What is on your bookshelf

Hi Guys,

I just finished "The Ancestor's tale" by Richard Dawkins and would recomend it to those interesed in evolutionary biology. It has an interesting format and is light enough to read for leisure but still interesting.

Adam

"The Secret Life of Sharks" by Peter Klimley Amazon

This fantastic book describes some highlights of a marine biologist's career studying sharks over thirty years. Well-written, the book focuses on the process of science, as fascinating results are slowly teased out. You feel like you are there: diving, looking for sharks, tagging them, tracking them, and trying to interpret the data. (On the flip side, though: despite the book's title, if you want a shark encyclopedia, look elsewhere.)

The two major studies detailed are of hammerhead sharks -- trying to understand why they school in great numbers in certain locations, and how they navigate -- and great white sharks -- trying to understand how they hunt, and how they interact with each other. In each case, the results are nontrivial -- but I won't give any spoilers here! (Were I a scientific reviewer, I might argue that the author is too eager to ascribe intelligence and social characteristics to sharks, before collecting bulletproof data. Also, some of his math -- for example, the "fuzzy logic" used for measuring great white shark tail slapping social displays -- is a bit immature.) The book concludes with a sobering chapter on the disappearance of the hammerhead schools the author had studied.

My latest toy is the "fishes of the Caribbean and adjacent waters" DVD from ReefNet. I've only scratched the surface of all the content but if covers about 650 species, many with multiple images (including fun juvenile to adult series) and for many there is a video clip to show how the fish swims and responds to the photographer. They just signed a deal with New World Publications and it has the Humann and Deloach golden hamlet picture on the sleeve, but all the images and info is unique. Wonder if the H&D images will be added later.

Additional interesting features are a fishID quiz with four levels of difficulty (the hardest one tests your latin as well). Even better there is a fishID wizard. I told it to suggest the name of a laterally compressed fish, with bars, black and white colours, and living in the surf zone. It had the night sergeant as the top of 4 choices, which was indeed the fish I had in mind. It is too early to tell how reliable this is in general but it can certainly help novices narrow down the number of fish to look at.

Bart

I have read Cousteau's "The Silent World" many times - it is a book which whilst apparently somewhat controversial (now that is) evokes a real sense of exploration and wonder of the underwater world that I have found few other books to do. I often see secondhand paperbacks for just a £ or 2 and for this money its an extremely good value read.

These are some of the favourites from my shelves:

B) SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION

Australia - Reef , rainforest, Red Heart, Darren Jew

available from:

from Amazon.com

From amazon.co.uk

TO IMPROVE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY TECHNIQUE

The Camera, Ansel Adams

The Negative, Ansel Adams

The Print, Ansel Adams

The Nature Photographer's Complete Guide to Professional Field Techniques, John Shaw

Photography and the Art of Seeing, Freeman Patterson

INSPIRATION TO GET YOU OUT THERE SHOOTING

Within A Rainbowed Sea, Christopher Newbert

Water Light Time, David Doubilet

Serengeti, Mitsuaki Iwagu

Brother Wolf, Jim Brandenburg

On this Earth, Nick Brandt

Wildlife Photographer of the Year Portfolios 1 through 16, BBC

ENVIRONMENT TO HELP YOU ARGUE YOUR POINT

The Lorax, Dr Seuss

The Sea Around Us, Rachel Carson

The Gia Atlas of Planet Management, Norman Meyers

The Weather Makers, Tim Flannery

Island in Space - Prostectus for a New Idea, various- Pamela Peck Editor

TRAVEL/NON-FICTION/LANDSCAPE FOR ON THE PLANE

Of Wolves and Men, Barry Lopez

Arctic Dreams, Barry Lopez

The Rediscovery of North America, Barry Lopez

Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping with his Daughter, Barry Lopez

Crossing Open Ground, Barry Lopez

Winter Count, Barry Lopez

Light Action in the Caribbean, Barry Lopez

About this Life, Barry Lopez

The Tree Where man Was Born, Peter Matthiessen

The Snow Leopard, Peter Matthiessen

In the Spirit of crazy Horse, Peter Matthiessen

In Patagonia, Bruce Chatwin

The Crystal Desert, David Campbell

The Blue Bear, Lynn Schooler

50 things you want to know about world issues...but were afraid to ask, Keith Suter

The Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson

ADVENTURE/SURVIVAL TO HELP YOU KNOW WHICH ARE THE RIGHT DECISIONS TO MAKE

Shackelton's Argonauts, Frank Hurley

Land of the Blizzard, Douglas Mawson

Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why, Laurence Gonzales

Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Aron Ralston

DIVING/UNDERWATER

Diving to Adventure, Hans Haas

The Shark, Jaques Cousteau

Dolphins, Jaques Cousteau & Phillippe Diole

Diving for Sunken Treasure, Jacques Cousteau & Phillippe Diole

Darren

Here're two more:

For people like me who go on maybe one extended dive trip a year, Martin Edge's "The Underwater Photographer" (now in its third edition) is a cracking reference book to help brush up on the flight over... kind of like a Scuba Tune-up for rusty u/w photographers.

"Stars Beneath The Sea" by Trevor Norton is a review of the extraordinary lives of the pioneers of diving, and makes for great bedtime reading.

Mark