After periodic searching throughout the summer, I believe I have identified the vast majority of the herp books I hope to own soon, though many are prohibitively priced and it may be two Christmases from now before I obtain all of them. Mainly I'm looking for biographies/autobriographies of great herpers, classic herp books (generally old copies in good shape), and most of all, natural histories of herp groups or regions. I am not looking for field guides for every corner of the earth, or anything related to captive care, or books that are overly-scientific combinations of the works of several authors, or books below a certain reading level or page number (page number can often be a good indicator of scope and quality). However, since I've basically decided which books I intend to obtain (as well as a few that haven't come out yet), I am beginning to wonder what books I'll be buying when I do have all the ones I currently want. Can I really settle for buying maybe two or three books a year as they come out? Eventually I'll get there, but I am now considering exhausting yet another topic first: fossil reptiles. The problem is, dinosaur books all look like they're made for kids, and I'm having trouble finding anything else. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks (also, sorry for monopolizing the Reading Room of late).
-Gene
Fossil Herps
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Re: Fossil Herps
There are a couple by Holman that are pretty good.
Holman, J. A. 2000. Fossil Snakes of North America: Origin, Evolution, Distribution, Paleoecology. Indianapolis: University of Indiana Press.
Holman, J. A. 1995. Pleistocene Amphibians and Reptiles in North America. New York: Oxfor University Press; Oxfor Monographs on Geology and Geophysics No. 32.
There is a lot of good stuff out there in the primary literature too.
Holman, J. A. 2000. Fossil Snakes of North America: Origin, Evolution, Distribution, Paleoecology. Indianapolis: University of Indiana Press.
Holman, J. A. 1995. Pleistocene Amphibians and Reptiles in North America. New York: Oxfor University Press; Oxfor Monographs on Geology and Geophysics No. 32.
There is a lot of good stuff out there in the primary literature too.
Re: Fossil Herps
I have a book now packed away about the Burgess Shale. I really enjoyed and have planned on making a trip there to see it, but still haven't. It's a paper backed book, but I can't remember the name, and I don't think it's the Stephen J. Gould book that seems popular.