LINKEDIN BEST READS 2017 SERIES

Small, independent publishers such as Safe Haven continue to outperform in this field. Plants are often relegated to the back of the nature loverвЂ™s bookshelf, but this year it is worth searching out Oak and Ash and Thorn: The Ancient Forests and New Forests of Britain by Peter Fiennes (Oneworld) and LondonвЂ™s Street Trees by Paul Wood (Safe Haven), which adds a fascinating new dimension to any walk through the city. Mammals facing extinction feature in Critical Critters (Bloomsbury), the latest broadside from Ceri Levy and Ralph Steadman: eccentric and important in equal measure. a guillemot, one of the birds featured in Adam NicholsonвЂ™s The SeakbirdвЂ™s Cry. More conventional tastes are catered to in British Mammals, by Dominic Couzens et al, which is a comprehensive guide to identification, habitats, behaviour, distribution and numbers it is absolutely brilliant. These included the surprise hit of this yearвЂ™s Birdfair, BritainвЂ™s Spiders, by Lawrence Bee, Geoff Oxford and Helen Smith, which is ideal for the arachnophile in your life. Princeton continued its partnership with WildGuides, producing more fabulous identification books.

All three appeal to expert and beginner alike. HarperCollinsвЂ™s New Naturalist kept up its usual high standards with three volumes: Early Humans by Nick Ashton, Farming and Birds by Ian Newton and Beetles by Richard Jones вЂ“ astonishingly, the first New Naturalist to cover this fascinating group of insects in the seriesвЂ™ 70-year history.

LINKEDIN BEST READS 2017 SERIES

Other creatures got a look in this year, thanks to two series at the top of their game. Alex Preston, better known for his novels, joined forces with artist Neil Gower to produce the delightful As Kingfishers Catch Fire (Corsair), an original look at the literature inspired by BritainвЂ™s birdlife.

Mike Toms and his colleagues at the British Trust for Ornithology focused on the miracles of bird migration in Flight Lines (BTO), which was illustrated beautifully by members of the Society of Wildlife Artists. Songs of Love and War (Bloomsbury) by Dominic Couzens delivers a dramatic behind-the-scenes account of birdsвЂ™ breeding behaviour, while Adam NicholsonвЂ™s The SeabirdвЂ™s Cry (William Collins) is a paean to some of our most charismatic wild creatures вЂ“ as one birder puts it, вЂњreal birds eat fishвЂќ. Similarly, David CobhamвЂ™s Bowland Beth: The Life of An English Hen Harrier (HarperCollins) is guaranteed to make the reader angry about the wildlife crimes being committed so blatantly by the grouseвЂ‘shooting industry.Д«irds always feature extensively in these annual roundups and this year is no exception. Brilliant insight or dangerous nonsense? You decide.ДЇor those who think the latter, PГЎdraic FogartyвЂ™s Whittled Away: IrelandвЂ™s Vanishing Nature (Collins) serves as a timely warning. Chris ThomasвЂ™s Inheritors of the Earth (Allen Lane), subtitled How Nature Is Thriving in An Age of Extinction, took playing devilвЂ™s advocate to extremes by suggesting that the number of speciesвЂ™ extinctions recently is a sign that the planet is working just fine. Neil Gower provided the illustrations for Alex PrestonвЂ™s As Kingfishers Catch Fire.

Linkedin best reads 2017