Steve's Herpetological Blog

An insight into the life of Steve, his research and the many books he reads

Book Review

#StevesLibrary: The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs

Many of you will have a passion that satisfies your inner six year-old, something that captivated you as a child and continues to do so to this day. For me, that passion is dinosaurs. As a child I always wanted…

#StevesLibrary: Buzz

Buzz is one of the many books that I’m thankful to have received from you my readers, for my birthday. I’m slowly catching up with reading and reviewing all of the books that were bought from my Amazon Wish List….

#StevesLibrary: The Deep

As you can probably tell, I’m no marine biologist or oceanographer. However this doesn’t mean that I can’t appreciate the vast array of life that the oceans support. I was born and grew up on the South Essex coast so…

#StevesLibrary: Junk DNA

As someone that has completed a formal education on a biology-related topic, I was well aware beforehand that ‘junk DNA’ isn’t just junk. After all, it makes up the majority of our genome (98% of it is junk DNA). That…

#StevesLibrary: Invasive Aliens

In the world of conservation, there are few groups of species that catch my attention and imagination more than invasive species. These are species that have been moved outside of their native range (usually by the agency of humankind) to…

#StevesLibrary: The Tyrannosaur Chronicles

Who would have guessed it? Tyrannosaurus rex is my favourite dinosaur. Yes I know how cliché that sounds but I am a big kid in a tall man’s body don’t forget. It was T. rex that made me fall in…

#StevesLibrary: Dr Tatiana’s Sex Advice to all Creation

Back when completing my Masters Degree, there was an optional afternoon in how to construct arguments for popular science writing. This was held by Olivia Judson (who I hadn’t heard of until that time) but I wish I had. She…

#StevesLibrary: The Aye-aye and I

The late Gerald Durrell is somewhat of a personal hero of mine, not least because he helped to reshape the course of conservation in the 20th Century along with other figures such as Sir Peter Scott. Unfortunately like most things…

#StevesLibrary: A Buzz in the Meadow

Yes everyone, #StevesLibrary is back! Had a hectic few weeks to get my fieldwork sorted out and get back into the routine but now I’m back on track, I can dedicate more time to reading. I’ve just finished A Buzz…

#StevesLibrary: Crow Country

As many as you can probably understand, I am very much missing my fieldsite at the moment, sent on the border between the Norfolk Brecks and Broads – it is an oasis for wildlife. I’ve been wanting to know more…