In these scary times, I think we need more reminders of what's wondrous in this wounded world, so here's the start of an ongoing thread about the animal cultural histories in the @reaktionbooks Animal series, to which I'm a proud contributor.

Edited by Jonathan Burt, each volume in the series focuses on a single species and considers the biology and behaviour of the animal themselves as well as their cultural, symbolic, economic, political, and interpersonal significance in the human imagination.

The authors are, for the most part, not biologists, but from a range of disciplines, including a fair share of arts and humanities scholars and independent scholars and professionals who work directly with the species in question. And they're delightfully quirky as a result!

Each volume is extensively illustrated with ~100 colour and b&w images, and they're not just compelling in content but also in layout and design. Some volumes are now being redesigned for more conventional paperback format. No interior colour images, but still beautiful.

So, with that intro out of the way, here are my first few entries in the list. First up is the volume that got me hooked on the series in the first place: FOX!

(Oh, BTW, aside from FOX the list is organized randomly--there's no particular critical judgment in how I'm going through these volumes! I will, however, try to group the volumes by general animal type. Today, it's all about the canids!)

Martin Wallen's FOX: A delightful little volume that takes foxes and fox lore seriously, and tells the stories of these enigmatic creatures with genuine affection and careful study. Wallen's writing embodies an appropriately foxish playfulness throughout.
https://bit.ly/2WefQMn 

Susan McHugh's DOG: This volume revealed to me just how profoundly and deeply interwoven we are with our canine evolutionary companions. McHugh's clear affection for her subject also motivates her vital ethical arguments about dog welfare throughout.
https://bit.ly/3cZ9mGS 

Gary Marvin's WOLF: You will likely never look at wolves in quite the same way after reading this book. The themed chapters on "Lupophobia," "Lupicide," and "Lupophilia" in particular illuminate the complex human attitudes toward these fascinating canids.
https://bit.ly/2Qh20Vu 

Day Two of the @reaktionbooks Animal Series run-down. A few canids yesterday--today we have a few ungulates!

Dorothy Yamamoto's WILD BOAR: Honestly, most of what I thought I knew about boars was pretty messed-up stereotype, but this book gave a much deeper and more nuanced picture of these smart, community-minded, and surprisingly gentle creatures.

https://bit.ly/2QjQUiu 

Edgar Williams's HIPPOPOTAMUS: Yes, hippos are ungulates! Another animal almost entirely disfigured in the popular imagination, but Williams confronts these misrepresentations directly and gives these formidable and compelling animals their due.

https://bit.ly/2Uc4ztn 

DEER, by @tjohnfletcher: Written by a practicing veterinarian who works closely with deer, this book brings a compelling intimacy of understanding to this iconic animal. A smart and illuminating study of an animal many of us think we know but don't!

https://bit.ly/2wXUB6V 

Robert Irwin's CAMEL: One of the fascinating things for me in reading this book was the evolutionary history of these animals and how so much of what we think of as their natural history and habitat is just flat-out wrong.

https://bit.ly/2IKKzIW 

I'll make this suggestion again, but if you have the resources, support @reaktionbooks and buy one or more of these delightful volumes; also available in digital format for quick download! And ask your library to order the complete set! ( @UChicagoPress is US/Canada distributor.)

Today's @reaktionbooks Animal Series thread theme: quirky birds!

Stephen Martin's PENGUIN: For all their visibility in zoos and popular culture, most of us know little about these fascinating and often imperilled birds. Martin gives us facts but also unpacks fantasy, and the result is delight as well as sadness.

https://bit.ly/33r9kn4 

WOODPECKER, by @GormanGerard: I had no idea that woodpeckers have been so significant to so many human cultures worldwide, and Gorman brings that history vibrantly to life alongside the natural and evolutionary history of this remarkable bird family.

https://bit.ly/2Uaa3EX 

Graham Barwell's ALBATROSS: There's something almost magical about these birds, but I had no idea how incredible they are or how compelling their story is until I read this book. There's so much more to albatrosses than Coleridge's unfortunate bird!

https://bit.ly/3aX8G39 

FLAMINGO, by @specialagentCK: Yes, they're funky-looking birds, but don't let appearances fool you--they're perfectly designed for their niche and are symbolically significant the world over. You'll never look at lawn flamingos the same after this read!

https://bit.ly/2Whl61J 

If you're one of those people who leans into pandemic reading to deal with the anxiety of the age, the @reaktionbooks Animal Series can be of help there, too. Today's feature: insects and animals associated with disease (but often unfairly maligned and misunderstood).

