If you are going to spend any time in Costa Rica (or Panama) and want a meaningful guidebook to their amazing forests, this 496-page guide is the one to buy! Likewise, buy it if you are studying tropical ecology, tropical entomology, botany, or any of the associated sciences. — especially if you are visiting or working at La Selva Biological Station.
I met Scott Schumway, gosh… maybe five years ago, at La Selva. “Are you the bug photographer guy?”, he asked. I confessed that I was, and Scott promptly extracted a promise from me that I would let him use photos I’d taken at La Selva in a book he claimed he was writing.
Promises to participate in a future publication are easy to make, and I promptly forgot about the conversation. Fast forward many months, and I get an email from Scott with a “want list”.
I frequently work with Lou Staunton, and I roped her into the deal. Lou’s lovely shot of a red-eyed green frog graces the cover. I think Scott used about 100 of our insect, frog, and snake photos in this book. Most were on his list, and a few are very rare creatures that are seldom photographed. This is the fourth Princeton University Press publication on which I have worked.
Scott is a retired Professor of Biology, and his book was twelve years in the making. La Selva Biological Station is a protected and rich forest where, for example, there are 400 recorded species of ants. I wish I’d had a book like this years ago when I started photographing in the tropics and at La Selva in particular.
Scott is a thoroughly nice guy and a few dollars of the $48 you will pay for this weighty work will undoubtedly trickle down to him and help ease his dotage. It will probably work out to be about 7 cents an hour for his labor. Meanwhile, you’ll have a guide that is actually useful.
Available September 9, 2026. Preorder or order here on get it on Amazon: Costa Rica's Rainforests: The Natural History of the Plants and Animals of La Selva.
