Getting a Nature Fix: reading about nature

Reading about nature can't replace the experience of exploring and discovering in nature, but it certainly can enhance it, helping us to better understand what we are seeing or to look more closely at details. Earlier this year, for example, I reviewed two excellent books on New Zealand birds and reptiles that added substantially to the knowledge I've gained from volunteer field work.

My own books will, I hope, open children's eyes to what they see in their gardens, parks and at the beach, although on the whole I'd prefer that they spend more time in nature than poring over my books! When I started writing there were relatively few factual books for young children about nature, and despite New Zealand being a country in which most people have contact with nature, there are relatively few nature books for adults that go beyond glossy photos or field guides.

UK bookshop - just one of the many shelves devoted to Nature Writing

What I’m Reading - Summer 2018

Where Song Began: Australia's birds and how they changed the world by Tim Low

Who’d have thought a non-fiction book on birds would be a page-turner! Turns out this one is. Tim Low has a pacy style of writing, and he’s not shy about putting forward his opinions. It’s great to find serious non-fiction with a popular pull. The last book I read like this was The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohleben, a best-seller around the world but with a definite Northern Hemisphere focus. Putting Australian birds at the centre of the bird world might not be popular in the Northern Hemisphere, but for a fellow antipodean this was refreshing. I loved the scope of this book, starting with the intriguing business of sugar feeding birds, the book spanned bird evolution, ecology, and conservation issues. I was left gasping for breath at the end.  There are plenty of mentions of New Zealand birds and those interested in finding out more would find a good companion read in be recently revised Ghosts of Gondwana by George Gibbs.  There are a few photos in the book but those not familiar with Australian birds might be disappointed there aren’t more. Still it’s easy to look up birds in a field guide or App as you read along. I’ll definitely be packing this book on my next trip to Australia, it’ll be a perfect re-read while I’m listening to raucous cockatoos and honeyeaters.

The Fly Trap by Frederick Sjoberg

Lent to me by a friend, this pleasant read is proof even hover flies can be interesting. It seems insect collectors are contemplative people noticers and what better place than a Swedish island. His contemplations about local encounters of people and hover flies are interspersed with some literary reflections and a biography of sorts of Malaise, a Swedish entomologist. Malaise invented an insect trap, hence the title of the book. A delightful read for those who enjoy nature writing.

My blogpost about Ghosts of Gondwana https://explorediscovernature.blogspot.co.nz/2017/03/back-in-time-to-ancient-zealandia-from.html