ethology

Book review – Selfish Genes to Social Beings: A Cooperative History of Life

8-minute read
keywords: evolutionary biology

Evolution is often characterised rather one-sidedly in terms of a struggle for existence, “red in tooth and claw”, and selfish genes. And yet, as evolutionary biologist Jonathan Silvertown shows here, cooperation in biology is both widespread and ancient. In his entertaining Dinner with Darwin which I reviewed way back in 2018, he briefly touched on food sharing in humans as one example of cooperation; in Selfish Genes to Social Beings, he gives the topic at large the book-length treatment it deserves. Silvertown here writes for a broad audience, explicitly including those without a formal background in biology. With nary an equation in sight, he relies on a potent combination of human-interest stories, wit, and ingenious metaphors to convince you that cooperation is an important component driving evolution.

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Year list – The Inquisitive Biologist’s top 5 reads of 2024

4-minute read

2024 was a year in which I managed to read and review 38 books. What follows is my personal top 5 of the most impactful, most beautiful, and most thought-provoking books I read this year.

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Book review – The Ant Collective: Inside the World of an Ant Colony

6-minute read
keywords: entomology

This is the first of a trio of reviews in which I take a brief detour into ants and collective behaviour more generally. Next up are entomologist Deborah M. Gordon’s 2010 book Ant Encounters and her recent The Ecology of Collective Behavior, but first The Ant Collective. This one grabbed my attention as soon as it was announced. Not a comic or graphic novel, but an A4-format book about ant colonies that is chock-a-block with infographics? Yes, please! Showcasing the best of what science illustration can be and combining it with a genuine outsider’s interest in entomology, The Ant Collective makes for a wonderful graphical introduction that will appeal to a very broad audience of all ages.

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Book review – Dinosaur Behavior: An Illustrated Guide

6-minute read
keywords: paleontology

Reconstructing how dinosaurs behaved from just their fossilised bones might seem like science fiction but is very much science fact. Join me for a double review of two recent illustrated books. I will next review An Illustrated Guide to Dinosaur Feeding Biology but first up is Dinosaur Behavior: An Illustrated Guide. Here, veteran palaeontology professor Michael J. Benton joins forces with palaeoartist Bob Nicholls to do what it says on the tin: write a richly illustrated introductory book on dinosaur behaviour that is well-suited for novices.

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Book review – What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds

7-minute read
keywords: ornithology

Owls are one of the most enigmatic groups of raptors, in part because there is so much we still do not understand about them compared to other birds. Nature writer Jennifer Ackerman previously wrote the critically acclaimed The Genius of Birds. In What an Owl Knows, she reveals the creature that hides under that puffy exterior, peeling back the feathers layer by layer to show our current scientific understanding of owls. She has interviewed scores of scientists and owl aficionados as part of her background research, making this as much a book about owls as about the people who study and love them. A captivating and in places touching science narrative, this book is a hoot from beginning to end.

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Book review – The Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West

8-minute read
keywords: crime, reportage, wildlife conservation

This review is a case of coming late to the party. The Wolf (published in the USA as American Wolf) by Texas journalist Nate Blakeslee was published back in 2017, two years before wolf watcher Rick McIntyre’s series of books on famous wolves in Yellowstone National Park was published. I imagine most people will have read Blakeslee’s book first, but for me it was the other way around. Having just reviewed McIntyre’s The Alpha Female Wolf, which tells of the life and death of arguably the park’s most famous wolf, wolf 06, I was left with many questions regarding the hunting of wolves around Yellowstone. Blakeslee’s book turned out to be an excellent companion.

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Book review – Great Adaptations: Star-Nosed Moles, Electric Eels and Other Tales of Evolution’s Mysteries Solved

7-minute read
keywords: evolutionary biology, zoology

One has to wonder whether the horror writer H.P. Lovecraft had the star-nosed mole in mind when he created the Cthulhu Mythos. Fortunately for us mortals, this little mammal is harmless—though it is not without some extraordinary powers of its own. I first came across the work of biologist Kenneth Catania in the recently reviewed Sentient and had to dig deeper. Great Adaptations is a personal and entertaining account of his almost-five decades career investigating the biological mysteries of the star-nosed mole and other creatures.

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Year list – The Inquisitive Biologist’s top 5 reads of 2021

3-minute read

Despite, or perhaps because of, the ongoing pandemic, 2021 was a phenomenal year for publishing. Though I did not get to nearly as many books as I would have liked, I read and reviewed 67 books this year. 

What follows is my personal top 5 of the most impactful, most beautiful, and most thought-provoking books I read during 2021.

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Book review – Spider Webs: Behavior, Function, and Evolution

8-minute read

You would think that after centuries of studying spider webs we have a pretty good grasp of them. Yet a thorough, book-length review of their construction, function, and evolution has been missing. Emeritus Professor William Eberhard has taken on that colossal task, based on his nearly 50 years of observing spiders and their webs. Some works go on to define their discipline. Spider Webs has all the trappings of becoming the arachnological benchmark for many years to come.

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Book review – Yellowstone Wolves: Science and Discovery in the World’s First National Park

7-minute read

The reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park is one of the best-known examples of wildlife conservation. To celebrate its 25th anniversary and summarise the many lessons learned, Yellowstone Wolf Project leaders Douglas W. Smith and Daniel R. Stahler, together with wildlife ecologist Daniel R. MacNulty, bring together research from over 70 colleagues in this large, edited collection. The combination of academic content, excellent photography, guest essays, and an online bonus documentary with interviews make this the go-to reference work for anyone wanting to go beyond the headlines on this reintroduction project.

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