Category: BOOK REVIEWS

This book arrived in the post out of the blue from the publisher, probably because they had spotted that I have favourably reviewed two previous books by Prof Helm, Natural Capital and Green and Prosperous Land, and they were right to bank on my admiration of this further volume. It contains the same mixture of…

It was the best of times (the most glorious spring ever), it was the worst of times (a tiny virus had cut us off from normal life) but these tales of three naturalists capture the contradiction that many of us experienced. Were we allowed to enjoy ourselves when hundreds were dying? Was it OK to…

Congratulations to Benedict Macdonald and Dara McAnulty for winning their categories of the Wainwright Prize. Ben’s book, Rebirding, won the new category for global conservation. Dara’s book, Diary of a Young Naturalist, won the category for UK nature writing.

There seems to have been something of a flood of very good books for me to review here recently, and here’s another one (and there are some more in the pipeline). Laurence Rose’s book is a thoughtful and well-informed look at nature conservation in the UK and every few pages I was thinking ‘That’s a…

Helen Pilcher writes with wit and clarity about life on Earth. This is a very good book, as was her previous book Bring Back the King (reviewed here). I think this one slightly has the edge but I’m glad to have both on my bookshelves and embedded in my thoughts. When I say that she…

I’m reading two books at the moment, both by authors I like and admire for their work so far. And both authors are short-listed for the Wainwright Prize for Global Conservation which will announce its winner (of a £5000 prize) on 9 September. The first of my two current reads is Life Changing by Helen…

I grew up in Somerset where Buzzards were reasonably common but are now much more numerous, but I’ve spent most of the last 40 years living in the East Midlands and seen Buzzards becoming commoner and commoner sights in the skies here. Buzzards are fairly common across most of lowland Britain nowadays but holes still…