The Oldest Living Things in the World by Rachel Sussman

I do not recall how The Oldest Living Things in the World by Rachel Sussman landed on my reading list. Did I read its Chicago Tribune review last may? Did I spot it in a University of Chicago Press ad or catalog? I just recently borrowed it through interlibrary loan, expecting it to be academically scientific but was surprised to find it a sort of travel memoir with pictures.

The pictures are the primary reason for the writing and publishing of the book. They show, as the title specifies, the world's oldest living things. They are almost all plants, and being really old, most are not really very pretty. Many of the oldest trees and shrubs are rough, twisted, broken, and balding, unless the oldest part is actually underground. In contrast, the quaking aspen of the Pando colony who are 80,000 years old look fresh and new; the 106-acre root system is of a great age, but it sprouts new trees constantly. The DNA of every piece is identical, and it is considered a single organism.

Getting the pictures was the reason for all of Sussman's travels. With each picture or set of pictures about a specific old thing, the author tells us how she got to it and took the picture. In some ways, it is like a National Geographic article with its author describing his or her journey and encounters. Sussman is a bit more personally revealing about herself than a typical NG writer, but not enough to call the book a straight memoir. The writing may interest some readers more than the photographs.

I recommend reading The Oldest Living Things in the World at a desk or table. It is pretty heavy and hard to manage with a cat in your lap. At a desk, you will be able to write notes for your travels. Not all of the sites photographed are open to the public, but some of the ones that are would be great to see.

Not many libraries have The Oldest Living Things in the World. You may have to request it through your library's interlibrary loan.

Sussman, Rachel. The Oldest Living Things in the World. University of Chicago Press, 2014. 269p. ISBN 9780226057507.

Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton

I did not plan this. Bonnie brought home Eye to Eye: Photographs by Vivian Maier (see previous review) just about the time I brought home Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton. I did not see a connection at first. They were just two books on a bookshelf. Then the obvious struck me: they are both books of street photography!

The photographers and their books have some obvious differences, of course. Maier was born in New York and moved to Chicago where she took black-and-white photographs in the 1950s to 1970s. Stanton was born in Chicago and moved to New York where he took color photographs starting in 2010. Maier was secretive, never showing her work. Stanton posts his on his Humans of New York website and his Facebook page. They would be like night and day, except for their ability to get expressive photographs of people.

Readers find more stories in Stanton's Humans of New York. He seems to have talked with many of his subjects and add quotes on or to the side of the photographs. Because the images are colorful and often humorous or beautiful, readers may be more inclined to want to visit 21st century New York than time travel to mid-20th century Chicago. I enjoyed recognizing Central Park, Times Square, the Met, and other New York locations in some photos. The majority, however, are in the neighborhoods of the city.

The HONY website was unavailable a few days ago but is now back featuring Stanton's photos of the Ukraine and India and other countries on his World Tour. I hope another book results. I like that many of the best photos from his archives have been collected in the Humans of New York book. I hope it lasts in libraries for a long time.

Stanton, Brandon. Humans of New York. St. Martins Press, 2013. ISBN 9781250038821.

Eye to Eye: Photographs by Vivian Maier

Two sides of Vivian Maier are on display in Eye to Eye: Photographs by Vivian Maier, the third collection of the photographer's work to be published since her death in 2009. The first is the Maier who seems to have asked permission to photograph people along city streets or in parks in Chicago, New York, or on vacations abroad. The second Maier is the woman who was bound to get photographs of people who interested her with or without permission. No matter which Maier was working at the time, the result was sharp images of people looking into her camera.

Not all of the subjects look pleased, of course. The girl getting out of the car in Wilmette (page 153) looks like she was starting to yell at Maier. I imagine the woman in on the street in Lake Forest (page 201) was thinking "Why won't this person leave me alone?" But there are just as many smiles. The young woman waiting for a train in Chicago (page 167) looks jolly and the older woman in Sandwich, Illinois, (page 203) seems about to laugh.

The subjects were not all women. There were blue collar workers, homeless men, children, and families. From France, Italy, and Malaysia, there were farmers, shopkeepers, mothers with children, and even what I assume were holy men. Not having Maier here to tell us who the people were, we are free to imagine their lives and stations.

