SCIENCES

The Urban Naturalist: How To Make the City Your Scientific Playground

by Menno Schilthuizen (text) & Jono Nussbaum (illus.).
MIT. Apr. 2025. 312p. ISBN 9780262049092. $32.95. NAT HIST
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Part guidebook and part manifesto, scientist Schilthuizen’s (Darwin Comes to Town: How the Urban Jungle Drives Evolution) latest begins at an interesting place: the Victorian era, which he describes as the last great flowering of science by enthusiastic amateurs before professionalization took over. The book moves on to describe the tools and resources available to aspiring contemporary naturalists, though the chapters on specimen preparation and accessing scientific literature may be a little daunting to newcomers. The later sections on exploring one’s urban environment and using community science in service of conservation efforts are more accessible. There’s something here for everyone who wants to know what’s outside their door, even if what’s outside is a concrete jungle. The potential discoveries are legion.
VERDICT A wide-ranging yet thorough resource for the would-be urban citizen scientist. For naturalists, conservationists, citizen and community scientists, and those who would facilitate such efforts.
Reviewed by Genevieve Williams , Mar 01, 2025
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