I look forward to each and every NN with great anticipation and as recommended order my copy in advance from NHBS.

However, I think the title I am most looking forward to being published is 'Ponds, Pools and Puddles' (2011) - I just love the title and can't wait to see the cover design.

Which titles are you all most looking forward to being published?

Also does anyone know why the delay with publication of 'Vegetation of Britain and Ireland'? Supposed to be published this year but is now numbered as NN 123 on NHBS site.

My first tentative question was posted 3 days ago and has been viewed over 40 times. Several regular contributors have visited the forum on a daily basis and not a single one of you has deigned to make a reply.

I will continue to visit this forum but for information purposes only and will never again post a question.

I have read previous discussions about this forum being less than friendly and how the 'atmosphere' is different to other forums in that there seems to be a lot of complaining and 'one up-man-ship'. In addition the question has been posed as to why there are so many 'lurkers' ie those that visit and never make any contribution - here's your answer!

I am also a new comer - having only just joined the forum today and would like to welcome you as I hope I am. It is a real shame that you feel that your questions were not welcomed. Though I realize no-one should feel like they have to reply to any question posed - not to receive a reply until you make a challenging statement does unfortunately indicate a general unfriendliness towards new comers.

Seaweeds is a title that I am waiting most impatiently for. I have to wait until ?2019 - surely an typo error.

Bacteria also has me wondering about the jacket illustration.

Regards Andy.

I was a newcomer last year & after persisting with putting comments on here, often with no response I still persisted & got replies! I do not believe that anyone on this forum is unfriendly & as it is free newcoimers should persist & of course you will get replies! Myself, as a very busy full time working man running a family business & father of 2 young boys & butterfly enthusiast & small time book dealer & etc, etc, etc only have a small amount of spare time to apply time to put postings on this forum. Some forums (eg: MoneysavingExpert.com) have 100's of thousands of members who use their forum & some users can often spend most of their day on it & consequently post & reply to many, many postings/subjects. I suspect that with probably no more than 6%-8% of members posting more than once on this forum, the majority are happy to sit quietly & gleen information/tips & other relevant Collins notifications (which is absolutely fine) because quite simply they like & enjoy the New Naturalist series. Sure, on occasions there has been the odd disagreement on here about one thing or another, but what is wrong with that as long as it is still friendly & educational. I have learnt a fair amount from reading postings on here & was always glad I made the effort to sign up & become a member of The New Naturalists Forum. I hope that the lady Gill persists as she will gain fullfillment from becoming & remaining an ACTIVE member on this forum. She will learn good personal knowledge & useful information about the New Naturalist Books from the fellow good people/users of this forum.

Kind regards,

Lee Slaughter.

Bacteria......No

How can any amateur naturalist study Bacteria??? Surely you need microscopes at least? This is far too specialist for most people to be a New Naturalist volume. Ponds, puddles etc should be good although Seaweeds is also fairly specialist but hasn't been covered before & you can actually see them as opposed to Bacteria (unless I'm very much mistaken)?

As a matter of interest......this forum has 1863 members as at 21/03/2010; including Collins only 11 members have posted 10 or more postings and only 20 have posted 5 or more postings since last July 2009!!! Surely more of the members could post a thought or two? If they have taken the trouble to sign up then it is a piece of cake to submit your comments. I noted that the General questions section which is the most active usually, had 9 Guests and 1 member viewing it at about 8.45 this evening (21/3/2010). Mmmmmm....needs more participation by more members to keep this forum active! Maybe some of the guests that read this posting could sign up & become members free of charge and put your thoughts on here?

Lee.

If you are looking forward to Ponds, Puddles... you may not be aware it was first suggested before 1985 so it has been a long time coming - there are a few comments on the original planned version to be found in The New Naturalists (82).

The closest book to this subject already in the series is probably Life in Lakes & Rivers which is a classic and is one of the volumes printed in many different guises - Original, Fontana Paperback, Bloomsbury and so can be obtained at a large variation in prices.   

As regards the vegetation book - I cannot help you with its content - However 3 good readable books in the series on vegetation and plant life were written by Max Waters (look under the authors section of the home page) often as Co-Author - I found all 3 quite readable - In fact if you search in the old list (found as a PDF) under DOWNLOADS a previous participant believed Wild & garden plants  (NN 80) to be the best botany book he had read (p502/859)!! I am not experienced enough to pass such a comment but I do remember finding it a book easy to read rather than a study book. Unfortunately Its quite rare to get an original at a decent price but thats why the print on demand service started..

As an aside - looking in the downloads section I see the first chapter in Bird migration is now available to view so I'm glad you mailed a post as I wasn't aware of it until tonight !!

Stephen   

You will find a lot of interesting comments under the Forthcoming Titles and Suggested Titles headings.

Also the pre-July 2009 Forum is still accessible. Although it takes a lot of wading through, you wil find many recommendations of Natural History books, including those that members feel can be regarded as "honarary" New Naturalist titles.

You've already sparked off quite a few responses. Best wishes.

John Beal