Field Manual of Chinese Birds
Author: John Ma Jingneng, Karen Phillips, Ho Vinci
Translators: Lu Hefen, He Fenqi, Xie Yan Edition: Hunan Education Publishing House, June 2000
Watching Over the Flying Feathers: The Story of Chinese Bird Watching
Author: Liang Wenying Version: The Commercial Press October 2017
Common Wildflowers (2nd Edition)
Author: Wang Jinwu
Edition: China Forestry Publishing House
July 2009
Handbook of Field Identification of Common Plants in China
(7 volumes out)
Author: Liu Bing, Fang Teng, etc
Edition: The Commercial Press
Higher Education Press
2009-2018
"Seasonal Vegetable Whispers"
Author: Amon Version: The Commercial Press, May 2014
Notes on the Sea Mistake Map
Author: Zhang Chenliang Edition: CITIC Publishing House, December 2016
"Wild Bugs" (5 volumes)
Author: Tang Zhiyuan, Jiang Che, Wang Khotan, Chen Quan, Zhang Chenliang
Edition: Publishing House of Electronics Industry
October 2014
Handbook of The Cloud Collector
Author: Gavin Pratt-Pinney Translator: Wang Yanping Zhang Chao
Edition: Yilin Press, March 2018
If you're interested in the nature around you, want to know the name of a flower, a bird, or a cloud you see, and want to start exploring what kind of life they live, this list of books for beginners may help. The selection of these books is not based on professionalism and depth, but on reliability and practicality as the primary criteria. Of course, no book can compare to a regular walk in nature, so the best way to use them is to take them with you and observe them carefully and attentively in nature.
birds
This is a book that has had a profound impact on the rise and development of China's bird watching culture, and it is basically a book in the bird watching enthusiast group. Before the book was published in 2000, China did not have a "complete field manual based on contemporary taxonomic systems and with full color maps", and the Field Manual of Chinese Birds, completed by British conservationist John Ma Jingneng and bird mapmaker Karen Phillips, filled this gap. Because the price is not high, the book has played a role in popularizing and guiding, and many new generations of "birdmen" have benefited from its help. The book describes 1329 bird species recorded in China, arranged in the form of first pictures and later texts, each with colored drawings and distribution maps, and a textual introduction to appearance, call, habits and distribution. Although some errors and deficiencies have been identified in recent years, it is still difficult to replace them. It's just that because it hasn't been reprinted for a long time, it's not easy to buy a copy at an affordable price.
For beginners who have just developed an interest in bird watching, "no teacher to understand themselves" is not easy, and reading "Watching The Feather: The Story of Chinese Bird Watching" seems to be able to play the role of "walking with the teacher". The book is a collection of interviews with birdwatchers, and the first chapter is set as a "Bird Watching Beginner's Guide", which provides a concise introduction to the necessary tools for bird watching, bird finder skills, and the personal experience of veteran birdmen. The main part is an interview with more than 20 senior and well-known birdwatchers who are committed to Chinese bird watching, including Lin Chaoying, the first Chinese chairman of the Hong Kong Bird Watching Association, and Ma Jingneng, author of the "Field Manual of Chinese Birds". From their stories, you can read the experience, experience, dedication and harvest of bird watching by the "bird people" for many years, as well as the continuous enthusiasm, and you can also see the development of bird watching in Hong Kong and mainland China. At the end of each article, their "Bird Watching Kit" is also separately noted – the telescope model used and the recommended bird book, which is a combination of story and practicality.
plant
Compiled by Professor Wang Jinwu of Peking University, "Common Wildflowers" has been the enlightenment book of many plant lovers since the first edition. The wildflowers included in the book are centered on north China, and more than 250 kinds of common and highly ornamental wild herbaceous flowers and flower shrubs are selected, which is very suitable for beginners who want to watch flowers in the north. Professor Wang Jinwu, 90 years old, has been "dedicated" to plant classification all his life, and decades of accumulation and field investigation make this book have a rare depth and simplicity in similar illustrated books. The identification points prompted in the book and the occasional allusive story are impressive. The picture is comprehensive, full color printing, and the small folio is easy to carry. The series also includes "Common Trees" (North), also compiled by Wang Jinwu, and "Common Trees" (South) and "Ornamental Flowers" written by other authors, but the level of completion is not the same.
