THIS is how a book should look

I love books, and particularly books about African wildlife – so I’ve got quite a collection. I think I know wildlife books. But every now and then one comes along that stands out and really gets me excited.

And few have excited for a while as much as Gamebirds of Southern Africa by Rob Little and Tim Crowe, with illustration by Simon Barlow (second edition, published by Struik Nature).

Fist of all, it looks like a nature book should look, with a rich tan spine and hard covers in deep grass green, and with real eye candy of an inset on the front (actually, it’s a copy of one of the paintings from inside the book). And then when you open it, you can’t help just falling in love with Mr. Barlow’s illustrations (there’s an interesting and technical introduction to the artworks, in which you’ll learn that the project was three years in the making).

Secondly, it covers a limited selection of birds – the francolins, the spurfowl, the quails, the guineafowl, and the sandgrouses – so there’s enough space to provide detailed descriptions of the 22 featured species, with extensive notes on things like habits, habitat, and conservation status.

And the paintings and drawings – oh man! The paintings and drawings…

This is a book I’m going to read from cover to cover more than once, and which I know I’ll treasure for a long, long time. It really needs to be in your guest library, and you’ll probably want another copy for your coffee table at home. And another one for your favourite uncle at Christmas.

Buy it here.