MOSQUITO, by @bugmanjones: Undeniably responsible for widespread human suffering, the mosquito is also fascinating and impressively adaptive in its own right, and Jones cuts through the widespread loathing to reveal the animal's impressive complexity.

https://bit.ly/3cZRNXg 

Jonathan Burt's RAT: From plague bearers to subjects of laboratory experiment, rats have long been the focus of human fear, interest, and disregard. Burt thoughtfully separates fact from fiction about these intelligent and much-misunderstood rodents.

https://bit.ly/3b9fzP3 

VULTURE by @thomvandooren: I was utterly unprepared to love this book as much as I did, but I have so much more appreciation for these sadly imperilled scavengers after van Dooren's erudite and impassioned defence of their necessity in the world.

https://bit.ly/2UrthpN 

Tessa Laird's BAT: For all their association with rabies and bloodletting, bats are major players in the health of ecosystems across the globe. Laird's study takes on our ill-informed biases and offers a generous look at these gentle, inoffensive mammals.

https://bit.ly/2TVGdVy 

If you can, order from your local bookseller--many have transitioned to mail order fulfillment. The series is available in digital download format too, and many libraries have digital copies that you can check out online.

Support your independent bookstores and libraries!

Yesterday's choices from the @reaktionbooks Animal Series involved often-maligned species, so today's animals are among those seen as some of the cuter critters in the animal kingdom.

Victoria Dickenson's SEAL: Seals are so much more than just soulful eyes and flippers--they're key contributors to ecologies, cultures, and cosmologies. Dickenson brings her art historian lens to the animal and its significance, to impressive effect.

https://bit.ly/3b457bm 

Dorothy Yamamoto's GUINEA PIG: This humble little animal packs a big cultural punch, far beyond what you might expect. From pet and food to test subject and beyond, the guinea pig is revealed by Yamamoto to be as fierce as it is adorable.

https://bit.ly/2xQ6rQT 

OTTER, by @Dr_Dan_1: A deep dive into the profound but often harrowing story of otters in the human imagination, this often sad but never hopeless book considers this increasingly vulnerable animal in all its grandeur and tragedy. Trade pb coming soon.

https://bit.ly/3b0NA3M 

HEDGEHOG, by @hedgehoghugh: An iconic UK species but one with a much wider range and significance, the humble hedgehog is loved and misunderstood in equal measure. This book is a well-researched and immensely compelling defence of this admirable beast.

https://bit.ly/33r3GRE 

Don't forget that you can get @reaktionbooks Animal Series from your local bookseller, independent online booksellers, and in person and online from many local libraries. In times like these, support local as best you can!

Today's @reaktionbooks Animal Series focus: the fashion set of the animal kingdom!

ZEBRA, by Christopher Plumb and Samuel Shaw: As the authors note, "zebras are not extraordinary horses; horses are extraordinary zebras." A new perspective on an animal we think we know is just one of many illuminating observations in this fine study.

https://bit.ly/33tNWgZ 

KINGFISHER, by Ildiko Szabo: From the belted kingfisher to the laughing kookaburra and myriad species in between, Szabo reveals a kingfisher cultural and evolutionary history as rich, varied, and surprising as their plumage.

https://bit.ly/2Qwhu8p 

BEETLE, by Adam Dodd: Given the number of beetle species in the world--350,000+--it's a heavy task to do them justice in a small volume, but Dodd manages an insightful and playful balance between necessary breadth and fascinating focus throughout.

https://bit.ly/2WoCm5b 

PEACOCK, by Christine E. Jackson: For a bird with such an oversized presence to match its tail plumage, the peacock is a mystery to many people. Jackson pulls aside the turquoise curtain to reveal a fascinating and complex representational history.

https://bit.ly/2xddIK0 

Don't forget: @reaktionbooks is an independent publisher creating beautiful books for curious people, and we need the kinds of ideas they're bringing to the world, especially in these anxious times.