"Field Identification Manual" is a kind of reference book with a relatively mature body, characterized by small and complete collection, easy to accurately consult. Compared with the more than 200 species included in "Common Wildflowers", the recently published "Handbook of Field Identification of Common Plants in China" (Beijing Volume) contains 1221 species of plants, which can basically cover common and important species. The manual is arranged in the order of flower color and flower shape, so that readers can quickly find it according to what they see in front of them, and then compare the size, distribution, and identification points recorded in the manual to achieve accurate identification. The "Handbook for The Field Identification of Common Plants in China" is mainly written by a group of young botanists, and the quality of completion is quite high, the only regret is that the publication process is relatively long, and it will take a long time for the entire series of 30 books to be completed. At present, the Shandong Album, Gutian Mountain Album, Moss Book, Hengshan Album, Desert Album, Qilian Mountain Album and Beijing Album have been published, which can generally cover common wild plants in North China, East China, Northwest China and Central China.
life
"Vegetable Talk" is an early publication of original naturalist works, which is very close to life and is enough to make people who do not know what "naturalism" means feel interesting. Author Amon focuses on vegetables that people can't live without three meals a day, telling the origin of vegetables and allusions. For example, how did cabbage become what it is today and come to our table again? Which vegetables and cabbage belong to the same "family"? What is the "family history" of the kale family, the mustard family, and the lettuce family?
It is easy to understand, funny and warm, but it also allows readers to naturally begin to look at things like vegetables in life because they are too familiar with things that are too familiar to understand, and get knowledge and fun from them.
culture
The works of Zhang Chenliang, the editor behind the official Weibo of The Museum magazine, are as playful and erudite as the Weibo of the "Museum Jun". "Notes on The Sea Mistake Map" is a biological analysis and examination of the painting "Sea Fault Map" depicting marine life during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, starting from the image painted by Nie Huang one by one, first looking for clues and traces of reasoning and analysis to identify the real body, and then stripping away the cocoon to explain its biological characteristics, population changes and even seafood eating methods, which can be described as unique in popular science works. In his way of writing, there are not many sea creatures that can be fully developed in a book, but after reading it, you will definitely be impressed by the stories of sea monks, sea ladies, and horseshoe crabs. A second installment has been published, with a follow-up in the plan.
insect
The world of insects is simply too big. There are more than 1 million known species of insects worldwide, more than half of all named species of humanity. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to have a "more comprehensive" insect atlas, and the largest and largest insect ecological atlas in China is currently the "Chinese Insect Ecology Atlas" (which contains more than 2200 kinds of insect ecological pictures), but because each can occupy a limited space, only the adult period pictures and the most basic introduction. Therefore, pocket books like "Cool Bug Wild Fun", which are limited in storage but more lively and interesting, may be a more suitable choice for beginners. The main author of this set of books, Tang Zhiyuan, is a well-known ecological photographer in the industry, and the pictures in the book are many and exquisite, and not only introduce the knowledge of insects, but also combine the author's experience of insect hunting, insect watching and insect shooting to tell a vivid and vivid "insect story". The small series of books is divided into five volumes: "Beetle", "Half-winged Family", "Straight-winged Family", "Dragonfly" and "Butterfly", which can be purchased in sets or separately.
Clouds
In the hobby of natural history, learning to recognize clouds is probably a kind of "cost-effective". Because the common types of clouds are quite limited, not as diverse as the biological species, and the clouds do not need to wade through mountains and rivers and buy equipment, you may be surprised when you look up. To start the journey of recognizing clouds, the newly published Handbook of Cloud Collectors is a good choice, which summarizes a total of 46 types of clouds, including cumulus, altocumulus, cirrus and so on. The highlight is that there is no rush to teach the cause, but an interesting choreography. The book is made into a "manual" form, so that looking at the clouds is like a collection of stamps, each one can be recorded, and the author also sets a score for each cloud according to the "appearance" and rarity, adding a competitive thrill to the journey of watching the clouds. During the game-style "collection" process, it seems easy to remember the characteristic names of the various clouds.
Book list author / Beijing News reporter Li Yan