Book Recommendations

Field Guide to the Lichens of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park by Erin A. Tripp and James C. Lendemer. In spite of the title, I don’t think this is a field guide, but rather a book for your library or beside your dissecting scope. This comprehensive book contains keys for all 920 species of lichens now known from GSMNP and has descriptions with color photos for most of these species, many of which are also found in Ohio. The book contains an excellent introductory section on lichen biology with many illustrations. Also covered are the history and ecology of the GSMNP. The entire book is written in a casual, easy-to- read style that is a welcome change from some of the more technical scientific writing.

The book does not contain any of Brodo’s common names (Lichens of North America), but rather has somewhat cutesy, whimsical or humorous impressions of the lichens. For instance, Heterodermia speciosa (Powdered Fringe Lichen) is “Put A Hair Net On It,” and Flavoparmelia caperata (Common Greenshield) is “Yellow Glory.” This may confuse people who are trying to learn the lichens by their common names. Notwithstanding this minor criticism, I would heartedly recommend this book to anyone interested in lichens or more broadly, the Smoky Mountains.

The Tangled Tree. A Radical New History of Life. By David Quammen, 2018. This was recommended to me by Barb Andreas and was recommended to her by another eminent bryologist. This easy-to-read book provided a strong booster shot of evolutionary biology, needed since I haven’t had an academic biology course for around 50 years. It not only gives a history of evolutionary thinking and the latest theories of the mechanisms of evolution, but also provides great examples of the process of science. I recommend it for anyone with an interest in biology.

-Ray Showman