Steve's Herpetological Blog

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

Books

#MuseumMonday: Timeline of exhibitions at the British Library

The British Library is perhaps best known as one of the world’s great repositories of books, manuscripts and historical documents, but its collections also provide a remarkable window into the natural world and our understanding of it. Across its history,…

#StevesLibrary: The Lives of Snakes – A Natural History of the World’s Snakes

Who is ready for another book review? The Lives of Snakes: A Natural History of the World’s Snakes by Chris Mattison is an ambitious and beautifully presented exploration of one of the most misunderstood groups of animals on Earth. Written…

#StevesLibrary: DK Eyewitness: Amphibian

Thinking about my own personal development, few publishers have shaped children’s non-fiction as profoundly as Dorling Kindersley (DK). For more than three decades, the Eyewitness series has introduced millions of readers to subjects ranging from dinosaurs and space exploration to…

#StevesLibrary: Spare Parts

As you may have noticed, I have been down a bit of a medical history rabbit hole recently, you’ll be glad that this is still going strong! I recently learned about Spare Parts: An Unexpected History of Transplants by Paul…

#StevesLibrary: The Butchering Art

Many of you will be familiar from my recent blog posts and those on social media that I have had a fun time exploring medical history recently. This has extended beyond the museums and exhibitions to books, which I am…

#StevesLibrary: The Lives of Frogs – A Natural History

It is not very often that we get a new mainstream book on frogs, which are an animal group which I have a close affinity to. On the surface, frogs might seem like simple, ordinary creatures, those small amphibians you…

#StevesLibrary: Top 10 books on Rewilding

These Top 10 lists I’ve been writing every now and again seem to be popular, so I may try to write one every month or so. The topic of this list is books on rewilding. But what is it? Rewilding…

#StevesLibrary: Gone – Stories of Extinction

Many of you will be aware that I am extremely passionate about conservation and trying to prevent extinction. I do not feel that the majority of humans understand or have the ability to comprehend extinction and unfortunately a book a…

#StevesLibrary: Gathering Moss – A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses

Regular readers of the blog will know that I am doing my best to try to combat plant-blindness. I’ve been visiting more botanical gardens and purchased some books on the topic of plant conservation. One of these is Robin Wall…

#StevesLibrary: Turing and the Universal Machine

Okay, time for something a little different. Jon Agar’s Turing and the Universal Machine: The Making of the Modern Computer is a concise, thoughtful entry in the Icons Science series that does more than recount the life of Alan Turing….