More Aids for Autodidacts

     At the beginning of this year I offered some useful suggestions for those who wished to improve the mind rather than the body. Short cuts to intellectual success were provided in the form of book series such as 30 Second Books and Very Short Introductions (see Intellectual Resolutions - 2019). 
     We are now more than halfway through the year and it is likely that my diligent readers have quickly burned through these very slim volumes. As a reward, I will now point you to some books that will let you know what really matters, and to some others that provide a little history. In keeping with the bespoke nature of this blog, the recommendations are loftier than the Whatever for Dummies...type books and appear under the imprimatur of a University Press - in this case, Yale.
     Although you sluggards should not be rewarded, I will remind you of a post that provides an excuse for those who buy books and do not read them, and a suggestion for the one book you should purchase: How To Talk About Books You Haven't Read. (see: TSUNDOKU)

Why X Matters

"Yale University Press presents the Why X Matters series, in which passionate authors present concise arguments for the continuing relevance of important people or ideas.The Why X Matters series aims to champion the cause of important disciplines and influential thinkers that are perhaps under-represented in modern discourse."

The Titles 

Why Architecture Matters Why Acting Matters Why Arendt Matters Why Baseball Matters

Why the Constitution Matters

Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters

Why Niebuhr Matters

Why Poetry Matters

Why Preservation Matters

Why the Romantics Matter

Why Translation Matters

Why Trilling Matters

Little Histories

"The Little Histories are vivid storybook introductions for the young and old alike. Inspiring and entertaining, each short book lays out our greatest subjects in deceptively simple, engaging tones. With charming and personal insights each expert gently takes the reader from ancient times to the present through bite size chapters, ideal as bedtime reading or on the journey to work."

The Titles 

A Little History of Economics

A Little History of the World

A Little History of Religion

A Little History of Philosophy

A Little History of the United States

A Little History of Literature

A Little History of Science

Sources: 

   The "X Series" is easily found on the Yale University Press site along with additional information about each title. A rationale for the series is offered in the blog post of the London branch of YUP: "Introducing Yale's Why X Matters Series."

   The "Little Histories" are found here: littlehistory.org.

   In some cases, podcasts and video interviews are available. 

Post Script:

   If you feel a little embarrassed about telling people you are reading A Little History of the World, mention that it was written by E. H. Gombrich and memorize the German title: Eine kurze Weltgeschichte für junge Leser. By the way, it was written in 1935.

     

American Sportsman's Library

     I came across this series when I went looking for Upland Game Birds, which is the actual subject of this post. Given that I often provide information about books published in a series, I offer below a list of the titles in the American Sportsman's Library. If you are at all interested in nature, sports and literature about the outdoors, you will enjoy learning about such subjects as they were covered early in the last century. One of the books is authored by a U.S. President (he wrote it while in office) and the book under consideration was written by Edwyn Sandys from Ontario.

Upland Game Birds

If you are a hunter or a nature lover you will enjoy this book and if you are ornithologically inclined you will find it useful. One reason I am bothering to post about it is because it seems to me that more people should know about it. It covers most of the continent and the birds considered range from turkeys and ptarmigans to quail and whooping cranes. The other is that more should be known about the author.  If you go looking for “Edwyn Sandys” you will find a lot about a Bishop or the founder of Virginia, but not much about the one who was born in Chatham, Ontario. If you are a student of Canadian history Sandys is worth investigating. If you are more interested in environmental history you should have a look at Upland Game Birds. Although it  ranges widely geographically, there are often specific references to this area. Here are a few snippets: p.160. On the mating of Prairie-Hens "When I first heard this booming, it sorely puzzled me. It was in western Ontario, on what is known as Raleigh plains - an extensive tract of low, marshy land, lying for miles along the south bank of the Thames River….Spring shooting of geese, duck, and snipe was then both legal and amazingly good, guns were comparatively few, and the plains formed something very like an earthly Eden for those sufficiently game to face astounding mud and ice-cold water.”

p.249. On the Wild Turkey

"That such a bird, in the opinion of many the finest game-bird in the world, has been almost exterminated in miles of forested country where it might have been preserved, is a blot upon the sportsmanship of older states. Thirty years ago [c1870] one could drive in almost any direction through the woods of western Ontario and reasonably expect to see either the birds themselves or their tracks crossing the snowy roads. Twenty years ago the range had narrowed to the big woods of the western tongue of Ontario. Ten years ago, the last stronghold had dwindled to the wildest parts of about three counties. Today there is perhaps a single narrow strip where one might strike a trail and possibly catch a glimpse of a fleeing survivor of the old-time hosts.”

