This includes books I find excellent reference, and ones I enjoyed reading.
The
Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan
A study of science versus pseudoscience, covering a number of topics. Includes extensive chapters on debunking alien abductions, psychic mediums, the vilification of scientists in popular media, and discusses how scientifically ignorant most people are. An atheist, Sagan also discusses some religious and theological issues.
The
Ecology of Fear by Mike Davis
A book by Macarthur (sp?) Genius
grant award-winner, this is about the landscapes of Los Angeles; natural,
racial and economic. The basic premise
of the book is that the landscape and climate of the area is not meant to
hold a city of
Visions
of Caliban by Dale Peterson and Jane Goodall
This is a very interesting, readable
book about humanity’s various ways of interacting with its closest relative,
the chimpanzee. Includes chapters on
how native Africans treat them, both as pets and a food source, about the
business of selling them (the least interesting chapter, IMHO), about people
who keep them as pets in Western countries (the most interesting chapter),
about chimps in lab research, about chimps in language studies, and attempts
to rescue and rehabilitate them. This
is not an easy book to read; the horrific treatment some of the chimps receive
is shocking. The only thing I wish
for is an updated version where the fate of some of the young pet chimps we
read about is discussed. The author
points out that although people with infant chimps say they’re going to keep
them forever (which can be 50+ years), most of the post-adolescent ones seem
to vanish.
The
Hot Zone by Richard Preston
An admittedly sensationalistic
account of various Ebola virus outbreaks in
Helter
Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi
The famous book by the LA lawyer
who prosecuted the Charles Manson case. A
new version has an afterward that describes at length the fates of various
people talked about in the book, and solves some other mysteries that the
original book couldn’t answer when it was written (such as where the body
of murdered Spahn ranch hand “Shorty” Shea was buried.)
One thing that quickly becomes clear is that the (in)competency of
the LAPD hasn’t appreciably changed in the 30-odd years between the Manson
killings and the OJ Simpson case. Helter
Skelter includes one of the best opening lines to a book ever written: “It was
so quiet, one of the killers would later say, you could almost hear the sound
of ice rattling in cocktail shakers in the homes way down the canyon.”
Animal
editors: Don E. Wilson and David Burnie
Probably the best overall photographic
reference for animals. This covers
everything, from mammals to sponges. If
you need to know what a degu, treecreeper or peanut worm looks like, this
is the book to go to. Expensive and
bulky, but if you can only get one reference book for animals, this is it.
DK
Eyewitness handbooks
An excellent series. Both interesting to read, and invaluable for
reference. Very high production values,
great photography and inexpensive. The
books furry or animal artists will find most useful would be Mammals, Birds of the World, Reptiles and Amphibians,
Insects, Dogs, Horses and Cats.
Why
People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer
A book not unlike Demon Haunted World, covering some of the
same ground, and exploring things that Sagan only touched on, like Holocaust
denial and Scientific Creationism. Also
includes an entertaining account of the author’s own ‘alien abduction.’
The
Doomsday Book of Animals by David Day
This is the book that started my
long-time interest in extinct animals. Interesting
and sad accounts of vertebrates extinct from the early 1600s on to the present
day. Most of the book is taken up by
bird and mammal extinctions (including a number of wolf subspecies.) The book is enhanced by excellent art by several
different artists.
Extinct
Birds (2nd
edition) by Errol Fuller
A book that takes up and expands
where Doomsday Book left off. Illustrated with contemporary lithographs, photographs
where available, and some excellent reconstruction paintings, this is a beautiful
book. It treats species more in-depth
than Doomsday Book, and is highly
recommended for anyone who wants to read more about the subject of extinct
birds.
Eagles,
Hawks and Falcons of the World by Leslie Brown and Dean Amadon
This book is only available as a
very expensive collector’s item, and hasn’t been in print for years. I lucked out getting a copy from a natural history
book dealer, and I’ve never seen it for sale on EBay. However, any serious artist of raptors should
try to get a copy. While the text is
somewhat dated, but book is invaluable for its illustrations. Featuring stunning paintings by wildlife art
giants such as Guy Coheleach, Albert Gilbert, Don Eckelberry and Roger Tory
Peterson, among others, this book has illustration of every
single raptor in the world, plus range maps and illustrations of each
species in flight. If you ever wanted
to find a picture of a Gurney’s Hawk or a black-chested hawk-eagle, this is
the book.
