Steve's Herpetological Blog

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

Popular Science

#StevesLibrary: The Soul of an Octopus

It isn’t often that you read a book that makes you revaluate the relationship between humans and animals, as much as The Soul of an Octopus did. I’m not going to lie, for a while I had a fear of…

#StevesLibrary: Sex, Botany and Empire

After reading The Naming of the Shrew recently, I was eager to find our more about Carl Linnaeus in an easily digestible format. That is where Sex, Botany & Empire comes in. The author, Patricia Fara is a historian of…

#StevesLibrary: The Book of Humans

A book that has been waiting patiently on my bookcase for me to read for a while, is The Book of Humans by Adam Rutherford. If you’re familiar with Rutherford, then you’ll know that he’s an intelligent and witty communicator….

#StevesLibrary: The Naming of the Shrew

There are many things that you learn during the course of a zoology degree, and the subsequent years regarding the scientific naming of animals and plants. These include such facts as the binomial system of taxonomy that we use today…

#StevesLibrary: The Drunken Forest

I had to end 2021 on a positive note, and so I chose to read The Drunken Forest by Gerald Durrell, for the simple fact that Durrell’s writing is always something that helps fill you with optimism and hope. Durrell…

#StevesLibrary: Eat Me

First off, as this is my first blog post since before the festive season, I hope you had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I thought I’d kick 2022 off with something a little different, that I…

#StevesLibrary: Our Place

The book ‘ve just finished reading is one that took a little longer to get through than I had hoped, but it is quite densely packed with a whole host of interesting and relevant information. Our Place by Mark Cocker…

#StevesLibrary: How Bad Are Bananas?

I’m always happy to pick up a book, that makes me stop and think about my impact on the world. It just so happens that How Bad Are Bananas? by Mike Berners-Lee is one of these. Berners-Lee is a carbon…

#StevesLibrary: All That Remains

When you pick up a book about death, you expect it to be slightly sad and macabre. That is just the nature of the subject. Yet, Professor Dame Sue Black is able to make death a more welcoming subject by…

#StevesLibrary: What Do You Think Are?

When I first picked up What Do You Think You Are? by Brian Clegg, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’d just finished I, Mammal by Liam Drew which documents what makes humans mammals, which meant that I was already…