[ Things have improved. Now wild turkeys are seen routinely even here in the city].

The Titles in the American Sportsman’s Library

Listed below are the books in the series. The six titles that are bolded are found in the catalogue of the Western Libraries.

Anderson, E.L. and P. Collier, Riding & Driving: Hints on the History, Housing, Harnessing and Handling of the Horse. [One copy on microfiche as part of the Kentucky Culture Series.] Brownell, L.W., Photography for the Sportsman Naturalist (1904) [An electronic copy as part of Nineteenth Century Collections Online] Busby, Hamilton, The Trotting and Pacing Horse in America (1904) Crowther, Samuel and A. Ruhl, Rowing and Track Athletics (1904)

Graham, Joseph A., The Sporting Dog (1904)

Henshall, James A., Bass, Pike, Perch and other Game Fishes of America (1903)

[Copy in storage]

Holder, Charles F., The Big Game Fishes of the United States (1903)

Money, A.W. et al., Guns, Ammunition and Tackle (1904)

Paret, J.P. and W. H. Maddren, Lawn Tennis: Its Past, Present and Future, by J. Parmly Paret; to which is Added a Chapter on Lacrosse by William Harvey Maddren (1904)

Roosevelt, Theodore et al., The Deer Family (1902)

[copy in storage]

Sage, Dean et al., Salmon and Trout (1902)

[One copy in storage and one in ARCC]

Sandys, Edwyn and T.S. Van Dyke, Upland Game Birds (1902)

[One copy in storage]

Sanford, L. C. et al., The Waterfowl Family (1903)

Stephens, William P., American Yachting (1904)

Trevathan, Charles E., The American Thoroughbred (1905)

Whitney, Caspar et al., Musk Ox, Bison, Sheep, and Goat (1904)
Sources:
There is a Wikipedia entry for The American Sportsman's Library.

 Here are two reviews of Upland Game Birds: 

    "Because most remarkable changes are making in the life habits of many game birds in their native haunts, the second volume in the American Sportsman’s Library, a work entitled Upland Game Birds, is certain to prove of interest to those observers of nature who do not shoot as well as to gunners.….It is loaded to the muzzle with good stories, all founded (more or less) on facts." John R. Spears, "A Work on Upland Shooting", New York Times, June 28, 1902.

"Upland Game Birds cannot fail to interest alike the sportsman, the ornithologist and the general reader. Mr. Edwyn Sandys, who is the author of about seven eights of the volume, is a keen field observer and a pleasing writer, whose experience covers the whole field of his subject, including the natural history as well as the sportsman's side, with both of which he is in fullest sympathy."The Auk, Volume 19, Issue 3, 1 July 1902, Page 306.

There is not much information about Edwyn Sandys. At some point he moved from Ontario and became a writer. Many of his articles are found in Outing magazine, with which he was associated. There are brief mentions of him in Mount’s, When Canadian Literature Moved to New York. His date of birth was found in an entry for his sister, Grace Denison, who was a writer and on the staff of Saturday Night. See: Canada’s Early Women Writers. 

An obituary for Edwyn Sandys is found in the New York Times on Oct. 27, 1906 (under ‘Edwin’).

Post Script: 

I was pleased to find some of these books in the libraries at Western University and hope they are not discarded. The copy that was retrieved for me from the storage facility was given as a gift in 1907 to someone in Chicago. It ended up at Western in 1922. (It should be noted that titles such as these are often worth a lot of money, depending upon the edition or condition of the items. I spotted one set of the Sportsman’s Library for $5,000 (US).)

I would have preferred to see the Western Libraries full of books rather than students. I have to admit, however, that all of the Sportsman’s titles are available via the Internet since they are out of copyright. Sandy’s Sporting Sketches is available and you can read his children’s book, Trapper Jim. You can also read all of his articles in Outing magazine. There are a few Internet options, such as HathiTrust, but for nature and outdoor books see the very good Biodiversity Heritage Library.