Category: Book review

A sumptuously illustrated and beautifully written volume with accounts of 100 plants and their roles in human existence. This is one of those fairly rare books that is good to look at and even better to read.  If you have forgotten what a brilliant writer is Simon Barnes then this book is a fine reminder….

Following the successful publication of Red Sixty Seven in 2020 this is another run at the same group of species (with a net three additions) – those on the UK Red List because of their conservation status.  Profits from the sale of this volume go to the BTO for work on such species and to…

This is a very individual book, and I’m afraid it didn’t appeal much to this individual but that does not mean that it won’t appeal to you. So let me describe it. There are four parts to this book; First Contacts; To Describe, Name, Represent; Ecopoetics: Life Force and Resistance; Towards a Symbiotic Way of…

This book, by farmer’s daughter and now-journalist and media presenter Anna Jones, is one of the most enjoyable and interesting books I have read this year – and I write that in full knowledge that in a few weeks I’ll be choosing my books of the year (click here for 2021’s list). It examines the…

A book about one of my favourite bird species – the amazing, the beautiful, the persecuted Hen Harrier.  This volume takes the same approach as the authors’ previous The Red Kite’s Year and is a month by month account of what Hen Harriers are doing and what is sometimes done to them. Interleaved amongst the…