1000th POST!

That's right folks, this is the one thousandth post at the ISW. To celebrate, I'm doing something brand new...uh, actually I'm doing something new for the ISW but kind of old, at least in the blogosphere. I promise to make it as loaded with invasive alien goodness as possible.

Some crazy nuthatch summoned me to this book meme:

Number of books I own: About 500, together with my husband. The rule is to use the library for fiction unless it is an author I really like, or if the book is used. This keep the numbers down.

Last book I bought: The Baja California Plant Field Guide by Norman C. Roberts, preceding a trip to Los Cabos, Mexico. Nice book, but not nearly big enough to cover what I photographed, many of which were species not native to the region.

Last book I read for the first time: Survivor: A Novel by Chuck Palahniuk. I thought it was really good read. And yes, I did buy it.

Five books that have influenced me a lot: Finally, something meaty...

• Ecological Imperialism : The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900 by Alfred Crosby. I was assigned a chapter in class, then later went on to read several other chapters when studying for exams. This book inadvertently sent my thesis work off on a huge detour by causing one of my professors to ponder "What about plants native to America that are invasive in Europe?"
• The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants by Charles Elton. When I first read this, there was virtually no other book literature on the subject of invasive species. It's still one of the best out there, full of detailed case studies, a scientist's book but very easy to read.
• Newcomb's Wildflower Guide - Maybe not exactly the type of book this meme is looking for, but it is certainly an old friend. Now if they would just let someone update it!
• Terrestrial Plant Ecology by Michael Barbour et al. From my first hard-core plant biology class. I love this book, as much as one can love a textbook.
• The Botany Coloring Book. If you really want to learn about something, you need to be able to color it in. Thank you to whoever came up with this concept!

Five bloggers to inflict this onto: I think I'll keep my wacky blogroll to myself for now.

Thank you everyone for stopping by, and see you at the ISW 2K!