Science historian Daniel Lewis set out to write a biography of Robert Ridgway (1850–1929), the Smithsonian's first curator of birds. Apparently finding that material about Ridgway would not fill a book, Lewis used Ridgway to illustrate the transformation of ornithology from the lyrical, poetic, and artistic study of birds to a scientific discipline. The material provided by Lewis about Ridgway is rather flat and superficial. Little about the man's personality or temperament is given, other than a number of statements about his nearly crippling shyness. Perhaps this shyness, combined with the time-intensive production of two enormous works, a staggering number of papers, and a small mountain of popular literature, limited interaction with his colleagues, family, and friends; little is visible in this book. He apparently did not commit his thoughts to diaries or an extensive correspondence. A few mentions of constant struggle for money constitute the only personal color. The...
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1 December 2012
ORNITHOLOGICAL LITERATURE|
December 01 2012
Ornithological Literature
The Feathery Tribe.
Daniel
Lewis
Yale University Press
New Haven, Connecticut, USA 2012
368 pages, 20 black and white illustrations.
978-0-300-17552-3. $ 49.50 (hardcover)AUSTRALIAN HIGH COUNTRY OWLS.
Jerry
Olsen
CSIRO Publishing
Collingwood, Victoria, Australia 2012
x and 366 pages, 23 color plates, numerous figures and tables.
978-0-643-09705-6. AUD 69.95 (paper)EMERGING AVIAN DISEASE.
Ellen
Paul
University of California Press
Berkeley, California, USA 2012
108 pages.
978-0-520-27237-8. $39.95 (hardcover)
Margaret A. Voss
Margaret A. Voss
Book Review Editor
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The Wilson Journal of Ornithology (2012) 124 (4): 829–834.
Citation
Margaret A. Voss; Ornithological Literature. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 1 December 2012; 124 (4): 829–834. doi: https://doi.org/10.1676/1559-4491-124.4.829
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