Books Reviews and the chance to win

THE COMPACT AUSTRALIAN BIRD GUIDE Jeff Davies, Peter Menkhorst, Danny Rogers, Rohan Clarke, Peter Marsack and Kim Franklin CSIRO Publishing RRP: $34.99 This compact book is designed to provide beginners and experienced birdwatchers with a convenient, quick and beautifully illustrated identification guide to more than 700 bird species that are residents of or regular visitors to the Australian mainland and Tasmania, and surrounding seas. The information is organised into the three broad habitats where species are most likely to be encountered: marine, freshwater and land. Along with concise species descriptions (covering plumage, habitat, voice and size), there are up-to-date distribution maps and icons that indicate the likelihood of encountering each species. In addition, the guide provides quick guide comparison pages for major groups. The book’s authors include artists Jeff Davies, Kim Franklin and Peter Marsack, Monash University School of Biological Sciences’ lecturer Rohan Clarke, and zoologist Peter Menkhorst and ecologist Danny Rogers, both of whom are based at Victoria’s Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research. DISCOVERING AUSTRALIAN FLORA Fanny Karouta-Manasse CSIRO Publishing RRP $35.00 Now in its second edition, this beautifully presented book showcases Australia's diverse flora by taking readers on a tour of the heritage-listed Australian National Botanic Gardens in Acton, Canberra. Author Fanny Karouta-Manasse – who also draws on information gleamed from her field trips with the National Seed Bank – offers well-organised and clearly presented geographical, historical and botanical information, including descriptions of plant characteristics. The book describes the unique features of Australian flora (such as their reliance on fire and ability to survive in poor soil) and explores in detail our country’s two dominant genera – Eucalyptus and Acacia. The latest edition includes new photographs (among the more than 300 colour images on offer) and a new chapter on the conservation of native flora in Australia, which the author notes now has one of the world’s highest rates of endangered plants. Karouta-Manasse holds a PhD in marine ecology from Montpellier University in France and since 2009 has volunteered at the National Seed Bank. PLATYPUS MATTERS Jack Ashby William Collins RRP $34.99 Platypi may top the bill, but this warm and engaging book is an ode to all of Australia's unique mammals – from wombats, echidnas and devils to quolls, dibblers and dunnarts. Drawing on his experience studying marsupials and egg-laying mammals in Tasmania and mainland Australia, English naturalist (and self-described platypus nerd) Jack Ashby provides an entertaining account of the lives of all these creatures, as well as the historical mysteries and myths surrounding them (some of which persist even today). He also critically examines the impact that misconceptions and misrepresentations around these animals can have, in particular how colonial-influenced descriptions of some mammals as ‘primitive’ have served to incorrectly portray Australia as an evolutionary backwater and undermine conservation efforts in our country, which now has the world’s worst mammal extinction rate. Ashby is the assistant director of the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge – one of the UK's largest and most significant natural history museums.

YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A BOOK Foundation & Friends has a few copies to give away of the books featured above. To be in the running to win, just email foundation.friends@botanicgardens.nsw.gov.au or write to Letters, Foundation & Friends, Cottage 6, Mrs Macquaries Rd, Sydney NSW 2000 by 10 December ’22. Be sure to include your contact details, current membership number and which book you would like to receive. In our Spring 2022 edition we gave members the chance to win The Future is Fungi (Michael Lim and Yun Shu), From Earth: Create Your Own Natural Apothecary (Charlotte Rasmussen) and Adelaide Hills Gardens (Christine McCabe). Congratulations to our winners: Adriana Gill, S & G Birbeck, Jill Yates and Angie Gallinaro.