Book Reviews from the Now That's Wild Bookshelves
The Voyage of The Beagle
Now that we have satellites circling Earth and multiple technologies broadcasting minute to minute details of our planet, it is hard to imagine a time when much of the globe was unknown and large swaths of maps had yet to be filled in. All that changed during a period of great exploration that began with several epic travels.
In The Voyage of the Beagle, Charles Darwin shares his scientific observations, character, puzzlement and delight. The Voyage of the Beagle is a marvelous book to browse. The reader can open it at any page and enter Darwin’s world, sharing in his excitement, sense of wonder and thought. The book takes us back to a time of heroic travel, when people would embark on journeys of great hardship to explore unknown territory and bring back knowledge.
BOOK REVIEWS
Looking for a Good Book to Read?
Reading a good book is an important piece in the foundation of any education. What better way to learn than from those who have done the research for you and have made it available to you? This is a selection of our favorite books and we’d like to share them with you!
Bugged: The Insects Who Rule the World and the People Obsessed with ThemAn off-beat scientific journey of history, culture and travel into the fascinating world of insects.
The Enigma of the Owl: An Illustrated Natural HistoryAn invitation into the mysterious lives of owls from around the world.
EndangeredA powerful visual record of threatened animals and ecosystems facing the harshest challenges.
Where the Animals Go: Tracking Wildlife with Technology in 50 Maps and GraphicsA striking example of how innovative technology can be used to increase our understanding of the natural world.
Immersion: The Science and Mystery of Freshwater MusselsAn invitation to journey through rivers and streambeds in search of vanishing species of freshwater mussels to examine the impacts on nature.
The Lost Species: Great Expeditions in the Collections of Natural History MuseumsFantastic species, all new to science, unearthed in the drawers and basements of natural history museums.
Other Minds: The Octopus and the Evolution of Intelligent LifeCasting a new light on the octopus mind—and our own.
Improbable Destinies: How Predictable is Evolution?A dazzling tour of evolution.
Monarchs and Milkweed: A Migrating Butterfly, a Poisonous Plant, and Their Remarkable Story of CoevolutionA vivid investigation into how the monarch butterfly evolved closely alongside the milkweed.
How to Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog): Visionary Scientists and a Siberian Tale of Jump-Started Evolution.A decades-long experiment speeding up thousands of years of evolution.
The Wasp That Brainwashed the Caterpillar: Evolution’s Most Unbelievable Solutions to Life’s Biggest ProblemsA brilliant and informative look into the strangest solutions employed by evolution.
Are We Smart Enough To Know How Smart Animals Are?Frans de Waal explorers both the scope and depth of animal intelligence revealing just how smart animals really are.
The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the WorldTravel along and meet breeders, scientists and activists to see how cats used their relationships with humans to become the most powerful animals on the planet.
Lab Girl: A Story of Trees, Science and LoveA thrilling account of a gifted geobiologist’s discovery of her vocation and the secret lives of plants.
Sex in the SeaA staggering exploration of the way life begets life beneath the waves while connecting the issues of sustainable oceans.
Feathers: Displays of Brilliant PlumageA captivating perspective of the vast beauty of a seemingly simple thing: the feather.
Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for LifeA provocative and urgent call to save the planet and its species.
Pollination PowerFrom the wings of moths to the feet of hoverflies and the head feathers of nectar-seeking birds, the process of pollination is a natural marvel.
Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into the Wild and Haunting World of DolphinsExploring a watery world of intriguing creatures and the people they captivate.
Beyond Words: What Animals Think and FeelAn intimate view of animal behavior that challenges fixed boundaries between humans and animals.
The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New WorldA look at a visionary German naturalist whose ideas changed the way we see the natural world and created modern environmentalism.
The Story of Life in 25 FossilsThe twenty-five fossils portrayed in this book show animals in their evolutional splendor-every fossil tells a story.
BiophiliaA passionate engagement with the beautiful forms in nature. This is a must-have for nature lovers.
The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of ConsciousnessAn emotional and physical exploration into the complex and intelligent world of the octopus.
Bee Time: Lessons from the HiveThe experience of an apiary comes alive with lessons from three decades spent studying bees.
The Birds of PandemoniumAmazing stories make up the heart of this book teaching us volumes about humans and animals.
The Book of EggsA fabulous reference book full of facts and details with every image in lovely color. See what inspired countless biologists, ecologists, ornithologists and artists. On every page, it’s spring!
The Sixth ExtinctionA major book about the future blending intellectual and natural history with field reporting into a powerful account of the mass extinction unfolding before our eyes.
The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism among the PrimatesPrimatologist de Waal shows evidence that social primates, like humans, are essentially good and motivated by survival benefits of living within the group.
Ginkgo: The Tree That Time ForgotThe ginkgo tree has remained unchanged since the age of the dinosaurs. Botanist Crane reminds us that plants, like people, can hide surprising life stories.
A World of Insects: The Harvard University Press Reader (2012)This is an excellent anthology of groundbreaking studies in entomology. If you’re at all interested in insects or have children who are into nature, this book is for you.
Evolution: Making Sense of Life (2012)This book will inspire students and develop a solid foundation in evolutionary biology while showing why evolution makes such brilliant sense.
Horseshoe Crabs and Velvet Worms: The Story of the Animals and Plants That Time Has Left Behind (2011)From one of the world’s leading natural scientists comes a wonderful chronicle of organisms that have survived almost unchanged throughout time.
What A Plant Knows: A Field Guide to the Senses (2012)Director of the Manna Center for Plant Biosciences at Tel Aviv University, Mr. Chamovitz provides a fascinating explanation of how plants survive.
The Greatest Show On Earth (2010)Richard Dawkins presents a straight forward explanation of the evidence of evolution.
Why Evolution Is True (2009)Jerry Coyne delivers a clear scientific explanation of evolution.
Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body (2008)A compelling account of the vestiges of evolution present in the anatomy of humans.
Deep Ancestry (2006)A landmark DNA quest to decipher our human distant past.
Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2005)Sean Carroll is very good at explaining the invisible rules for building animals and humans. An excellent introduction to evolution through developmental mechanisms and gives non-specialists a good view of regulatory genes.
The Ancestor’s Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life (2004)This is a fantastic walk backwards through time to meet each of our ancestors. No one does a clear explanation of evolutionary biology like Professor Richard Dawkins.
Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea (2001)This pick is a well-written volume to the critically acclaimed PBS NOVA mini-series and a mesmerizing introduction to contemporary evolutionary biology.
Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters (1999)A former science writer for the Economist, Mr. Ridley, inspired by Primo Levi’s memoir using the periodic table, delivers a wonderful explanation of how traits that make us human are a product of our DNA. Ridley explores each of our 23 chromosomes that speak to different aspects of our humanity.
The Evolutionary Biology of Plants (1997)A comprehensive synthesis of modern evolutionary biology as it relates to plants. This is a great book for undergraduates investigating how plants evolved.
Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meaning of Life (1995)A true work of academia. This book requires most careful attention especially for those without a scientific or philosophical background but is a fantastic read.
The Private Life of Plants (1995)Based on an immensely popular BBC program this book offers an intimate view of the private life of plants and will please any reader exploring the natural world.
The Diversity of Life (1992)Winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, Wilson explores the rising of biodiversity.
Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History (1989)A wonderful work examining the “Cambrian explosion”. Although many of Gould’s points have been questioned the point remains that fluke and serendipity have profoundly influenced the history of life.
On The Origin of Species (1859)Despite being published before the discovery of DNA this classic remains a robust description of evolution.