This is a book written by an eminent economist who is also passionately interested in wildlife. There may be lots of such people but I haven’t met many of them. And Professor Dieter Helm has been since 2012, the chair of the Natural Capital Committee in England. The author states in his preface that ‘The…
Category: BOOK REVIEWS
Sunday book review – An Illustrated Coastal Year by Celia Lewis
This book is pretty and interesting. It’s a bit different too. The illustrations, by the author, of fauna and flora but also of ingredients for recipes and instructions for making ornaments or games, are very a big plus for the book. Those of birds are accurate enough, and very attractive (so it’s a pity that…
Sunday book review – Metamorphosis by Rupert Soskin
Stunning images of insects. This book is stuffed full of them. Stick insects, beautiful caterpillars, lacewings, wasps, mosquitoes – all are photographed in perfect detail. And the point of the book is that they are caught as eggs and in various stages of development, as well as as adults. I knew a bit about ant…
Sunday book review – Rainbow Dust by Peter Marren
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This is, for me, the very best natural history book I have read this year. Now perhaps I ought to mention that I am dining with its author later in the week but we’ll each be paying our own way so I haven’t been bought. It is a delight – and that is in a…
Sunday book review – Skydancer by Martin Bradley
This is the latest book by Martin Bradley (see here and here) aimed primarily at children – and this time he tackles the controversial Hen Harrier. There is a lot to like in this book although I think there are a few snags in it too. Personally I like the illustrations, most of them, very…
Sunday book review – On the Edge by Claude Martin
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I spent Thursday with the World Land Trust who are experts in saving rainforests – working with local people to secure important fragments of biodiversity-rich habitats (that’s not all they do, but it is the thing about their work that I most admire). This book, by a former Director General of WWF International, is a…
Sunday book review – The Complete Naturalist by Nick Baker
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There is no such thing as the complete naturalist – that’s part of the fun of nature. There is always more to learn – more mysteries to unravel. And I doubt that Nick Baker would claim to be the complete naturalist. But when you get past the title of the book, and stop harrumphing about…
Sunday book review – Tales from Concrete Jungles by David Lindo
A book about birds in towns didn’t immediately appeal to me. Birding in built up areas has always seemed to me to be making the best of a bad job rather than a good choice. But I was persuaded by the tales that the Urban Birder tells here. David Lindo – he of the national…
Sunday book review – In Pursuit of Butterflies by Matthew Oates
Matthew Oates has worked for the National Trust for ever and is one of the country’s leading experts on butterflies. With this book, he becomes a leading writer about them too. The book is a celebration of British butterflies and is an account of butterfly days going back for over fifty years. Do you remember…
Sunday book review – Queen of the Sky by Jackie Morris
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This is another book that I approached with some hesitation. It’s the story of the rescue and rehabilitation of a Peregrine that fell into the sea between the Pembrokeshire coast and Ramsey Island. I wondered whether it might be a bit soft and fluffy for me –…