The photos were taken between the 1950s and the 1970s, and all are in black-and-white. All have labels saying simply a city or country and an approximate year. In a few the background is indistinct, but many have identifiable settings as well as people. Chicago area residents may be able to pinpoint exactly where Maier stood when she took her photos. The images help us remember or imagine times past, depending on our ages.

It would be so cool to discover someone you knew in Eye to Eye or other books by Maier. Unless, of course, they looked very unhappy in the photos.

Maier, Vivian. Eye to Eye: Photographs by Vivian Maier. CityFiles Press, 2014. 207p. ISBN 9780991541805.

Chasing Cheetahs: The Race to Save Africa's Fastest Cats by Sy Montgomery and photographs by Nic Bishop

I can not decide whether I like cheetahs or snow leopards best. Luckily for me, Sy Montgomery and photographer Nic Bishop have written books about both. Chasing Cheetahs: The Race to Save Africa's Fastest Cats is the fourth of their books that I have read. The other two featured tree kangaroos and tapirs.

There are certain factors that keep bringing me back to their books:

1. Bonnie brings them home from her library.
2. They are filled with big beautiful photos.
3. Montgomery and Bishop travel to great locations to learn about their animal subjects.
4. They profile a dedicated naturalist in the field.
5. They add important factual tables and reading lists to their conservation conscious books.

In Chasing Cheetahs, the duo travel to Namibia, which has the highest concentration of the world's endanger cheetah population. There they meet with Laurie Marker and her team at the Cheetah Conservation Fund's center, where the abandoned infant and injured cheetahs are studied and harbored until they can be released into the wild. Montgomery and Bishop accompany the scientists on their daily rounds.

I am hooked on these books and hope for more. I see I missed their book on kakapo parrots of New Zealand. Time to place a reserve at the library.

Montgomery, Sy. Chasing Cheetahs: The Race to Save Africa's Fastest Cats. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014. 69p. ISBN 9780547815497.

The Public Library: A Photographic Essay by Robert Dawson

Photographer Robert Dawson has been aiming his cameras at public libraries for 18 years, capturing exterior and interior images to show the role of libraries in their communities and the nation. His project began slowly, as he photographed libraries while traveling on other assignments. Then in 2011 and 2012, he and his son Walker took cross-country trips specifically to visit libraries, often two or three a day. From thousands of photos, Dawson assembled a representative collection in The Public Library: A Photographic Essay.

The Public Library is not just a pretty book of pictures, though many photos celebrate the art and architecture of public buildings serving as libraries. The book serves as an introductory history of American public libraries and as a state of the institution report. In his captions and in essays collected from well-known writers, such as Bill Moyers, Ann Patchett, Barbara Kingsolver, Isaac Asimov, and Dr. Seuss, Dawson poses that our nation would not be so diverse and strong nor so rich if we had not had public libraries. Libraries have been essential in educating and inspiring individuals who have built the country, and they continue to be needed as the gap between haves and have-nots widens.

Dawson's book will not please everyone. Sometimes he aimed at the weather-beaten backs or windowless sides of beleaguered libraries; sometimes he shows abandoned buildings. I can imagine there are a few librarians and trustees who rue that he did not show their libraries more positively. I only hope that they see he is making the case that libraries (including theirs) need support to continue.

Every public library can benefit from having this book for their readers, staff, and trustees. I'd like every political leader to read it. Dawson's The Public Library is an important contribution to our effort to support the cause of libraries.

Dawson, Robert. The Public Library: A Photographic Essay. Princeton Architectural Press, 2014. 191p. ISBN 9781616892173.

The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee by Laurie Cinotto

If you are a fan of cute animal blogs, such as Cute Overload or The Daily Kitten, you are just the reader for The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee by Laurie Cinotto. The author of this book has been fostering litters of kittens and running her Itty Bitty Kitty Committee blog* for years. I can not give you actual dates Cinotto has been fostering, for I saw none in the book anywhere. I suppose there is no need, for cute kittens are cute kittens forever, timelessly appealing, especially when captured so expertly by Cinotto's photography. Just how does she get groups of kittens to sit still and look at her?

