The Iconoclast
Monday, 3 October 2011
The Fruits Of Field Work And Scholarship
 
It is very rare that one encounters a truly scholarly tome that one instinctively knows must have been a labour of love to write, but I have by me just such a book. One cannot overestimate its importance to even the most casual observer of the countryside and I, and others, await with bated breath the, hopefully imminent, publication of its companion volumes. Even the most cursory observation of only the cover of this book is sufficient to tell you that a veritable genius must have worked for a surprising length of time in some of the most physically demanding places in the country – the shopping precincts and their environs. Enough! Let me introduce you to this paragon amongst books, this wonderful manual for the keen nature lover, this useful, pocket sized, guide which encapsulates such a wealth of knowledge. It is The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America – A Guide to Field Identification by Julian Montague.
 
Published by Abrams way back in 2006 this invaluable field guide has only just come to my attention and I can heartily recommend the common sense approach to the subject embodied by this small, but crucially important, book. For the first time a very careful identification system has been rigorously worked out and the amazing full colour photographs throughout make it easy for the amateur to classify any carts he may come across both accurately and quickly. I had no difficulty in identifying two strays local to me as, respectively, an A10 and a B7. Granted my B7 was also a B14 ARCHAIC, but the fact that I was able to use this guide and establish that fact within seconds more than justifies its position on my shelves.
 
Buy it! Use it! You will never again confuse ordinary 'Gap Marginalization' with the equally as common 'Edge Marginalization' nor your A9s with your B1s. The whole mysterious life of the shopping cart will be open to you. No longer ignorant on all matters of wheeled basketdom you will be a master observer of all such that you survey. Your friends will stand in awe of your knowledge and your loved ones will look at you with new-found respect.
 
This is, I venture to suggest, the first truly useful modern field guide ever to be produced for any subject. May there be many more.
Posted on 10/03/2011 9:31 PM by John M Joyce
Comments
4 Oct 2011
Send an emailChristina McIntosh

That is hilarious.

One day, I must share with you a book my husband once found - "The Guide to Ecclesiastical Bird-Watching" (illustrated) which contains descriptions of species such as "The Greater Spotted Pew-Snoozer", the 'Easter Buntings', and the 'Predictable Partridges' [who only appear in the church for baptisms, weddings and funerals]). 

Further thought.  Are you familiar with Flanders and Swann's song about "The League of British Bedstead Men" who go about at dark of night making sure that each pond, mere and fen is decked out with a broken-down brass bedstead?

 I think the League has modernised; here in Australia, anyway, it is the League of Shopping-Trolley Men, for one will find abandoned shopping-trolleys forlornly sunk in the local creek, swamp or gully, sometimes miles and miles from the nearest shopping centre (mall, in American English).