Steve's Herpetological Blog

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

#StevesLibrary

#StevesLibrary: Top 10 Illegal Wildlife Trade Books

After a few conservations with some friends, I thought I’d do something a little different and put together a list of my Top 10 popular science books on the illegal wildlife trade. As a reminder, the illegal wildlife trade (IWT)…

#StevesLibrary: Entangled Life

To try to reduce my fungi-blindness from a conservation perspective, I recently read Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake. As someone that has studied pathogenic fungi for a number…

#StevesLibrary: Slime – A Natural History

If you’ve ever picked up a frog or held frogspawn, one word may come to mind to describe the sensation that you feel. Slime. I am no stranger to this feeling and so I was surprised recently when I found…

#StevesLibrary: Bitch

Another book I wish I got around to reading sooner, is Lucy Cooke’s Bitch. This sharp, witty, and thoroughly researched counter-narrative to the male-centric assumptions that have dominated the field of evolutionary biology for over a century, was an absolute…

#StevesLibrary: A Natural History of Sea Serpents

One of the things that has always captivated me is the the swirling legends of sea serpents. Those elusive, monstrous beings said to rise from the deep with eyes like lanterns and bodies long enough to wrap around ships. As…

#StevesLibrary: Infinite Life

First of all, I must apologise for the long hiatus of this series. Life has been extremely hectic over the past 9 months and so, I haven’t been able to read as much I would have like to. I also…

#StevesLibrary: The Secret Life of Fungi

Hopefully by now, you know that I have a fascination for fungi. This has mainly stemmed from the pathogenic species that infect amphibians (such as Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) and reptiles (such as Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola, which I investigated as part of my…

#StevesLibrary: Hacking The Code of Life

This is one of those books that I’ve recommended to a number of people, yet have accidentally forgotten to feature here on my blog. Hacking The Code of Life by Nessa Carey is a captivating exploration into the world of…

#StevesLibrary: Platypus Matters

Regular readers of the blog will know that it isn’t just books on amphibians and reptiles that I read, but all areas of science. It feels like I haven’t produced one of these reviews in forever – apologies for that…

#StevesLibrary: Tadpole Hunter

It is rare that I get the chance to review a book with a herpetological theme (there aren’t many of them out there despite my best efforts to pitch my ideas to publishers), but that changes this week! Tadpole Hunter…