Support independent publishers and your local booksellers!

Today's @reaktionbooks Animal Series theme: "Creatures of night, brought to light!" A selection of animals associated with the shadows of night but who are *so* much more than that!

SKUNK, by @AlyceLMiller: Among the most misunderstood of mammals, skunks are curious and formidable beings with much to commend them. Miller's elegant defence of this unjustly persecuted beast is among the many high points of a uniformly excellent study.

https://bit.ly/2QyeHeZ 

OWL, by Desmond Morris: For all their symbolism as heralds of wisdom and woe alike, owls are entirely more significant than the easy stereotypes would lead us to believe, as Morris's book (now in two editions) reveals.

https://bit.ly/2U7jEgY 

MOTH, by Matthew Gandy: Butterflies get the positive press, but moths really deserve the love, being more prolific, ecologically significant, and diverse than most of us imagine. Gandy's story of these dusty-winged insects fascinates from cover to cover.

https://bit.ly/2WxJJY2 

And may I suggest my own BADGER? Misunderstood and sadly persecuted wherever they call home, the dark-dwelling and behaviourally diverse badgers have a rich evolutionary and cultural history fully the rival of more famously charismatic megafauna.

https://bit.ly/3bbWfjT 

Today's theme for the ongoing @reaktionbooks Animal Series thread: heraldic beasts!

PELICAN, by Barbara Allen: While not be the first animal you ma think of with heraldry, pelicans have a rich symbolic significance around the world. Allen's book is a smart and wide-ranging consideration of this unusual bird and its many meanings.

https://bit.ly/2QBtEwB 

BEAR, by Robert E. Bieder: So much has been written about these powerful creatures and their hold on human imaginations around the world, but Bieder provides compelling context and content for this diverse family in accessible and engaging prose.

https://bit.ly/2WER8EO 

EAGLE, by Janine Rogers: For all their iconographic significance, the complex realities of eagles in life, lore, and literature remain under-appreciated. Rogers' book is a welcome corrective to those simplistic assumptions and a disarming read to boot.

https://bit.ly/2J2rNwI 

LION, by Deirdre Jackson: Perhaps the most widely represented heraldic beasts, lions cast a long shadow over animal representation and welfare at home and around the world. Jackson delves into this history but never forgets the real animals behind it.

https://bit.ly/2QBtEwB 

There are 90+ books in the @reaktionbooks Animal Series, with more on the way. Show them some love! Learn about and advocate for your favourite animals! Support your local bookseller and independent small publishers!

Today's @reaktionbooks Animal Series focus: some of the weirdly wonderful members of the animal kingdom!

HYENA, by Mikita Brottman: Ashamed to admit that I'd bought into the negative stereotypes, but when understood through Brottman's impeccable scholarship and lush prose, these impressive scavengers are revealed as formidable, even elegant social beings.

https://bit.ly/2WzR6Ox 

OYSTER, by @RebeccaStott64: You might think a book about a stationary mollusc would be a slow read, but Stott deftly unfolds the oyster's many fascinating layers of significance to reveal a surprisingly lively and compelling natural and cultural history.

https://bit.ly/2Uq9AhS 

LLAMA, by Helen Cowie: Among the few Animal volumes to focus heavily on the Americas, Cowie's fun and informative survey of llama life and lore gives readers a fresh appreciation for their importance to the land and to the humans who live alongside them.

https://bit.ly/2U9HHeX 

OCTOPUS, by Richard Schweid: Seemingly otherworldly but far smarter, more curious, and more emotional than most humans imagine, the inner life of the octopus is given sensitive attention alongside human fear and fascination in this impressive study.

https://bit.ly/2vF6nCH 

Don't forget that all @reaktionbooks Animal Series volumes are available in print as well as on digital platforms, for purchase or for library lending. Support your local bookseller and local library--both are hurting right now and deserve all the help we can give!

Today's @reaktionbooks Animal Series spotlight theme: charismatic megafauna!

