus greyi Waterhouse)) that I have been looking for years.

Here is my top 10 of novelties which were published in 2021 or 2020:

Seabirds by Peter Harrison, Martin Perrow, Hans Larsson
All Asian Primates by Sylvain Beauséjour, Anthony B. Rylands, Russell A. Mittermeier
Journey among Animals: The animal stories and memoirs of a zoologist by Meredith Happold
A Field Guide to the Land Snails of Lord Howe Island by Isabel Hyman & Frank Koehler
Birds of Colombia by Stephen L. Hilty
Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago, 2nd ed. by James A. Eaton, Bas van Balen, Nick W. Brickle, Frank E. Rheindt
Gone: A search for what remains of the world's extinct creatures by Michael Blencowe
Field Guide to the Birds of Argentina and the Southwest Atlantic by Mark Pearman & Juan Ignacio Areta
Wie wat bewaart: Twee eeuwen Nederlandse natuurhistorie by Menno Schildhuizen & Freek Vonk
Van onschatbare waarde: 200 jaar Naturalis by Eulalia Gassó Miracle & Tiny Monquil-Broersen
 
As long as we can post books that are older than 2021, The Australian Bird Guide. I really do think this is one of the best bird books out there, even though it's not exactly as portable. I'd rank this up with Collins European guide.
 
If your criterion is enjoying a good read then Jon Dunn's "The Glitter in the Green" tops the list although Jonathan C. Slaght's "Owls of the Eastern Ice" is a close second. It's also been a good year for bird ID books - "Seabirds: A New Identification Guide", "Europe's Birds" & "Flight Identification of European Passerine"s all deserving a mention. If I had to pick the best then the latter edges it as it breaks entirely new ground - a rare achievement these days.
 
Europe's Birds by Hume et al Wild Guides.
Plants of Armenia by T. Galstyan
Gulls of Europe, North Africa & Middle East by Adrianes et al
Grasshoppers of Britain & Western Europe by Sardet et al
Britain's Insects by Brock Wild Guides
Flight Identification of European Passerines by Cofta
Dragonflies & Damselflies of Britain & Western Europe by Boudot et al
 
  • Seabirds by Peter Harrison, Martin Perrow, Hans Larsson
  • Birds of Colombia by Stephen L. Hilty
  • Field Guide to the Birds of Argentina and the Southwest Atlantic by Mark Pearman & Juan Ignacio Areta
  • Gulls of Europe, North Africa & Middle East by Adrianes et al
  • Europe's Birds by Hume et al
 
Flight Identification of European Passerines by Tomasz Cofta.

Frankly speaking, my need of buying more glossy colorful bird illustrations ended with abundance of good bird photos on the internet. I also ran out of shelf space.
 
I filled some gaps in my collection in 2021. Most notably:
  • Duikers of Africa - Masters of the African Forest Floor: A Study of Duikers, by Vivian J. Wilson
  • CIC Caprinae Atlas of the World, by Gerhard Damm and Nicolás Franco vol 1&2
  • Neotropical Cervidology Biology and Medicine of Latin American Deer, by José Maurício Barbanti Duarte and Susana González
  • Deer of the World: Their Evolution, Behaviour, and Ecology, by Valerius Geist
  • All the World's Primate, by Noel Rowe, Marc Myers

Latest addition , published in 2021:

Mammals of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia Field Guide to the Larger Mammals of the Horn of Africa by Trevor Jenner

Pre-ordered:

Zooscape 2020: Sheridan´s Handbook of Zoos in Europe 2015 -2030 by Alex Rübel & Anthony Sheridan
 
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Bears of the World: Ecology, Conservation and Management - Penteriani & Melletti (eds.)

The Art of Patience: Seeking the Snow leopard in Tibet - Tesson

On the Animal Trail - Morizot

Bat Calls of Britain & Europe: A Guide to Species Identification - Russ (ed.)

Bird Senses: How and What Birds See, Hear, Smell, Taste, and Feel - Martin
 
Agree that Lynx's Birds of Colombia is a great book....but the bloody taxonomic order 🤬🤬🤬🤬 couldn't they just've followed their own HBW ordering?? Makes it so user unfriendly
 
birdboybowley said:
Agree that Lynx's Birds of Colombia is a great book....but the bloody taxonomic order 🤬🤬🤬🤬 couldn't they just've followed their own HBW ordering?? Makes it so user unfriendly
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Quoting from the Lynx website:

Taxonomy​

The field guides in the collection all follow the same design, in order to facilitate their use, and this homogeneity includes the taxonomy, which is that of the HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. To give more attention to local taxa, all subspecies groups present in the region have full entries as well.

So does that mean they have abandoned that policy? 😢😢
 
My most revelatory natural history read of 2021 was Entangled Life - How Fungi make our worlds, change our minds and shape our futures, by Merlin Sheldrake, published by Vision. (£10.99, Limpback). Yes, it deals with Magic Mushrooms, but it's also serious and sometimes cutting-edge science, wonderfully and entertainingly written, that admits to 100 pages of Notes and References.
MJB
 
MJB said:
My most revelatory natural history read of 2021 was Entangled Life - How Fungi make our worlds, change our minds and shape our futures, by Merlin Sheldrake, published by Vision. (£10.99, Limpback). Yes, it deals with Magic Mushrooms, but it's also serious and sometimes cutting-edge science, wonderfully and entertainingly written, that admits to 100 pages of Notes and References.
MJB
Click to expand...
I came here to post this too, my favourite read of 2021 (well tied with War and Peace that I finished too).
 
"A World on the Wing" by Scott Weidensaul. A study of migration and associated conservation issues. He visits destinations including the Yellow Sea (best known for being vital for the spoon-billed sandpiper but also for hundreds of thousands waders including the almost as rare Naumann's (spotted) greenshank; to Cyprus to look for the effects of hunting and efforts to control it and a location in Nagaland where roost of hundreds of Amur falcons have been discovered. He also describes the latest developments in technology for tracking migrating birds as well as studies on shorebirds and seabird migration.

As well as being a writer he is active in many migration studies and has the rare talent of being able to communicate complicated information in an easy to understand way.
 
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