The current COVID-19 outbreak could affect our services at short notice. Find out everything you need to know about visiting the library and our available services. Find out more
If you’re fascinated by flora and fauna, our natural history section has everything you need. This list updates when we add new titles to the collection.
Book
"Over twenty years ago, Ruth Pavey bought four acres of scrub woodland above the Somerset Levels and set out to improve the lush haven for birds, insects and all manner of wildlife. Beneath the shade of the trees she spent two decades planting, she n...
"In The Last Days of the Dinosaurs, Riley Black walks readers through what happened in the days, the years, the centuries, and the million years after the impact, tracking the sweeping disruptions that overtook this one spot, and imagining what might...
"Moths are among the most underappreciated insects on the planet, yet they make up the majority of some 180,000 known species of Lepidoptera. Filled with striking images, The Lives of Moths looks at the remarkable world of these amazing and beautiful...
""Still considered one of the most important and ground-breaking books of science ever written, Darwin's ... exploration of tyhe evolutiuonary process challenged most of the strong beliefs of the Western world. Forced to question the idea of the Crea...
"What if human intelligence is actually more of a liability than a gift? After all, the animal kingdom, in all its diversity, gets by just fine without it. At first glance, human history is full of remarkable feats of intelligence, yet human exceptionalism...
"What brings the Earth to life, and our own lives to an end? For decades, biology has been dominated by information - the power of genes. Yet in terms of information there is no difference between a living cell and one that died a moment ago. What re...
"In the tradition of E.H. Gombrich, Stephen Hawking, and Alan Weisman-an entertaining and uniquely informed narration of Life's life story. In the beginning, Earth was an inhospitably alien place-in constant chemical flux, covered with churning seas,...
"How different are men and women? Is gender uniquely human or do other primates also learn gendered roles? Drawing on decades of observing other primates, especially our closest living relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, world renowned primatologist Frans...
"Explorations of plant consciousness and human interactions with the natural world. From apples to ayahuasca, coffee to kurrajong, passionflower to peyote, plants are conscious beings. How they interact with each other, with humanity and with the world...
"When Peter Riley was thirteen, a woman with blue hair and a comet tattoo asked him to help load the jaw of a sperm whale into the back of a Volvo 245. The encounter set Riley on a decades-long quest to make sense of what had happened. Enter the secr...
"With its rich biodiversity, astounding wildlife, and breathtaking animal migrations, Serengeti is like no other ecosystem on the planet. A Place like No Other is Anthony Sinclair's firsthand account of how he and other scientists discovered the biol...
"How Birds Evolve explores how evolution has shaped the distinctive characteristics and behaviors we observe in birds today. Douglas Futuyma describes how evolutionary science illuminates the wonders of birds, ranging over topics such as the meaning and...
"Since the dawn of human history, birds have stirred our imagination, inspiring and challenging our ideas about science, faith, art and philosophy. Looking to the skies above, we have variously worshipped them as gods, hunted them for sustenance, ado...
An identification guide of New Zealand mushrooms, including color photographs.
"It’s a story over 3 billion years in the making. Immerse yourself in our unique living planet with this latest New Scientist Essential Guide, with topics from life’s mysterious origins and its evolutionary leaps and missteps to today’s wondrous biosphere...
"Rich and diverse but often unloved, Aotearoa's wetlands are the most vulnerable of our ecosystems. Only a tiny fraction of their original extent remains, and we continue to lose this vital habitat. The race is on to discover more about them while we...
"Of Marsupials and Men recounts the fascinating and often hilarious history of the men and women who dedicated their lives to understanding Australia's native animals. To the first European colonists, Australian wildlife was bewildering. Marsupials and...
"Synthetic biology is the promising and controversial technology platform that combines biology and artificial intelligence, opening up the potential to program biological systems much as we program computers. Synthetic biology enables us not just to...
"This seedling field guide on pest plants, along with its companion guide on native plants, is intended to support gardeners, landscapers and environmentalists who are fostering native biodiversity. They are intended to help readers to identify seedlings...
"This seedling field guide on native plants, along with its companion guide on pest plants, is intended to support gardeners, landscapers and environmentalists who are fostering native biodiversity. They are intended to help readers to identify seedlings...