TIGER, by Susie Green: It's hard to get more iconic than the tiger, but the animal itself is often lost in dominant popular culture images. Green's book considers the tiger in its myriad meanings along with its ecological significance as apex predator.

https://bit.ly/33CQn0L 

WALRUS, by John Miller and Louise Miller: You might not initially think of walruses in the category of "charismatic," but this book will shift your perspective on this remarkable pinniped and its diverse and delightful cultural archive.

https://bit.ly/3do12AR 

BISON, by Desmond Morris: There are few animals more symbolically significant in North America than the bison, yet so much of what we know is figured as loss. Instead, Morris reconsiders the bison and its histories through a lens of ongoing presence.

https://bit.ly/2JaEKVm 

POLAR BEAR, by Margery Fee: Another animal that carries the heavy burden of multiple meanings--from dire and deadly predator to starving climate change victim--the polar bear is so much more, as Fee explores in this wry, wonder-filled account.

https://bit.ly/33CSPUY 

The @reaktionbooks Animal menagerie is a constant source of fascinating cultural, evolutionary, and zoological history and insight--nearly 100 species for deep-dive study already, with more to come! Support your local bookseller and library!

While yesterday's feature was on charismatic megafauna, today's @reaktionbooks Animal Series tweets highlight the smaller side of the animal kingdom!

ANT, by Charlotte Sleigh: The culture history of this often overlooked insect is weighty indeed, as is its vital ecological role in most habitats in the word. Sleigh's survey of ant significance gives this humble creature some well-deserved appreciation.

https://bit.ly/2QHVffL 

FLY, by Steven Connor: Widely despised but prominent in human lore and lives around the world, flies are far more than buzzing heralds of annoyance and pestilence. Connor considers the fly as a marvel of biological design and surprising symbolic heft.

https://bit.ly/2xoiyEo 

SNAIL, by Peter Williams: From gardener's nemesis to writer's muse and gastronome's delight, the snail is many things to many people. But on its own terms, too, it offers much to marvel at, and Williams gives us a compelling peek behind the spiral shell.

https://bit.ly/3du1Pjy 

BEDBUG, by Klaus Reinhardt: It would be hard to imagine a more loathed creature than the bedbug--or a more difficult subject for a book. But Reinhardt's sympathetic consideration of this ancient insect reveals an intriguing and even impressive history.

https://bit.ly/2WF775W 

Want to learn more? Order a copy or two of your favourite @reaktionbooks Animal Series volumes from your local bookseller, download an ebook copy for your device, and/or ask your local library to get some of the series for patrons. Support small presses and local businesses!

Today's @reaktionbooks Animal Series theme: beasts of the barnyard...and so very much more!

SHEEP, by Philip Armstrong: Sheep, like so many animals, are woefully underestimated as mindless followers or valourized as symbols of peace and faithful obedience. But Armstrong reveals a much more unexpected animal in this smart and sensitive account.

https://bit.ly/2wy1w73 

CHICKEN, by Annie Potts: For those who only know chicken as industrial food product, this book will be a revelation. But for all readers Potts's nuanced cultural history of the varied curious birds strutting through these pages will open mind and heart.

https://bit.ly/2Uo0K5F 

PIG, by Brett Mizelle: Pigs are among the most exploited domesticated animals, as Mizelle notes, but he also gives us a richly textured study of intelligent beasts with deep emotional landscapes that have long endured our interest, disdain, and appetite.

https://bit.ly/33OgykY 

DUCK, by Victoria de Rijke: Often portrayed as an absurd bird in popular culture, but as de Rijke's fun and unflinching book reveals, the duck is in fact a marvel of evolution with a fascinating and at times eye-opening social life and cultural history.

https://bit.ly/3dyBdyc 

Don't forget that all @reaktionbooks Animal Series volumes are available at your local bookseller, in digital download, and at libraries everywhere. Please support the small publishers who do so much to bring weird and wonderful literary projects like these to the world!

Today's @reaktionbooks Animal Series profile: clever creatures of the animal kingdom! And remember, all books in the series are available from your favourite bookseller--buy local and independent! Support small publishers and your public library!

