Nature books round-up: The 18th century proves a natural habitat for ideas

The 18th century was a pivotal time in the development of an interest in nature, especially in Britain. Two of these four books are specifically about nature in the 18th century and another devotes a fair proportion to the period. Why? Because as Susannah Gibson writes in Animal, Vegetable, Mineral? (OUP, £16.99), "some very strange creatures became known to naturalists... better tools like microscopes enabled naturalists to make more minute examinations of natural objects... and Enlightenment culture was encouraging people to rethink old ideas".