"In the West we consider the passing of the year through the prism of four seasons. Other cultures see nature’s turn quite differently, however. The traditional Japanese calendar recognises that the subtle changes of the natural world with a total of...
"20,000 years ago, people crossed a great land bridge from Siberia into Western Alaska and then dispersed southward into what is now called the Americas. Until we venture out to other worlds, this remains the last time our species has populated an entirely...
"This beautiful and inspiring book tells the stories of 80 birds around the world: from the Sociable Weaver Bird in Namibia which constructs huge, multi-nest 'apartment blocks' in the desert, to the Bar-headed Goose of China, one of the highest-flying...
"Wild Green Wonders brings you a selection of twenty years' worth of Patrick Barkham's writings for the Guardian, bearing witness to the many changes we have imposed upon the planet and the challenges lying ahead for the future of nature. From Norwegian...
"A compelling, funny, first-hand account of Australia's wonderfully unique mammals and how our perceptions impact their future. Think of a platypus: they lay eggs (that hatch into so-called platypups), they produce milk without nipples and venom without...
"Focusing on so much more than plastic pollution, this ahead-of-the curve book exposes the extensive damage being done to the oceans that most of us don't know about, and what simple, everyday changes we can make to help protect our seas. When we think...
"The Complete Language of Herbs is a comprehensive and definitive dictionary/reference presenting the history, symbolic meaning, and visual depiction of 500 herbs and spices from around the world in one volume"--Publisher's description.
"This richly illustrated guide is the first comprehensive and accessible introduction to the extraordinary natural history of the Japanese archipelago. It explains how Japan’s geology, geography, climate, seas and currents have forged conditions supporting...
"A unique and personal record of the flora and fauna of the Greek Islands. This lavish journal presents highly-detailed watercolors and accompanying pencil drawings of flora, fauna, and other natural objects observed and collected by the artist Jani ...
"The Story of New Zealand's Unique Birds explores why the remarkable birdlife of New Zealand is subject to so much attention from birders, scientists, and the general public around the world. It begins by looking at why New Zealand is such an odd and...
"From two experts on wild parrot cognition, a close look at the intelligence, social behavior, and conservation of these widely threatened birds. People form enduring emotional bonds with other animal species, such as dogs, cats, and horses. For the most...
"We've become used to thinking of plants as things for us to use: as food, tools, resources, or just as an attractive background to our own lives. But it's time to change our minds. New research shows that plants can think, plan - and may even have m...
"Coral reefs are a microcosm of our planet: wondrously diverse, deeply interconnected, and critically imperiled. They sustain entire ecosystems and protect vulnerable coasts. But corals across the planet are in the middle of an unprecedented die-off,...
"Let's face it, microbes rule the world! Bacteria, fungi, archaea, protozoa, algae, even viruses-these microorganisms may go unseen, but the impact they have on our lives is unmistakable. From panspermia (the bacteria dust from our galaxy) and the mi...
"This book is a bit of a new departure for author Tim Rock, who usually produces guides to famous scuba diving destinations. While Tonga does have some amazing scuba diving, in this book, Rock concentrates on viewing and interacting with humpback whales...
""Homop sapiens is the most successful and the most influential specials ever to walk the Earth. In the blink of an evolutionary eye we have spread around the globe, taken control of Earth's biological and mineral resources, transformed the environme...
"Richard Dawkins explores the wonder of flight. A book for ages 8-80 about flying, from the mythical Icarus, to the sadly extinct but magnificent bird Argentavis magnificens, to the British Airways pilots of today. The Wonder of Flight. The Science o...
"Few of us know what goes on after dark, underneath the moon. Sally Coulthard shines a light on the Barn Owl, one of the most mesmerising and elusive icons of the countryside. With its heart-shaped face and silent, graceful flight, the Barn Owl regularly...
"What does it mean to be female? Mother, carer, the weaker sex? Think again. In the last few decades a revolution has been brewing in zoology and evolutionary biology. Lucy Cooke introduces us to a riotous cast of animals, and the scientists studying...
"Covering diverse species from garter snakes to Komodo dragons, this book delves into the evolutionary origins and fascinating details of the mysterious social lives of reptiles. Reptiles have been too often dismissed as dull animals with tiny brains...