DOLPHIN, by @alanrauch: Among the most compelling of marine mammals, dolphins have long delighted and mystified in equal measure. Rauch's sensitive study of the dolphin's symbolic and ecological significance gives its current struggles profound urgency.

https://bit.ly/3dM6PjY 

GORILLA, by Ted Gott and Kathryn Weir: There are many gorillas in the human imagination: missing link, feral brute, soulful survivor. Gott and Weir demonstrate the wide gap between these fantasies and the real lives of this much-misunderstood species.

https://bit.ly/3bvo0Er 

PARROT, by Paul Carter: Parrots have long struck human fancy in behaviour as much as plumage, but that appeal has come at a significant cost. Carter's book is a ruminative reconsideration of the many meanings of this quirky and loquacious bird.

https://bit.ly/2Jp9Pop 

DONKEY, by Jill Bough: The long-suffering donkey is among the most derided and dismissed of our animal kin, but as Bough reveals in this poignant, poetic volume, much of our own achievement can be traced to the efforts and qualities of this humble beast.

https://bit.ly/2QULkDw 

CROW, by @boriasax: From trickster to death herald and despoiler, the crow and its corvid relations carry some of the most conflicted symbolism of the bird family. Sax reads this history in the context of crow biology, to consistency impressive effect.

https://bit.ly/3dBKl54 

No matter what kind of animal you're interested in, the @reaktionbooks Animal Series has a volume for you--if not more than one! Why don't you check it out? Books are available in print and digital versions, too!

Today's @reaktionbooks Animal Series feature: animal icons! All animals compel the human imagination, but some have an iconic status recognizable worldwide. Yet symbolic prominence doesn't always reflect population well-being, and icons, too, can be endangered....

BEAVER, by @ravishingbeasts: From coveted commodity and national icon to cautionary tale, beavers are easily reduced to symbol. But there's so much more to learn about these remarkable aquatic architects, as Poliquin's deep and delightful study reveals.

https://bit.ly/2wKJgqZ 

WHALE, by @roamnjoe: We still know so little about whales, their social structures, and their inner selves, and overhunting and harm to oceans still pose threats, but Roman offers a smart and hopeful consideration of whales in and beyond our contexts.

https://bit.ly/2WRFPt3 

KANGAROO, by John Simons: In the shadow of this year's terrible bushfires and already threatened populations, Simons' impassioned defence of the kangaroo and its vital significance in the ecologies and cultures of Australia is particularly poignant.

https://bit.ly/2WYweRz 

GIRAFFE, by Edgar Williams: For all their visibility in popular culture, giraffes have paid a terrible price for their fascination to colonial powers past and present, as Williams's elegiac reflection on their history and uncertain future reveals.

https://bit.ly/39tEtaJ 

CROCODILE, by Dan Wylie: Vilified and reviled on page and screen, crocodilians also have a long history of being treated with reverence. They are also marvels of evolutionary design who survived the dinosaurs and, as Wylie shows, may even outlast us.

https://bit.ly/2UoGtg2 

@reaktionbooks is an independent publisher bringing wild and wonderful books into the world that less adventurous publishers might hesitate to support. Show them some love, and support your local bookseller and library while you're at it!

Today's @reaktionbooks Animal Series feature: fearsome but fascinating animals! Some animals have a reputation for menace or evil that obscures their biological, ecological, and symbolic complexity.

SCORPION, by @louloveshistory: Pryke's wide-reaching account reveals scorpions to be far more than just crawling hypodermic needles--they are a diverse, ancient family with a dynamic evolutionary and cultural history stretching across the globe and ages.

https://bit.ly/2ycZf1g 

EEL, by Richard Schweid: For all their current pop-culture reputation as ugly or dangerous fish, eels have long been important to ecologies and cultures worldwide. Schweid's defence of their many virtues is shadowed by the reality of their global decline.

https://bit.ly/2JrJuWQ 

LEECH, by @robertgwkirk and @pemberton_neil: I've rarely squirmed so much in reading a book I so fully enjoyed! A compelling, cringe-inducing, and illuminating account of a much-maligned worm and its impacts on medicine, literature, politics, and more.

https://bit.ly/3bCZJfw 

SHARK, by Dean Crawford: For all their reputation as nature's perfect predator, Crawford's wide-ranging survey demonstrates just how diverse sharks are and how vital they are to healthy marine ecosystems--a role now seriously threatened by human impacts.

https://bit.ly/2UwXs01 

COCKROACH, by Marion Copeland: Though widely despised in the West, cockroaches have a rich history in the literary, culinary, and visual arts throughout the world. Copeland's cockroach chronicle takes this maligned but meaningful insect seriously.

https://bit.ly/33UYFRL 

The Animal Series by @reaktionbooks: support small presses and your local bookseller, or on your favourite digital platform! (And remember your local library, too--if they don't have print or digital copies, ask them to order in your favourite beasts!)

