Steve Donoghue’s posts from the original Open Letters Monthly Archives.
Cuckoos use other species of birds to raise the young they abandon, and they've been doing it for thousands of years without getting arrested. An absorbing new book isn't precisely rooting for them, but still ...
Read MoreIn the vastness of the world's oceans, some mammals have evolved brains and language ... and culture? A fascinating new book looks at the inner lives of whales and dolphins
Read MoreAn enjoyable new book draws some unexpected parallels between human society and the world of bees
Read MoreIn cities and suburbs all over the developed world, dozens of species of birds are making sometimes uneasy adaptations to the yards and neighborhoods and suburbs of human habitations - this is "subirdia," and a spirited new book takes readers on a tour of it
Read MoreA paradox lies at the heart of Christopher Norment's eloquent new book: the sea life of Death Valley
Read MoreSpurred by a chance encounter with a wounded bird, Michele Raffin steadily grew her hobby into one of the world's most successful sanctuaries for rare and threatened birds in need of rehabilitation.
Read More2014 marks the sad centenary of the extinction of the passenger pigeon, whose vast flocks had once darkened the skies of a young America; a new book sounds out the messages of that melancholy anniversary
Read MoreA great new book of natural history focuses on the history, ecology, and behavior of the mountain lion, the fourth largest cat on the planet
Read MoreA lavishly-illustrated guide book to the bumble bees of North America, in all their busy glory
Read MoreBirds, turtles, bees, fish, whales ... vast armies of living things traverse vast swatches of distance every year in their migrations. But how do they find their way? And WHY do they find their way? Bernd Heinrich's new book explores the homing instinct.
Read MoreThe world's smallest and busiest birds are the subject of a pretty new book
Read MoreThe beautiful Galapagos islands - home to finches, tortoises, and active magma - are the subject of a delightful new study
Read MoreThat sleek and elegant diving-bird, the double-crested cormorant, faces deep-seated prejudices - and disastrous legal measures - in North America, its ancestral home
Read MoreWill the latest age of man - dubbed the Anthropocene - be the last? A new book looks at the tremendous toll the human race has taken on its home planet
Read MoreAn exuberant collection of essays and reviews by trailblazing natural historian Tim Flannery
Read MoreThe strangest, most alien creatures on the Earth have three hearts and big, unfathomable brains - and, famously, eight arms. It's the sprawling family of octopus species, and they get a soup-to-nuts examination in Katherine Harmon Courage's new book
Read MoreMore than at any point in their collective history, mankind's great ape cousins face the threat of total extinction. A passionate new book outlines all the threats - and clings to some hope
Read MoreA new paperback explores the mysteries of turtles
Read MoreHe was a young immigrant from Scotland who was inspired by one great man and inspired another, but in between, Alexander Wilson did the pioneering work of creating the American discipline of bird-study. A wonderful new book re-examines his legacy
Read MoreThe southeastern coast of the United States is dotted all over with salt marshes, those magical places forever hovering between land and sea. A captivating new book - now in paperback - sings their praises and recounts their perils.
Read MoreThis is a place for all of my writing about books.