You can begin to guess how long Cinotto has been fostering by counting the families in her photo gallery. I see 40 litters, all given interesting family names, such as the Bouviers, the Pettibones, the Livermore Four, the Lively Bunch, and the Trimble Tabby Trio. Each kitten has a first name, too, such as Willamena, Truman, Mimsey, and Sir Reginald. Bonnie, who has been following the IBKC blog for years tells me that some of the donors to Cinotto's fundraisers earned naming rights. Other names came from the author's knack for identifying characters.

The book The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee is more than just a photo collection. Cinotto includes practical information for anyone interested in either fostering or adopting kittens. She also recounts some of the highlights of her fostering career. Many of the stories involve her forever cat Charlene Butterbean, who has treated many generations of kittens as if they were her own. Other stories feature especially memorable kittens doing cute things.

Too bad it is not Christmas, as The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee would be a great gift to put under the tree of someone who loves pets. It could inflate library book circulation statistics, too. OCLC says that it is a juvenile book, but that never occurred to me. I know lots of people who will enjoy it.

Cinotto, Laurie. The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee. Roaring Brook Press, 2014. 128p. ISBN 9781596439375.

*Cinotto is not fostering at this time, but there is a convenient index with links to posts for every kitten. Enjoy the archive.

Polar Obsession by Paul Nicklen

Bonnie and I recently attended a National Geographic Live presentation at the Goodman Theater in Chicago, this time to hear polar photographer Paul Nicklen. Nicklen is a frequent contributor to the magazine, having spent much of his life in the Arctic and Antarctic regions studying and photographing wildlife. He told some hair-raising stories that night, some of which are repeated in his beautiful photobook Polar Obsession.

What struck me first at the presentation and in his chapter introductions in Polar Obsession is Nicklen's love for the coldest places on earth. Then I noted how in his effort to take wildlife photographs that no one else takes, Nicklen risks his life. To capture extraordinary images, he has to move close to his subjects. (Telephoto shots are inferior in Nicklen's mind.) Of course, getting close to polar bears, leopard seals, elephant seals, and narwals can be dangerous, and not due just to their abilities to attack. Thin ice and near freezing water have caused Nicklen more trouble than the animals. The photographer says that all his risks are calculated and that by his efforts he can record behaviors that show these polar species are key species in their environments, doing what they need to survive. No predator should be vilified.

I recognize many of the incredible photos from the presentation in Polar Obsession. I especially like the polar bear leaping from one ice floe to another on page 16. Nicklen often speaks out about global warming destroying polar bears habitat. The photo on page 77 of two bears on a floating piece of glacier ice reinforces his message. There is a beautiful arctic fox on page 54, and I love the photo of the ivory gull on page 139. There are some delightful photos of penguins, and just as many showing penguins in the jaws on leopard seals.

Not many libraries have added Polar Obsession. More should. You may have to get it through interlibrary loan or buy your own. The last full article in National Geographic by Nicklen that I found is about Inuit hunters in the August 2007 issue. He also wrote the cover story on Arctic diving in the June 2007 issue. You can find a short interview and photo of Nicklen in a wet suit in the June 2013 issue, pages 44-45. His photo of a grizzly bear above and below water is in the February 2014 issue, page 138.

Nicklen, Paul. Polar Obsession. National Geographic, 209. 239p. ISBN 9781426205118.

Rose Kennedy's Family Album: From the Fitzgerald Kennedy Private Collection, 1878-1946 by Caroline Kennedy

As much as I complain about how many Kennedy family books have been published, I do seem to enjoy them when I read then. I just finished Rose Kennedy's Family Album: From the Fitzgerald Kennedy Private Collection, 1878-1946 by Caroline Kennedy, which I downloaded onto my iPhone through eRead Illinois, a new digital download service being set up in Illinois libraries. I was curious how well a photo album would work on a smartphone.

While I know I would see more detail in the photos in both print and tablet reading, I have been pleasantly surprised. The images are sharper than in some of our older print photobooks, especially those sold cheaply at the big box bookstores in the past. Because images come in both portrait and landscape formats, I turn the iPhone occasionally to get maximum size, but that is not hard to do. A few of the photos in the essay sections were out of ratio no matter which way I turned them, but most were right. The weakest element is the presentation of handwritten letters. Sloppy handwriting and small reproduction make a few of them nearly unreadable.

