Steve's Herpetological Blog

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

Popular Science

#StevesLibrary: The Missing Lynx

2019 is almost over! I hope that everyone had an amazing Christmas and let me wish you all the best for 2020! Despite the festivities I managed to find the time to finish off one final book before the year…

#StevesLibrary: Darwin’s Island

Regular readers of this blog will be aware that aside from relevant natural history books, I am also very fond of reading books on the history of science. In this book, evolutionary biologist Steve Jones celebrates the bicentennial of Darwin’s…

#StevesLibrary: The Inner Life of Animals

As some of you my remember, I recently read and reviewed one of Peter Wohlleben’s other books The Hidden Life of Trees – I thought it was time to pick up another one of his books and see what I…

#StevesLibrary: The Sea Inside

Some of you may aware of the author Philip Hoare from his previous book Leviathan (which I’m still yet to read) which documented decline of whales as well as their beauty. The Sea Inside moves away from this format instead being…

#StevesLibrary: The Serpent’s Promise

How to sell me a book, stick a frog or a snake on the front cover. Done! There have been a number of people in the past that have tried to scientifically analyse The Bible and explain each of the…

#StevesLibrary: What is Life?

Interestingly enough I acquired my copy of What is Life? by a regular at the pub I used to work behind the bar at in Cambridge. He had become quite frustrated and knowing I was an avid reader of popular…

#StevesLibrary: What Nature Does for Britain

As promised on Instagram, here is the post you’ve all been waiting for! With Brexit looming, I thought it would be a good idea to learn more about the ecosystem services that take place on our doorstep. It’s also important…

#StevesLibrary: Field Notes from a Catastrophe

Following the news that the Amazon has been on fire for a few weeks and accelerating climate change, I thought I’d provide my feedback on a book that seems very relevant given the circumstances. Like you, I’ve been quite disheartened…

#StevesLibrary: The Selfish Gene

The Selfish Gene is one of those books I read back during my undergrad years whilst studying animal behaviour. For those of you that are unaware, it is Richard Dawkins’ first book and at the time it was highly influential….

#StevesLibrary: What Has Nature Ever Done for Us?

As many regular readers of my blog will know, I like to read books when commuting on trains to and from London (this was particularly the case when studying at Imperial College London). One of the many books that helped…