The
Best of Dear Abby by Abigail Van
Buren
A self-explanatory title. How can you not like a book with gems like this:
“… I have met a woman who is perfect
for me in every way. With her I can
find the happiness I’ve always dreamed of.
However, I still feel an obligation to the woman I’m married to…” and “
…I joined the navy to see the world. I’ve
seen it. Now how do I get out?”
Hummingbirds
of the
This book probably has the best
photos of hummingbirds that I’ve ever seen.
Beautiful just to look at, and invaluable if you’re ever planning to
draw or paint a hummingbird. It also
has a listing and photos of various plants that hummingbirds visit in the
100
Greatest Disasters of All Time by Stephen J. Spignesi
The title says it all! It
covers well-know catastrophes such as the sinking of the Titanic, 9-11 and the
Xenia tornado, but also far more obscure events such as "The English Sweating
Sickness" (which killed 3 million people between 1485 and 1551) and the 1903
Iroquois Theater Fire in Chicago, which killed over 600 people. The one
thing I learned from this book is that God must really hate the Chinese,
because they've been hit with more horrible disasters that have killed more
people than any other place on the planet. Also, Stalin's farming policies in
the 1920's and 30's killed far more people from starvation than died at the
Nazi camps during WWII. A fascinating book, if the subject matter
interests you.
Walker
The most comprehensive volume available
about mammals. The black and white
photos, sometimes of museum specimens, could be improved, but the book covers
EVERY mammal known. The text is fairly
technical, but it also gives measurements of all mammals, and has pictures
of most of them. A must-have book for
the serious animal artist or writer.
Insects
of the
While it may be specialized, if
you live in the Southern California area and are interested in what those
bugs are that get stuck to wet paint, or turn up in your bathroom, or buzz
annoyingly around your face while you’re out hiking, then this is the right
book. I haven’t yet found a bug in
this area that I can’t identify with this book.
This book is the career culmination for the author, who was entomologist
at the LA County Museum of Natural History.
I wanted to write him and let him know how much I enjoyed the book,
but it was published posthumously. Oh
well.
Wild
Cats of the World by Barbara Sleeper
The title pretty much says it all. Beautiful photos by Art Wolfe of nearly every species of
wild cat are worth the price of admission alone. The text is nothing to get excited over, but offers a good overview of the subject for the layman. Anyone who enjoys or draws wild cats should have a copy of this.
Guns,
Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
The Pulitzer Prize winning book
about the evolution and shaping of human societies, and what enabled certain
groups of people to dominate (and in some cases completely destroy) other
groups. In answers the question of how Europeans were able to take over
the New World so quickly and thoroughly. Of course the book is far more
complex than that brief summary can convey. A brilliant and highly
readable work.
The
Book of Lists by Amy Wallace and David Wallechinsky
I loved this book as a teen. Very trashy, but difficult to put down. I think they’ve done more recent versions, but
I haven’t seen them. Something I’ll
need to look into…
After
Man and The New Dinosaurs by Dougal
These are worth getting for the
excellent artwork of fantastic creatures.
The first book is a speculation on what current wildlife would evolve
into when/if humanity becomes extinct. Some
of the creatures are kind of far-fetched, but the book is entertaining to
read and the animals are fun to look at. The second book, which for some reason is much
more difficult to come by than the first one, speculates on what dinosaurs,
pterosaurs and birds would have evolved into if they had not become extinct
and mammals did not evolve to world dominance. More polished than After Man, and with wonderful artwork, this is worth getting by anyone
who’s interested in dinosaurs or alien creatures.
Contacting
Aliens: an illustrated guide to David Brin's Uplift Universe by David Brin
& Kevin Lenaugh
This book won't be of much
interest if you haven't read any of the Uplift books, but if you have, it's a
fascinating and informative read. The illustrations, while not on the
level of Wayne Barlow or Michael Whelan, are certainly competent and nicely
fit the text. A great book to look through if you're interested in
creating alien-looking aliens.
The
Big Cats and their Fossil Relatives by Alan Turner
A must-have book for anyone who wants to draw or write about sabertooth cats. The text may be a little too scientific for the lay reader, but there’s dozens of excellent illustrations by European artist Mauricio Anton, both in color and black and white. Definitely worth ordering from Amazon if you can’t find it in a bookstore.