Ian Fraser is a Canberra-based professional naturalist and writer (viz, he doesn't make much money!) who is the author of seven books on local natural history, most recently A Bush Capital Year, CSIRO Publishing, with artist Peter Marsack. He has run the educational Environment Tours nature-based tours program in association with the local Environment Centre since 1984 and has been the voice of natural history on local ABC radio since 1992. The ABC recently produced a four-CD set of his 'Around the Bush Capital' series. In 2001 he won the Australian Plants Award, Australian Native Plants Association, professional category and in 2006 he was awarded the Australian Natural History Medallion. He claims no expertise and has no natural history favourites - except for birds and orchids ...
This periodic review is emailed free on request, in order to help anyone interested in Australian natural history to keep up with the burgeoning literature.
Ian welcomes feedback and suggestions: calochilus51@internode.on.net
Book Review # |
Date |
Books reviewed |
Review 15 |
June 2011 |
- The Complete Guide to Finding the Birds of Australia.
Richard Thomas, Sarah Thomas, David Andrew and Alan McBride
- The Curse of the Labrador Duck.
Glen Chilton
- Understanding the Scenery: Morton National Park and the coast from Nowra to Batemans Bay.
Bob and Ann Young
- My Little World.
Julia Cooke
- The Business of Nature: John Gould and Australia.
Roslyn Russell
- Mistletoes of Southern Australia.
David Watson
- Tidbinbilla A to Z.
Tidbinbilla Volunteer Presenters
- Namadgi, a national park for the national capital.
Christine Goonrie and Clive Hurlstone
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December 2010 |
- Native Plants of the Sydney Region.
Alan Fairley and Philip Moore
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December 2010 |
- Forest Phoenix: how a great forest recovers after wildfire.
David Lindenmayer, David Blair, Lachlan McBurney, Sam Banks.
- Upside Down World: early European impressions of Australia`s curious animals.
Penny Olsen
- Parrots of the World.
Joseph Forshaw and Frank Knight
- A Guide to the Katydids of Australia. David Rentz
- A Guide to the Beetles of Australia. George Hangay and Paul Zoborwski
- Spider Silk; evolution and 400 million years of spinning, waiting, snagging and waiting. Leslie Brunetta and Catherine L Craig
- Dingo. Brad Purcell
- Australian Bustard. Mark Ziembicki
- Reptiles of the NSW Murray Catchment: a guide to their identification and conservation. Damian Michael and David Lindenmayer |
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August 2010 |
- Bird Australia.
Dorling Kindersley Publishers
- Australia’s Remarkable Trees.
Richard Allen and Kimbal Baker
- Field Guide to the Frogs of Australia.
Michael Tyler and Frank Knight
- Wombats - second edition.
Barbara Triggs
- Wildlife of Australia.
Louise Egerton and Jiri Lochman
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May 2009 |
- The Wisdom of Birds; an illustrated history of ornithology
- Boom and Bust; bird stories for a dry country
- Australian Bats; second edition
- Spiders; learning to love them
- The Complete Field Guide to Stick and Leaf Insects of Australia
- In the Wake of the Beagle; science in the southern oceans from the age of Darwin
- Sharks and Rays of Australia
- Mound Builders
- Spectacular Snakes of Australia
- Wildlife of Australia; a nature photographers' journey |
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November 2008 |
- Owls, Frogmouths and Nightjars of Australia
- Albatross; their world, their way
- Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds
- Koala; a historical biography
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July 2008 |
- Field Guide to the Orchids of the Australian Capital Territory
- Field Guide to the Native Trees of the ACT
- The Mammals of Australia; third edition
- Albatrosses
- Bowerbirds
- Great Whales
- Feathered Dinosaurs; the origin of birds
- The Flower Hunter; the remarkable life of Ellis Rowan
- The Thinkers of the Jungle; the Orangutan report
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March 2008 |
- Glimpses of Paradise; a quest for the beautiful parrakeet
- Spirit of the Wedge-tailed Eagle; the art of Humphrey Price-Jones
- Native Mice and Rats
- Cockatoos
- Shorebirds of Australia
- Love and the Platypus
- Dictionary of Australian and New Guinea Mammals
- Wild Habitats; a natural history of Australian ecosystems
- Chrysalis; Maria Sibylla Merian and the secrets of metamorphosis |
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October 2007 |
- Anoraks to Zitting Cisticolas; a whole lot of stuff about bird watching
- A Guide to Australian Moths
- Bettongs, Potoroos and the Musky Rat-kangaroo
- Field Guide to the Birds of Australia ; eighth edition
- Remarkable Birds; 100 of the world’s most unmissable birds
- Explore Australia’s National Parks
- The Ferocious Summer; Palmer’s penguins and the warming of Antarctica
- Antarctica; a different adventure |
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March 2007 |
- A Complete Guide to Native Orchids of Australia
- The Encyclopedia of Mammals
- Crocodile; evolution’s greatest survivor
- Patriots; defending Australia’s natural heritage
- Voyages to the South Seas; in search of Terres Australes
- The Evolution Revolution; design without intelligence
- The Ancestor’s Tale; a pilgrimage to the dawn of life
- Roadkill |
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November 2006 |
- The Complete Field Guide to Dragonflies of Australia.
- Fungi Down Under; the fungimap guide to Australian fungi.
- Grasses of South Australia; an illustrated guide to the native and naturalised species.
- Monarch Butterflies; saving the king of the New World.
- Namaqualand; Garden of the Gods.
- Terra Australis Incognita; the Spanish Quest for the Great South Land.
- The Life of George Bass; surgeon and sailor of the Enlightenment.
- Where Fate Beckons; the life of Jean-Francois de la Pérouse.
- Mr Stuart’s Track; the forgotten life of Australia’s greatest explorer. |
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July 2006 |
- Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 7.
- Birds Britannica.
- Venom.
- Slow River; a journey down the Murray.
- How to be a Bad Birdwatcher; to the greater glory of life.
- Rifling Paradise. |
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April 2006 |
- A Book for Maisie.
- TW Edgeworth David; a life
- Backyard Insects.
- Wedge-tailed Eagle.
- The Big Twitch.
- Flowers of the ACT and Region.
- Wild Neighbours; the humane approach to living with wildlife.
- Albatross; elusive mariners of the Southern Ocean. |
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October 2005 |
- Digging up Deep Time; fossils, dinosaurs and megabeasts from Australia’s distant past.
- Tree-Kangaroos of Australia and New Guinea.
- The French Explorers and the Aboriginal Australians 1772 - 1839.
- Encountering Terra Australis; the Australian voyages of Nicholas Baudin and Matthew Flinders.
- Sex in the Bush.
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May 2005 |
- Ocean Shores to Desert Dunes; the native vegetation of New South Wales and the ACT.
- Geology of Australia.
- Australia’s Volcanoes.
- The Complete Field Guide to Butterflies of Australia.
- The Big Year.
- Tree; a biography.
- Herons, Egrets and Bitterns; their biology and conservation in Australia.
- Birds of Australia’s Top End.
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March 2005 |
- A Guide to the Plants of inland Australia.
- Plants of the ACT -
2 CD-Rom set.
- Down by the Riverside; a field and management guide to native plants in and about the rivers of the
Goulburn district, NSW.
- A Field Guide to Reptiles of NSW, & A Complete Guide to Reptiles of Australia.
- Rica Erickson; a naturalist’s life.
- A Pirate of Exquisite Mind; the life of William Dampier, explorer, naturalist and buccaneer.
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