Today's deluxe-sized theme for the @reaktionbooks Animal Series: predators and prey! Wasps and spiders, falcons and pigeons, cats and mice--and surprises galore throughout these pairings of (perceived) animal enmity!

WASP, by Richard Jones: Wasps are feared by many but understood by few, and Jones sets himself the task of defending their many virtues with verve. More than simply painful picnic pests, wasps are among nature's best architects, flyers, and survivors.

https://bit.ly/2JtIfGz 

SPIDER, by Katarzyna and Sergiusz Michalski: Even arachnophobes may appreciate this expansive analysis of the spider's cultural significance throughout the world, from ancient spiritual traditions to contemporary film, psychoanalysis, and advertising.

https://bit.ly/2wRpbPO 

FALCON, by @HelenJMacdonald: Among the most elegant and formidable of the raptors, falcons hold a special place in the human imagination, and there is no one better suited to so thoughtfully interpreting that rich history and relationship than Macdonald.

https://bit.ly/2ymhYrj 

PIGEON, by Barbara Allen: Why are doves valourized and pigeons despised when they're largely the same bird? Allen's sensitive study of this much-abused bird illuminates its long importance to humans as well as its ecological importance around the world.

https://bit.ly/3bKF0Xr 

CAT, by Katharine M. Rogers: A cat never seems to be just a cat--for as long as they have lived among us they have represented so much more, often in starkly contrasting ways. Rogers considers the cat in all its complexity and in many cultures and times.

https://bit.ly/2JqCrh5 

MOUSE, by Georgie Carroll: For all its seeming ubiquity, the mouse is full of surprises. Carroll explores its many cultural roles--deity, pest, plaything, experimental subject, and corporate icon--and argues that the mouse means more than we might guess.

https://bit.ly/2UPsH5k 

@reaktionbooks Animal Series: available in print and online wherever fine books are sold, and in your local library. If you like weird and wonderful books like these, support small publishers and public libraries in your region, especially now!

And if you're reading any of the books in the Animal Series, please take a few moments to review them online and recommend them to others--it makes a real difference to getting the word out!

Today's @reaktionbooks Animal Series theme: elegant and agile!

LEOPARD, by Desmond Morris: The leopard is one of the most perfectly evolved predators among mammals, and one with a surprising cultural history, too, but as Morris demonstrates, human prejudice still has a profoundly negative impact on the population.

https://bit.ly/2Xc6UaT 

RABBIT, by Victoria Dickenson: Wending her way through the representational thickets of rabbit biology, evolution, legend, lore, literature, and film, Dickenson provides a captivating picture of one of the world's great animal icons and its many meanings.

https://bit.ly/3bGIYjz 

SWAN, by Peter Young: There is so much more to the swan than its dancer's grace and s-curve neck. Young places the swan's cultural meaning firmly in conversation with its ecological contexts and current status, and a surprisingly complex bird emerges.

https://bit.ly/2w9PUa2 

SNAKE, by Drake Stutesman: Devil or world-birther, symbol of treachery and reincarnation, the snake means very different things across cultures, but it is always meaningful. Yet significance to humans is only one part of Stuteman's fascinating study.

https://bit.ly/2yjAJLY 

SWALLOW, by Angela Turner: Among nature's great travellers and builders, the swallow's associations with spring and rebirth have made it popular in many human cultures, but as Turner notes, this affection does not always equate to population health today.

https://bit.ly/3bFVYGg 

Just a few days to go in the @reaktionbooks Animal Series thread, but that doesn't mean there aren't more books coming! And if you like what you see, you can find these volumes at your local bookseller, online in digital format, or at your library.

Support small--support local!

Today's @reaktionbooks Animal Series focus: a prismatic miscellany of four of our fishy finned kin!