Sloppy from the elegant and sophisticated Kennedys? The Kennedy sons may have been sent to private schools, but their penmanship and spelling were sub-standard.

I think presenting the Kennedy story through photos is quite effective. In the early chapters, seeing lots of fairly typical beach and backyard photos, they seem almost like any other twentieth century family, just super-sized. Then they start visiting the king at Buckingham Palace, the pope at the Vatican, and the pyramids at Giza. By the time I saw the photo of seven year old Teddy Kennedy watching Mussolini's troops march in early 1939, I knew the Kennedys were not ordinary.

Caroline Kennedy ends this account with 1946 when John F. Kennedy wins his first Congressional election. I wonder if there might be a second volume coming. I am now more curious about Joseph Kennedy, the tea-drinking son of a saloonkeeper. Perhaps I will seek the recent book about his years running Hollywood film studios. Can you imagine that after me complaining about too many Kennedy books? 

Kennedy, Caroline. Rose Kennedy's Family Album: From the Fitzgerald Kennedy Private Collection, 1878-1946. Grand Central Publishing, 2013. 351p. ISBN 9781455544806.

The Photographs of Edward S. Curtis

Bonnie and I enjoyed listening to Timothy Egan when he spoke about his writing Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis last summer at the American Library Association Annual Conference. We both also enjoyed Egan's book. What would be great now is to see the original prints or the twenty volumes of The North American Indian, his encyclopedic work on the native tribes of the continent.

My original intent today was to review The Art of Edward S. Curtis: Photographs from The North American Indian by Tom Beck. Bonnie requested it and I enjoyed looking at it. Beck introduces readers to the story of Edward Curtis and includes a selection of Curtis's photographs. I think the book is particularly useful because the author explains that Curtis was sometimes more interested producing art than in accurate ethnographic information. He was totally dedicated to the cause of the American Indians but he could be misled by his subjects and spread misinformation.

Looking at the book I felt a bit disappointed in the quality of the reproductions. Of course, it is a nearly 20 year old inexpensive publication and the paper is not of high quality. I wondered if I could find better images on the web. And I could. In fact, Northwestern University has digitized set number 458 of the limited editions of The North American Indian. You can read the whole thing or just look at the pictures online. Go to curtis.library.northwestern.edu.

So, I've gotten what I wished. I can look at it all. Will I find the time?

Actually, I would like to hold and look in an actual print volume, too.

Beck, Tom. The Art of Edward S. Curtis: Photographs from The North American Indian. Chartwell Books, 1995. 128p. ISBN 0785804102.

Lost Austin by John H. Slate

I was recently in Austin for less than 24 hours. I had a few morning hours with which to visit an old haunt or two, but it was raining, so I went to a new haunt instead, Book People, an independent book store. Before I got my cookie and hot chocolate, I looked around at books. There is a prominent section featuring books about Austin and the state of Texas. I found and bought Lost Austin by John H. Slate.

Lost Austin is a title in the Images of America series from Arcadia Publishing. Like almost every other book from this company, it features 128 pages of local history photos with captions. Black and white, of course. In this case, the topic was what could no longer be seen in Austin, including buildings, institutions, and companies dating from the founding of the capitol city in the 19th century to the 1980s. As a 1970s era University of Texas student, I recognized numerous buildings and stores in the photos. I read with a mixture of pleasure and regret.

It is hard to decide whether I liked Chapter Two: Lost Austin Institutions or Chapter Three: Lost Food, Drink, and Fun more. Chapter Two includes photos from Eyeore's Birthday Party (originally a children's event that transformed into a student beer bash), images of The Rag newspaper, pictures of Armadillo World Headquarters, and photos of hippie vendors selling their crafts from blankets spread on the sidewalk in front of the University Co-op. Chapter Three shows 2-Js Hamburgers, the Rome Inn, and Les Amis restaurants, the Saigon Egg Rolls carts, and the Varsity Theater. There is a lot to remember.

I appreciate that Lost Austin verified some of my memories. The psychedelic black-light ice cream shop was named Nothing Strikes Back and the beloved record store was Inner Sanctum Records. I am sure I am not the only person missing them.

Slate, John H. Lost Austin. Arcadia Publishing, 2012. 128p. ISBN 9780738596136.

