I’ve been looking forward to reading this book and it hasn’t disappointed me – I recommend it. I went to the book launch on Tuesday and drank red wine, met some friends and we all sang The Manchester Rambler which was fun. But I was keen to discover what Guy had found out and how….
Category: BOOK REVIEWS
Bank Holiday Monday book review – Enlightenment Now, by Stephen Pinker
Reviewed by Ian Carter The premise of this book is that by almost any metric you care to choose, things have got better for humans as a result of the scientific revolution and ‘progress’ driven by research, industry and wealth creation. It’s hard to argue with the logic. We live longer, enjoy better healthcare, are…
Sunday book review – Bird Therapy by Joe Harkness
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This is a redemptive story – of how the author recovered from a pit of despond and how nature helped him to make that transition. Chapter 1 is very moving and although getting the low-down on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Generalised Anxiety Disorder may not sound like a rattling good yarn it is a good…
Sunday book review – Rocky Shores by John Archer-Thomson and Julian Cremona
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This is a lovely book and makes me wish that my adopted county of Northamptonshire had some coastline, and rocky shores at that, to which I could rush to explore some rockpools with my newly gained knowledge. The Bloomsbury Wildlife series might possibly be seen as a competing series of books to the Collins New…
Sunday book review – Butterflies of Britain and Europe
A second edition of the comprehensive photographic guide to 472 species of European butterfly with another 64 North African and Turkish species thrown in for good measure. This is a commendably simple book – you get lots of very good photographs of all the butterflies you might see in Europe with enough additional information to…
Sunday book review – Green and Prosperous Land by Dieter Helm
This book, out of 25+ I reviewed in 2019, was the title I chose as my wildlife book of the year – I recommend it highly. You can buy this book from Bookshop.org and I have set up a booklist to make that easy through this link https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/MarkAvery Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org…
Sunday book review – Rebirding by Benedict Macdonald
This book is a ‘Must read’ and a ‘Good read’ but not necessarily a ‘Must agree with’ type of book. By which I mean that it is well written and has the right mixture of interesting facts and well-explained views mixed in with a few areas where I thought (you might not) ‘Hang on, I…
Sunday Book review – The Worshipful Companies by Stuart Medland
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Reviewed by Ian Carter This landscape format book is the second in a series on Norfolk wildlife by the same author. It deals with the Norfolk coast and combines photographs of wildlife (mostly birds) and poems, with a short accompanying text. The ‘worshipful companies’ bit is his comparison of the different bird species with medieval…
Guest blog – New Year, New Moon Bird by Kerri ni Dochartaigh
Kerri ní Dochartaigh is a writer who grew up during the Troubles that ravaged Ireland. She lives in a very northwesterly part of the island, where the sky is grey and unbearably beautiful. She writes about nature, literature, place, beauty, grieving and healing. She writes at her kitchen table with the back door open; even…
Sunday book review – The Wild Remedy by Emma Mitchell
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Reviewed by Ian Carter It is increasingly widely recognised that nature is good for us. Most of us instinctively know this to be true and the science is gradually getting to grips with how this works; the biochemistry of a visit to the local woods and its impacts on our health and well-being. Science is…