Bryan Nelson Books

Exploring the works of Jacques Rancière, Claude Lefort, and Miguel Abensour, this book presents a provocative interpretation of democracy as an emancipatory project. It delves into a lesser-known aspect of contemporary French political thought, challenging conventional views on democracy's limits. By connecting these thinkers, the author highlights democracy's transformative potential against domination and inequality, urging a reevaluation of its nature and implications for society and politics. Bryan Nelson, a professor at Humber College, guides this insightful discourse.

"Seabirds and islands, an addictive mix, have dominated my life. Ailsa Craig and its gannets started the rot more than 60 years ago leading via a tortuous route to the Bass Rock, Christmas Island, Cape Kidnappers and other remote seabird haunts. This journey was eased by a St Andrews University degree in Zoology and Oxford D Phil under Niko Tinbergen and Mike Cullen, which helped my appointment as Lecturer, later Reader, in Zoology at Aberdeen University. I have been very lucky, thanks to gannets. I should mention, also, the Scottish Seabird Centre with which I have been involved as a Director since its inception." Bryan Nelson, who died in 2015 aged 83, pursued a distinguished academic career but also had a passion for communicating with a general audience. At Aberdeen he continued his pioneering work on gannets, especially on their methods of communication, of which he was an adept and entertaining mimic. He was one of the first zoologists to use modern photographic techniques such as fast film to capture bird behaviour, notably gannets diving into the sea at phenomenal speeds. This fascinating memoir is a collaboration with his friend the artist John Busby.

The Galapagos Crusoes: a year alone with the birds travel and wildlife narrative - an account of a year spent living on two waterless Galapagos islands in 1964, Tower Island (Genovesa) and Hood (Espanola), including groundbreaking descriptions of Galapagos wildlife, all the adventure of life on a deserted island and a visit from HRH Prince Philip.