National Geographic, October 2013: 125th Anniversary Collector's Edition: The Photo Issue

Much has changed since the National Geographic Society began issuing its bulletin 125 years ago. The early issues had no photographs. Now the monthly magazine is celebrated for its arresting photojournalism that shows the world to its readers. With its October 2013 issue, the Society celebrates its photographic heritage but not by reproducing its most famous images. There are books already doing that. Instead, through a series of new reports, it shows why its photojournalism is still important today.

That is not to say that some of the most famous pictures are not in the magazine. A few are in the short features that populate the front section of the magazine issue, and there is a foldout with more. But the emphasis is on the current state of the world, which is not promising. Jeffrey Gettleman and Marcus Bleasdale show how a corrupt government and rebel armies keep people poor and hungry in the mineral rich Congo. Robert Kunzig and James Balog present undeniable evidence of global warming in their article about the melting of glaciers. Tim Sullivan and David Guttenfelder take readers into the gray and oppressive streets of North Korea.

There are also articles to cheer readers. Martin Schoeller and Lise Funderburg reveal the "The Changing Face of America" in an article about people of mixed heritage. Schoeller's portraits of biracial men, women, and children are stunningly beautiful. Also, Tom O'Neill explains how Abelardo Morell has used the old technology of the camera obscura to create unique yet recognizable images of America's national parks.

Not to be skipped are the short pieces that feature bits of National Geographic's photographic history, including a chart that shows how frequently the magazine has included nudity. There have been 539 photos including bare breasts in 125 years, with a high of 20 in the September 1912 issue. I also liked Theron Humphrey's amusing photos of his dog Maddie who stands on small surfaces.

Digital editions are reported to have interviews with NG photographers. NG fans will find much to enjoy in this issue.

Mathew Brady: Portraits of a Nation by Robert Wilson

Mathew Brady is a curiously ill-remembered historical figure. Author Timothy Egan groups him with painter George Caitlin and photographer Edward Curtis as among the artists most responsible for our image of 19th century America. The three men also shared singular visions that they pursued without regard for their wealth, and all died bankrupt. In his book Mathew Brady: Portraits of a Nation, historian Robert Wilson shows that Brady got more and less credit than he deserved for his place is photographic history. He is credited with many images of the American Civil War that he did not actually take. Some were taken by his employees, while others were purchased for his galleries in New York and Washington. He once attempted to take battlefield photographs himself, but his narrow escape from personal danger convinced him that others would do better work in the field.

Why then do people in the 21st century look at Civil War scenes and say "Brady"? To his credit, he taught his photographic methods to most of the men who followed the armies, and he financed the printing and distribution of much of their work. That many of their images carry the Brady stamp was more a marketing act than Brady trying claim credit that was not his to claim. As the executive of a sort of photo bureau, Brady advanced the development of photojournalism.

Where Brady gets less credit is in defining the photographic portrait of his time. Many of the photos we still see in histories and biographies were from Brady's studio. Almost every statesman, general, industrialist, actor, and literary figure from the late 1840s into the 1870s had a Brady portrait. How many of these he actually took or assigned to his stable of photographers is a subject of debate.

While Mathew Brady: Portraits of a Nation is biographical, it is tempting to call it a history. In the account of the Civil War particularly, Brady nearly disappears while the storyline follows field photographers as they negotiate the hazards of war. Readers learn much American history and relatively little about Brady's personal life. The author points out that Brady became a celebrity without sacrificing his privacy. Historians are still trying to pinpoint Brady's birth and untangle the finances of his studios and galleries. 

Author Robert Wilson says that he wanted to fill a historical gap and expose myths with the writing of his book, and he has done so well. His book is now in many public libraries.

Wilson, Robert. Mathew Brady: Portraits of a Nation. Bloomsbury, 2013. 273p. ISBN 9781620402030.

Cotton Tenants: Three Families by James Agee

58 years after his death, James Agee has a new book joining his classics Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941) and A Death in the Family (1957). Written as an article for Fortune magazine in 1936 but never published, Cotton Tenants: Three Families is a look at Floyd Burroughs, Bud Fields, and Frank Tingle, three Depression-era white tenant farmers and their families in Hale County, Alabama. The text was thought to have been lost but was found among papers given by Agee's daughter to the University of Tennessee Special Collections Library in 2005.