TROUT, by James Owen: Written with an angler's intimate appreciation and a journalist's concern with history and context, this volume is a knowledgeable love letter to a perhaps unexpectedly charismatic fish in all its diversity.

https://bit.ly/2X4dKiy 

GOLDFISH, by @AnnaMarieRoos3: If all you know of goldfish is sad eyes staring from plastic baggies, this smart, sensitive study will be a revelation, as Roos unveils a fishy history ranging from royal houses to science labs. A glorious cover, too!

https://bit.ly/2R4JkZr 

SARDINE, by Trevor Day: Among the most important marine life forms on which so many others are dependent, sardines are a fascinating family of fish with a surprisingly rich representational and ecological history that extends well beyond their food value.

https://bit.ly/2R37O5o 

SALMON, by @PeterCoates11: Among the world's most symbolically significant fish, the salmon nourishes ecosystems as well as imaginations. Coates considers salmon in the water, in policy, and on the page, and the result is consistently illuminating.

https://bit.ly/3dKRGPX 

For those fans of both flora and fauna, don't forget that @reaktionbooks also has the BOTANICAL series, described as "integrating horticultural and botanical writing with a broader account of the cultural and social impact of trees, plants and flowers." https://bit.ly/39zma3N 

Support independent publishing. And support your local library in getting these books into their collection! And don't forget in these times of social distance, if you can't get out or get them ordered in, the Animal series is also available as digital download.

Today's deluxe @reaktionbooks Animal Series theme: interesting oddballs of the animal kingdom! These animals all stand out for seemingly quirky, awkward, or eccentric behaviours and features, but don't let human prejudices keep you from seeing just how incredible they are!

FROG, by Charlotte Sleigh: Among many humans frogs get very little credit for their remarkable biological and symbolic complexity, but in this playful and informative volume Sleigh challenges readers to understand this quirky amphibian in all its wonder.

https://bit.ly/2X6VLYw 

MONKEY, by Desmond Morris: Though among today's most threatened animals due to human disregard and interest alike, monkeys are more than victims--they are curious, creative creatures who inhabit our world and our imaginations in uniquely powerful ways.

https://bit.ly/3dPeOMZ 

LIZARD, by @boriasax: Some of our most ancient animal kin with unbroken roots from the age of dinosaurs, lizards are a fascinating family in fact as well as fancy, as revealed in Sax's astute study of these everyday dragons and their place in the world.

https://bit.ly/2X1Vsym 

LOBSTER, by Richard J. King: Lobsters have lately been prominent in pop culture and pseudoscience, but as scholar and lobsterman King shows, this is not a surprise, for these crustaceans have long crept through the briny dark of feast and fantasy alike.

https://bit.ly/3dRw1Wb 

RHINOCEROS, by @EnrightKelly: In a time of endless "unicorns," Enright's formidable defence of one of our world's own imperilled one-horned wonders deserves careful study. A sad but not at all hopeless book, even with populations continuing to decline.

https://bit.ly/2x3ocfx 

OSTRICH, by Edgar Williams: Ostriches are seemingly ready-made for animated caricature, but the reality of the birds is so much more interesting, as Williams demonstrates in this fun, informed, and often surprising study of one of the world's great birds.

https://bit.ly/3aGQoU6 

Three more days on the @reaktionbooks Animal Series thread: two more themes on published volumes, and the final focus on forthcoming books in the series as it winds down. Beautiful, informative books come from the creative partnership between writer and publisher--support both!

Today's @reaktionbooks Animal Series focus: ungulates, part 2! A toe-tapping hoofed miscellany for your reading pleasure, surprise, and edification!

