Born Again Bird Watcher

Let’s face it; while Peruvian culture and cuisine are indeed interesting, the real reason I’m making the journey to that nation with Gunnar Engblom and Kolibri Expeditions is to see and photograph wildlife – particularly that belonging to the Class Aves. However were I simply to turn up in Cuzco without having spent considerable time learning about the assorted creatures that walk, crawl, fly, swim, and in a dozen other ways traverse the Peruvian countryside, I would be overwhelmed by the sheer number of life forms I beheld before me. Therefor, I have begun in earnest to read from some field guides that have been recommended to me in order to be able to become at least passingly familiar with some of the birds, mammals, insects, and other wildlife whose paths I might cross in my journey. (more…)

When Tupac Amaru, the last Sapa Inca, was killed by Spanish soldiers at the town square in Cuzco in 1572 (whether he was murdered or executed depends upon your perspective), the great culture of the Inca was transformed from reality into legend. What little we know about them is primarily drawn from information recorded by the Spanish conquistadors and, as such, is subject to much interpretation regarding its veracity. Yet in the world today, few cultures exert as much power upon the imagination as that of the Incas. (more…)

Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Gathering Moss, an award-winning collection of essays both personal and bryological, is this week’s featured book on The Well-read Naturalist.

As luck would have it, I arrived in the city last Friday evening a tad too early for a scheduled gathering at the headquarters of one of my old graduate schools. Not wanting to sit twiddling my thumbs in a lobby before the doors opened, I pointed the Prius down the street to the downtown location of Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon for a little pre-event shelf perusing. After half an hour, I walked out with an early hardcover edition of Rachel Carson’s The Sea Around Us and a second book, specifically about trees, from a series that whenever I read one, I feel as if I have bitten directly into Proust’s famous madeleine and been transported right back to my childhood; this series being the famous Golden Nature Guides. (more…)

Most people who do any serious amount of reading invariably come to a point in their respective lives when they realize that there is a book of great significance that they have yet to read. In my own case, this happened most recently upon the observance of the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birthday. Despite being a natural history writer, a student of modern religious social history, and a voracious reader, I find it necessary to confess that I have yet to read the primary works of Charles Darwin in their entirety. (more…)

For those who might not yet have discovered it, Princeton University Press is publishing quite a respectable blog to bring news of their new and forthcoming titles to the attention of the reading public. As Princeton has long been a cornerstone publisher for works of natural history, particularly ornithology, it is indeed encouraging to see them using the blog to not only advertise their books but to join in the great online blog conversation as well and in so doing play an active role in the community as a whole. (more…)

The life of a book critic is certainly not without its joys. Among these I count having the opportunity to meet authors whose books I have found particularly noteworthy for their erudition, their style, or their overall ability to convey their respective messages to the reader. Such meetings are particularly enjoyable when, as a result, it is discovered that the author of such a reviewed book is every bit as charming and intelligent as the book from his or her own hand. (more…)