From reading the editor's notes by John Summers and an introduction called "A Poet's Brief" by Adam Haslett, it sounds to me that the publishers of Cotton Tenants wanted to be very sure there was not another later version of the text before publishing. None has been found. It seems likely what is now published is what Agee intended. Haslett says no reason for Fortune's refusal to publish was ever made clear. While Agee was preparing his article, the editors eliminated the Life and Circumstances department of the magazine to which the article was bound. Anyone can speculate that the editors did not want to offend their Southern readers with Agee's hard assessment of the landed class's role in the plight of the poor.

There seemed to be no escape from the poverty that Agee described. It was no surprise that bright children faded into drab, nearly lifeless adults. The tenant farmers were people without hope.

Fortune paid for famous photographer Walker Evans to accompany Agee to Alabama in 1936. Thirty of his photographs of the farmers, their homes, and cotton fields are included with the article text to make a small but impressive book that can now serve as an introduction to the writings of Agee for a new generation of readers.

Agee, James. Cotton Tenants: Three Families. Melville House, 2013. 224p. ISBN 9781612192123.

Paul Fusco: RFK by Paul Fusco

I remember the day, June 8, 1968, sitting in front of a black and white television in Texas, watching a slow moving train carrying the body of Robert Kennedy from New York to Washington, DC, for internment near his brother at Arlington National Cemetery. The funeral train was many hours behind schedule, slowed in the interest of safety of the people lining the route. Already there had been an accident in which two had died, struck by a train that they did not see on another line.

I remember mostly helicopter views of the train as I watched the TV coverage. As Walter Cronkite and others spoke, cameras must have also shown people waiting along the tracks and more people waiting in Washington for the procession. All in black and white. I do not remember seeing what Look photographer Paul Fusco saw from his perch on the train - hundreds of thousands, maybe a million people standing by the tracks, on top of cars, on walls, out windows, and in fields. Many of his colorful photos are now published in Paul Fusco: RFK.

Turning the pages of Paul Fusco: RFK, you will see 1968 America. If you are old enough, you may see yourself, or someone much like you, among the people black and white, young and old, holding babies, offering flowers, taking photos with a variety of cameras. On page 111, in front of a red bicycle with a banana seat, is a slightly out-of-focus boy wearing black glasses and a shiny watch. That looks like me. To his left (our right) is another boy, who looks much like my friend Pete Midkiff. Did they ride the bike together?

Looking at the people, you can tell they came for different reasons, for they display a wide range of emotions. Some are waving cheerfully to whoever is waving from the train, which was loaded with Kennedy's family, friends, and supporters and many dignitaries (who were also displaying a wide range of emotions, according to the text). Some were obviously in mourning or shocked. As the daylight failed and the train entered the city, the images become blurred and confusing, which seems fitting for the day.

Paul Fusco: RFK is the third and most comprehensive of Fusco's books about that day, including 120 photos, as well as essays by Norman Mailer, Evan Thomas, and Vicki Goldberg. Fusco wrote an Afterword that helps explain his work. Allow two or three hours to look through this moving book.

Fusco, Paul. Paul Fusco: RFK. Aperture, n.d. 223p. ISBN 9781597110792.

More Than Human by Tim Flach

Do not let the image of a panda on the cover of More Than Human by photographer Tim Flach deceive you. More Than Human is not a book of pretty nature pictures. While there is much beauty within the photographs, mostly taken in studios, there is also much to disturb. Flach confronts readers, many of whom may have little face-to-face contact with animals, with the impact their lives have on the mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, and insects with which we share the planet. The images may challenge the way we think and feel about animals. Sometimes it is the accompanying text written by Lewis Blackwell that shakes us.

Through large, colorful photographs, Flach shows us many things that we have probably not seen, such as the green fluorescent glow of a rat into which genes from luminescent jellyfish have been introduced. Portraits of chickens genetically modified to have no feathers, bizarrely-groomed show animals, and hybrid animals, such as the liger and the zonkey, show how humans tamper with the animals world. Other photos, including those of millipedes, bats, and spiders, force readers to view what they often avoid.

An effort must be made to read More Than Human. I found that I needed two bookmarks, holding my spots in the main series of photos and in explanatory notes in the back of the volume. I also read at a table, as the book is rather heavy. Still, I enjoyed the viewing and suggest the book to readers who seek works on natural history and wildlife conservation.

