Reviewed by Ian Carter The title of this book is taken from an Irish Government report dating back to 1969 raising concerns that Ireland’s natural heritage is being gradually ‘whittled away’. The report suggests, in the understated way of the age, that this ‘could represent a serious loss to the nation’. You could imagine much…
Category: BOOK REVIEWS
Bank Holiday Monday book review – Beyond Spring by Matthew Oates
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Reviewed by Ian Carter Having read his previous book describing a lifetime of watching, studying and obsessing about butterflies I was looking forward to this one. Thankfully, it shares many similarities, not least the in-depth knowledge, warmth and humour in the writing – it’s not often you catch yourself laughing out loud at a natural…
Bank Holiday Monday book review – How to Build Houses and Save the Countryside by Shaun Spiers
This book is written by a former MEP, a former boss of the Campaign to Protect Rural England and the current Director of the think-tank Green Alliance. Shaun Spiers has been knocking around the policy and political world for a good few years and he’s no fool (no fool at all) and so his views,…
Sunday book review – The Lynx and Us by David Hetherington and Laurent Geslin
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I expected this book to be a great visual treat considering the imprint from which it comes, and it is, but it is also a very interesting read. You can’t go far wrong with photos of cats – the internet is full of them – but these images of wild European Lynx are superb. …
Sunday book review – The Wonderful Mr Willughby by Tim Birkhead
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Reviewed by Ian Carter This is a book I probably wouldn’t have read had I not been asked to review it. The name Willughby was not a familiar one – other than a vague notion that he, and his close associate John Ray, had something to do with birds a very long time ago….
Sunday book review – Curlew Moon by Mary Colwell
Yesterday was World Curlew Day. Everybody likes Curlews these days. GWCT and Curlew Country want your money to save the Curlew, BTO want your money to save the Curlew and RSPB is spending over a million pounds over five years on Curlews but isn’t gagging for your money it seems! Wow! The author of Curlew…
Sunday book review – The Ascent of Birds by John Reilly
This is a book for the intelligent and inquisitive birder – which may limit its reach somewhat – but also for students of evolutionary biology and all those who have wondered at how we have ended up, in any part of the world, with the mix of species we see today. It is a…
Book review – Framing Nature Toolkit by Ralph Underhill
Reviewed by Ian Carter My wife picked up a copy of this short book at a recent Natural England event where Ralph was giving a talk. To be honest I was rather surprised they let him inside the building given how rude he has been about them – including that logo with the roof. The…
Bank holiday book review – Pressing On by Robert Gillmor
This book is a real treat – full of clear, crisp, concise linocuts by Robert Gillmor. Is Robert Gillmor the nation’s favourite nature artist? Who knows? But over a period of seven decades he has been publishing drawings, paintings and linocuts with subjects primarily drawn from the natural world. This book of linocuts is…
Sunday book review – Our Place by Mark Cocker
This is the best book on the state of nature since George Monbiot’s Feral and deserves to be read just as widely. It’s been quite a long time in the making. I interviewed Mark Cocker for Behind the Binoculars back in January 2014 and at the same time he interviewed me and a few…