Louise Gray’s previous book, The Ethical Carnivore was 5th in my books of the year for 2016 (see review here), and this follow-up, also on food, is a contender for a top-10 listing this year, I reckon. Eating fruit and vegetables doesn’t quite have the moral jeopardy attached to it that surrounds eating an animal…
Category: BOOK REVIEWS
Sunday book review – The Peak by Rod Dunn
Comments Off on Sunday book review – The Peak by Rod Dunn
An attractive book of relatively few words but a great many excellent images. The photographs are wonderful and portray the landscapes, wildlife and built environment of our oldest National Park. There are many good portraits of birds here, and I enjoyed them. The butterflies were even better and the plants better still. But the landscapes…
Sunday book review – Shaping the Wild by David Elias
This is David Elias’s first book and it is a cracker. The name might ring a bell with readers of this blog as he wrote a guest blog here almost five years ago (Dead from the neck down). This is a thoughtful, knowledgeable and loving account of upland Wales, its wildlife and its land use….
Sunday book review – Ten Birds that Changed the World by Stephen Moss
I have reviewed several of Stephen Moss’s books here (Tweet of the Day (with Brett Westwood) 2014; Natural Histories (with Brett Westwood) 2015; Wild Kingdom, 2016; The Twelve Birds of Christmas, 2019; The Accidental Countryside, 2020; The Swallow, 2021; Skylarks with Rosie, 2021) and enjoyed them all. They vary in depth and scope but are…
Book review – Natures Wonder’s by Jane V. Adams
Comments Off on Book review – Natures Wonder’s by Jane V. Adams
This book will sit snugly in many National Trust shops. It takes you through the seasons and points you towards things you should see, hear, smell and feel. Almost the first thing to look for is your first Brimstone butterfly – I’ve seen a few in the last 10 days so it must be early…
Book review: Twitching by Numbers by Garry Bagnell
This book wouldn’t be everybody’s cup of tea but I enjoyed it. The author has already created a bit of a Twitter storm by offending some readers with remarks that were definitely not politically correct. I have only read the expurgated version so I am mostly unsighted on what has been removed. It would still…
Book review – The Meaning of Geese by Nick Acheson
Comments Off on Book review – The Meaning of Geese by Nick Acheson
This is the tale of a wild goose chase although the chase isn’t that wild as it is mostly carried out on an old red bicycle (I liked hearing about the bicycle) and not all of the geese are completely wild either. The author cycles around north Norfolk during the winter and describes his encounters…
Sunday book review – When the kite builds… by Mike Pienkowski
I can see a Red Kite from my Northamptonshire home every day of the year. I often pause to look at them even though I see them more often than I see a Buzzard or a Kestrel. I pause because they are just wonderful birds but also because they are a conservation success story –…
Sunday book review – Cruel Intentions by Alan Stewart
Comments Off on Sunday book review – Cruel Intentions by Alan Stewart
This is the sequel to the excellent Calls from the Wild (reviewed here). PC Bob McKay gets to tackle more wildlife crimes such as Fox hunting and deer poaching. Grouse moors, and their shady managers, play large parts in this volume along with bothered Beavers, baited Badgers and disturbed dolphins. Alan Stewart writes very well…
Sunday book review – Collins Bird Guide (3rd edition) by Lars Svensson, Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterstrom
Comments Off on Sunday book review – Collins Bird Guide (3rd edition) by Lars Svensson, Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterstrom
An identification guide is a functional thing – it exists so that the reader (or looker) can put a name, they hope the right name, to some creature. These are not the books that one picks up to read, or re-read over the years. They are the books one takes out into the field and…