Every cabin needs good books – lots of books for long winter nights or lazy summer afternoons when the fish are down.

   iPads and Kindles are fine for airports and trains but when I’m sitting in a leather chair in the cabin I want to feel the heft of a book and hear the turn of the page. I want to look up and have a silent conversation with my favorite books on the bookshelf.

  Three books have come my way recently through the mail.

  The first is a lush and unusual book that is hard to put in a category. Titled “Owls of the World,” it is much more than field guide – it would be way too heavy to carry into the field at 3.1 pounds.  It is a combination owl encyclopedia and coffee table art book.  It depicts owls – big eyes and looking owlish - in page after page of glorious color plates. It includes artful sketches of owl anatomy and maps showing the ranges of owls throughout the world. I hadn’t realized how thoroughly owls are distributed around the globe and their variety of shapes and colors.

   The book is by Claus Konig (ornithologist) and Friedhelm Weick (artist) and published by Yale University Press.

  

   The second, another book from Yale University Press, is “Humans, Nature, Birds: Science Art from Cave Walls to Computer Screens” by Darryl Wheye, Donald Kennedy and Paul R. Ehrlick.

   This book explores the connections between art and nature, especially birds, and arrives at insights about how we how we perceive the natural world around us. It is arranged in short illustrated chapters.

  Here’s a passage from the book: “Birds have been an artistic focus not only because they are lively, appealing, colorful and dramatic but also because their behavior is interesting, and they are important to our well being. The focus dates back to the Paleolithic period, when early artists conveyed messages about animals, including birds and their environment, and continues to this day.”

   And this book, sent to me by Storey Publishing: “Compact Cabins – Simple Living in 1,000 Square Feet or Less” by Gerald Rowan.  The author Gerald Rowan has taught art, ceramics, architecture, and graphic design for more than 30 years. He is currently a visiting professor in the Art and Architecture department of Lehigh University. His interest: developing innovative ideas for building small. He lives in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

   The book provides basic drawings for 50 cabin designs. It also contains sections on planning the construction of a cabin and methods for designing a modular system from simple 12x12 foot units.  Some of the designs in the book verge on the vacation-home look, but many are appealing in the way they play with the traditional presentation of a cabin. I was intrigued by the Micro Cabin at a mere 162 square feet.

-- Lou Ureneck