Richard Herley on White’s Selborne – a pioneering natural history book

Richard Herley, an English author whose books are great, has a wonderful blog in which he often discusses the natural history of the English countryside. I follow him with relish.

Now he discusses Gilbert White’s Natural History of Selborne, and he says:

While not going so far as one author, who declared that no one who does not own and appreciate a copy of White’s Selborne has no claim to call himself an English naturalist, I would nonetheless hold it up as indispensable to the library of anyone who loves our countryside, or who loves our language properly used, or both. … There have been nearly three hundred editions; the book is never out of print. … White’s legacy is the conviction that anyone, equipped only with a keen pair of eyes and an open mind, can add information of real value to our knowledge of the world. He has been an inspiration to countless people since, including some of today’s most eminent scientists.

White’s book is available through Gutenberg and I’m going to download it for my Kindle when I finish posts for the day.