Flach, Tim. More Than Human. Abrams, 2012. 312p. ISBN 9781419705526.

Abbey Road: The Best Studio in the World by Alistair Lawrence with a forward by Sir George Martin

Say that you have a talented young band and you want to sound like the Beatles. What could help more than to record at Abbey Road Studio in Studio 2 using some of the same microphones? It is possible. Abbey Road Studio may now be rented, and the studio has kept much of the recording equipment it has used since its opening in 1931, including a vast array of microphones. You can learn more in the big, beautiful photohistory Abbey Road: The Best Studio in the World by Alistair Lawrence with a forward by Sir George Martin.

Abbey Road Studios may be best known for rock recordings now, including Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, but it began and continues to be a center for classical recording. The first official recording made in the studio featured Sir Edward Elgar conducting the London Symphony Orchestra in his own "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1, Opus 39." Sir Thomas Beecham, Arthur Rubinstein, Jascha Heifetz, Fritz Kreisler, Andres Segovia, and Pablo Casals recorded at Abbey Road in its early days. Violinist Yehudi Menuhin was associated with the studios for nearly 70 years. In the 1960s, cellist Jacqueline du Pre and her husband pianist/conductor Daniel Barenboim recorded there.

Since the 1980s, Studio 1 has been busy with recording soundtracks for blockbuster movies, including The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Braveheart, Evita, Apollo 13, and all of the Harry Potter films. Pages 212-215 show work on various Lord of the Rings movies. The studio provided historic microphones for use in The King's Speech.

Throughout the book, the author features the employees of the studio, including engineers, producers, artistic directors, and even tea ladies, and shows vintage and cutting edge equipment, making the book a sort of introduction to recording science. The engineers at Abbey Road developed and patented many audio innovations.

"And in the end" (Beatles quote), readers will open their phonograph cabinets or run to You-Tube to revisit the music. Abbey Road is a big book worth lifting.

Lawrence, Alistair. Abbey Road: The Best Studio in the World. Bloomsbury, 2012. 303p. ISBN 9781608199990.

Vivian Maier: Street Photographer by Vivian Maier

My interest in the photographer Vivian Maier continues. A few weeks ago I reviewed Vivian Maier by Richard Cahan and Michael Williams, which tells how the finding of Maier's abandoned prints, negatives, and over 1,000 rolls of undeveloped film in a storage facility in Chicago in 2007 surprised the art world. No one had ever heard of her, but some critics instantly proclaimed her among the best of twentieth century photographers.

Now I have seen Vivian Maier: Street Photographer edited by John Maloof, who purchased one of the auctioned blocks in 2007. In this book, after a very brief introduction by critic Geoff Dyer, he lets the photos speak for themselves. This is a smaller but more focused collection of images than the previously reviewed book. Here each photograph gets a full page. Someone not knowing her story would assume on viewing this collection that Maier was a renowned Life or Look photojournalist of the 1950s and 1960 instead of an unknown nanny who took photos on her day off.

Being a nanny did not make Maier sweet in any way. She strolled rough streets in New York and Chicago documenting drunks, panhandlers, weary commuters, and police against a backdrop of decay and ruin. Though the scenes are sometimes stark and I doubt some of the subjects were aware of Maier's photographing them, Maier is respectful. She was even whimsical in the series of self-portraits, which may be found at the back of the book.

If you reserved the Vivian Maier book by Cahan and Williams, order this one, too.

Maier, Vivian. Vivian Maier: Street Photographer. PowerHouse Books, 2011. 123p. ISBN 9781576875773

Birds of Paradise: Revealing the World's Most Extraordinary Birds by Tim Laman and Edwin Scholes

Using baseball lingo, I feel like I've hit for the cycle. I have seen all four of the National Geographic Society's presentations about the bird of paradise research conducted in New Guinea and Australia by Tim Laman and Edwin Scholes.

The single - Distributed in the December issue of National Geographic, the article "Birds of Paradise" introduces readers to the decade-long effort to site and photograph all 39 species of birds of paradise. The article has maps and diagrams that  appear in every telling of the story. The photos are exquisite. This quickly-read article is how the greatest number of readers will learn the story.