COW, by @hannahvelten: Journalist and cattle worker Velten's smart study argues convincingly that, for all their seeming ordinariness, cows are profound, personable creatures who have nourished human spirits, imaginations, and bodies for millennia.

https://bit.ly/3bVceTN 

ELEPHANT, by Dan Wylie: Among the most heart-wrenching of the Animal series volumes, Wylie fiercely chronicles the glorious cultural history and vital ecological significance of one of the greatest land mammals of our time...and its very uncertain future.

https://bit.ly/2XfIixX 

GOAT, by Joy Hinson: From gruff gymnasts of wild, windswept peaks to familiar bearded barnyard denizens, goats are marvels of diversity and adaptability. Hinson provides a thoughtful consideration of goats in all their lived and symbolic significance.

https://bit.ly/2RraXMP 

MOOSE, by Kevin Jackson: The moose is one of the great Canadian icons, but its prominence extends well beyond Turtle Island. (In Europe it's referred to as an elk.) Jackson's informative tribute to the moose and its history is an thoroughly engaging read.

https://bit.ly/39IUN7N 

HORSE, by Elaine Walker: One of the most recognizable animals in the world with a forest worth of pages dedicated to its life and meaning, the horse remains a creature of mystery and wonder, qualities that Walker unveils throughout this generous volume.

https://bit.ly/3dWiCME 

Tomorrow is the last day of profiling published books in the Animal series, with the follow up post dedicated to forthcoming volumes.

Great books like these exist because independent publishers are committed to them. If you want more, support small presses like @reaktionbooks!

As I missed my post yesterday, today is the double-dose thread wrap-up of published and forthcoming books in the @reaktionbooks Animal Series. Lots of animal goodness on its way! First up, the final four featured books already published in the series from across its run to date.

SPARROW, by Kim Todd: Among the most polarizing birds, sparrows have been lauded and condemned for centuries, and are now widely seen as invasive eco-villains. Todd places these debates in the bird's long history and reveals a far more nuanced story.

https://bit.ly/2V4iySs 

BEE, by Claire Preston: Bees are far more than makers of honey and spreaders of pollen. Symbolically, bees have been mobilized to various cultural ends: industry, nationalism, virtue. Preston's study is a splendid reflection on bees in fact and fiction.

https://bit.ly/2UNl3cU 

TORTOISE, by Peter Young: For all their representational prominence, tortoise populations are in decline globally, and their future is unclear. Young considers tortoise lore alongside its many human uses and abuses in this smart and troubling study.

https://bit.ly/2UKHjEb 

HARE, by Simon Carnell: Hares have a special place in the human imagination wherever they can be found, and Carnell follows this remarkable lagomorph through its diverse symbolic and biological contexts across eras, cosmologies, and geographies.

https://bit.ly/2V61dbx 

That covers the 93 volumes published to date. Next up, some of the delights that await you in the coming months from the @reaktionbooks Animal Series with excerpts from the official jacket copy of each volume!

MOLE, by @Ellerhoff: "Though moles are rarely seen, they live in close proximity to humans around the world....Moles are also close to our imagination, appearing...as either wealthy, undesirable grooms or seekers of enlightenment."

https://bit.ly/2VkmL4D 

JELLYFISH, by Peter Williams (also author of SNAIL): "Jellyfish are, like the mythical Medusa, both beautiful and potentially dangerous.... Perceived as alien creatures and seen as best avoided, jellyfish nevertheless have the power to fascinate..."

https://bit.ly/3aNo3eX 

HUMAN, by @amandarees9 and Charlotte Sleigh (also author of ANT): "What does it mean to be human? And what, if anything, does it have to do with being a member of the animal species Homo sapiens?"

https://bit.ly/39GFGeY 

SQUID, by Martin Wallen (also author of FOX): "guardians, harbingers of environmental collapse or an untapped resource to be exploited...[h]owever humans have perceived them, squids have always gazed back at us, unblinking, from the dark."

https://bit.ly/39K50k9 

TURTLE, by @louloveshistory (also author of SCORPION): "Pryke celebrates the slow and unassuming manner of this doughty creature....it has never been more important to consider the natural and cultural history of this remarkable animal."

https://bit.ly/39OUyIi 

Other volumes in the @reaktionbooks Animal Series pipeline include CRAB, NIGHTINGALE, and my own RACCOON. Looking forward to seeing what other fun and fascinating animals will join this global literary menagerie!

Thanks for following this thread--I hope you found an animal or two that sparked interest in learning more.

In these scary times it's sometimes hard to remember the challenges facing our other-than-human kin. These books remind us just how much this is their world, too.

Please support the independent publishers like @reaktionbooks that make such unique reading experiences possible. Support your local bookseller and library.

And please, lift up your favourite writers however you can: book purchases, library loans, recommendations, and reviews.