The Andersen Library Blog

The Lost Species:
Great Expeditions in the Collections of Natural History Museums
by Christopher Kemp
QH45.5 .K46 2017
New Arrivals Island, 2nd floor

Entomophobes and arachnophobes beware! In the 25 chapters of Kemp’s book you’ll get up close and personal with many interesting species, such as the Congo Duskhawker Dragonfly and the Atomic Tarantula Spider. There are also intriguing mammals and amphibians and a plant, oh my!

Sit back in your chair and read the exploits of scientists who’ve (re?)discovered new species without setting a foot outside of a museum. Digging through specimen trays, drawers, and jars hidden in the recesses of natural history museums all over the globe, they’ve found some amazing creatures collected decades ago. Some of these species were previously unidentified and unnamed and others were misidentified. Some, alas, were discovered too late and are already extinct due to climate change and loss of their native habitats.

You might think this is a rare and unique occurrence, when in fact it is not. Only about one-fifth of all species on the planet have been named. Consider that estimates indicate about 75% of newly identified mammal species were already in a natural history museum somewhere around the world. Another 50% of flowering plants have been collected and are waiting to be described and named. We’ve collected them, but don’t know what we’ve got (yet).

This book will be a fun read for the hobbyist, naturalist, and you.

Upside: Profiting from the profound demographic shifts ahead
By Kenneth Gronbach
New Arrivals Island, 2nd floor, HF5415.127 .G763 2017  

Marketing students, take note. To hear this book tell it, one of the great unacknowledged factors affecting marketing and sales is simply the (in)ability of some companies to count people.

The book opens with anecdotes of how many companies have seen failures — or successes — by (not) recognizing the impact of the different relative sizes of each demographic cohort in the U.S. Gronbach then expands this idea by looking both at demographic cohorts and specific sectors of the economy (like healthcare, housing, and transportation), and draws conclusions regarding what sorts of sectors should be poised to take huge advantage of such trends.

To look at one interesting generational anecdote: what’s often thought of as the largest birth generation in American history, the Baby Boomers, are just now entering their retirement years. Health care, retirement, and assisted living industries, take note! Subsequently, the Gen Xers (born 1965-1984) are often derided as slackers who avoid work and who broke Social Security. Not really, says Gronbach – they’re just, by number of births, 9 million people fewer than the Baby Boomers and 10 million fewer than the Gen Yers that follow them. No wonder Gen X’s number of jobs, house purchases, car purchases, etc. all look slightly pale in comparison.

Oh, and those Generation Y folks, Millennials? Most of you UWW college students? As the new largest generation of Americans by birth numbers – edging out the Boomers by some 1.3 million, as shown in this table – Gronbach is optimistic about the great impact you and your spending will have on the American economy too. Go forth and take on the world!