The double - We saw a DVD of the National Geographic Society's television program Winged Seduction: Birds of Paradise. Viewers learn through location shots exactly how difficult it was for Scholes and Laman to find and photograph the birds and their behaviors. Many people able to get the National Geographic Channel on cable television saw this incredible program, and it will be available through libraries on DVD for years to come.

The triple - The triple is always the hardest hit to get. We saw Scholes and Laman's National Geographic Live multimedia presentation at the Goodman Theater in Chicago. The exciting program only visits a limited number of cities. We were so lucky.

The home run - With their book Birds of Paradise: Revealing the World's Most Extraordinary Birds, Laman and Scholes touch all the bases and bring home the deepest, most complete telling of their story. The photos are beautiful. In the back is a species atlas with portraits and maps for all 39 birds of paradise. One of the most beautiful books I've ever seen.

Laman, Tim and Edwin Scholes. Birds of Paradise: Revealing the World's Most Extraordinary Birds. National Geographic/The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2012. 227p. ISBN 9781426209581.

Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows by Richard Cahan and Michael Williams

Every time I read a book, there is someone to thank. The author obviously and whoever helped get the book published. Right now, however, I am thinking about librarians, and in this case, Matthew at my library. He added an outstanding book, Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows to our photography collection. Before I saw the book on display, I had never heard of Maier, but the jacket caught my eye. The book went home with me to sit on a shelf for a couple of weeks before I finally opened it. Then I devoted much of a day off to reading and examining the photographs.

Hardly anyone had heard of Vivian Maier when she died in 2009, but the wheels of fame had started to roll in 2007 when her abandoned prints, negatives, and over 1,000 rolls of undeveloped film were auctioned in Chicago. She spent over fifty years as a nanny, housekeeper, and caregiver for the infirm, mostly in the northern Chicago suburbs, at every opportunity taking black and white photographs with her old Rolleiflex camera. Her early images focused on children and suburban life, but she began to catch commuter trains and wander the city. She documented downtown Chicago, Maxwell Street, and Skid Row through several decades, and even captured the protesters in Grant Park before the riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Restrained by her finances, Maier rarely wasted a shot. Experts now praise her work both for its artistry and for its documenting decades of city experience. Seen as a body of work, it could be called her diary, but she rarely photographed herself. In her younger days, she traveled the world, but much of this book reflects life in Chicago.

As a nanny who would take children on adventures into poor parts of the city, Vivian Maier is compared with Mary Poppins. As a very private soul whose prolific work has only been revealed after her death, she is compared with Emily Dickinson. Much about her is still not really known. This excellent collection introduces her and leaves us wanting more.

Cahan, Richard and Michael Williams. Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows. Cityfiles Press, 2012. 287p. ISBN 9780978545093.

Earth Flight: Breathtaking Photographs from a Bird's-eye View of the World by John Downer

The beauty of birds inspires many nature photographers, spawning lots of gorgeous books, making bird study as popular indoors as out. The latest big bird book Bonnie brought home is Earth Flight: Breathtaking Photographs from a Bird's-eye View of the World by John Downer, a director and producer for BBC Earth. He spent five years producing a series called Earth Flight, which used birds imprinted on nature photographers to get spectacular videos of birds over landscapes. Earth Flight (the book) is collection of photos taken during the project.

How was this done? Downer and his crew acquired clutches of eggs from cooperative species, such as cranes and geese, and managed to have a nature photographer present at each hatching. The photographer would than be a primary caregiver raising the birds. As the birds matured, they accepted their surrogate parent flying beside them in an ultralite aircraft. The result is a body of eye-popping images from all the continents except Antarctica.

For birds not susceptible to imprinting, the BBC team created robotic birds to fly along with wild birds. According to Downer, these non-manned flying machines opened up great opportunities for the filmmakers, but also drew the unwanted attention of many wary security forces in Middle Eastern countries. The producers also mounted miniature cameras on some birds, including bald eagles in the Grand Canyon, capturing great over the shoulder pictures.

Though it is easy just to look at the pictures, read the notes in the back of the book. After the natural history pieces, there are some incredible production stories.

Downer, John. Earth Flight: Breathtaking Photographs from a Bird's-eye View of the World. Firefly Books, 2012. 239p. ISBN 9781770850392.