"A deep-dive into the astonishing nature and true science of longevity Molecular Biologist Nicklas Brendborg takes us on a journey from the farthest reaches of the globe to the most cutting-edge research to explore everything the natural world and science...
"From the renowned wolf researcher and author of The Rise of Wolf 8 and The Reign of Wolf 21 comes a stunning account of an unconventional alpha male. A lover, not a fighter. That was wolf 302. A renegade with an eye for the ladies, 302 was anything ...
"Over the past fifty years, researchers have made extraordinary discoveries that help us to understand who we are, where we came from, and what makes us human. Discovering Us brings our shared history to life and tells the stories behind fifty of the...
""Growing more mushrooms may be the best thing we can do to save the environment, and mushroom expert Paul Stamets explains how in this groundbreaking manual. The science goes like this: fine filaments of cells called mycelium, the fruit of which are...
"What we do to the soil, we do to ourselves. Soil is the unlikely story of our most maligned resource as swashbuckling hero. A saga of bombs, ice ages and civilisations falling. Of ancient hunger, modern sicknesses and gastronomic delight. It features...
"First published in 1976, and aimed at a general audience, using non technical language, The Selfish Gene has become a classic. The important biological work of such figures as W. D. Hamilton and Robert Trivers was introduced to a wider public for the...
"The city of Melbourne lies on the edge of a vast plain surrounded by a green and blue mountainous rim, whose hills and peaks are home to the magnificent Mountain Ash, the tallest flowering plant on the planet. The Mountain Ash forests were 20 million...
""A a botanist, Robion Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. [Here], Kimmerer brings these lenses...
"Some animal societies hold a mirror up to the human world: elephants hold funerals for departed family members. Pinyon jays run collective creches. Rats will go out of their way to help a cold, wet stranger. Other lifestyles can seem intensely alien....
"Following in the footsteps of the bestselling first book THE FIELD GUIDE TO DUMB BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA, the ever-annoyed-by-birds author Matt Kracht brings us THE FIELD GUIDE TO DUMB BIRDS OF THE WHOLE STUPID WORLD. This time he ventures around the...
"This is a sweeping account of Madagascar past and present, from a land locked in the heart of Gondwana to its emergence as an island, from landscapes populated by dinosaurs to forests filled with the unique array of species alive today, and from a p...
"Discover the extraordinary diversity of the plant world - and how plants work - with this photographic celebration of the trees, flowers, and foliage plants that share our planet. From tiny mosses and delicate ferns to vibrant blooms and stately palms,...
"Marine scientist Michael J. Moore says we are all whalers, but we don't have to be. Eating fish leads to North Atlantic right whales' entanglement and death. Buying goods made around the world requires global shipping routes, which do not accurately...
"In Biochemistry For Dummies, you'll explore the carbons, proteins, and cellular systems that make up the biochemical processes that create and sustain life of all kinds using easy-to-follow diagrams and real-world examples"--Publisher's description.
"For millennia, trees have offered renewal and inspiration. They have provided for humanity on every level, from spiritual sanctuary to the raw material for our homes, books, and food. In this beautiful and revealing book, National Geographic combine...
"An extensive guide to over 500 species of seashells, with a detailed entry on each species featuring vivid photography"--Publisher's description.
"'I went for a walk around the garden. A great tit warbled above a patch of coltsfoot. I felt a thousand discoveries awaited.' Notes from a Summer Cottage by Nina Burton is a beautifully written nature memoir about the time spent renovating her late ...
"Bring the diversity and drama of the bird world to life with this encyclopedic new edition. A must-have for every avian enthusiast, this catalogue showcases thousands of bird species pictured in their native environment. Shot by photographers around...
"From the cup of coffee that jumpstarts the day to dangerously addictive drugs, the recreational use of plants with psychoactive properties has a long history among humans. But, as with many things, it turns out that other animals got there first. From...
"Discover trees as you've never seen them before in this illustrated blend of science, culture, and history The secret world of trees is revealed in this beautiful and absorbing guide to the giants of the plant world Trees have been a part of human h...
Was this page useful?
To ask for help or information, contact us.