Nice cover! This is a book about loss – and about joy, and about wonder, and about hope. There’s a lot about the loss of nature over the last few decades and the author mixes this with memories of personal loss. A love of nature can be a support and strength during one’s life. And…
Category: BOOK REVIEWS
Sunday book review – On a Wing and a Prayer by Sarah Woods
This is a lovely book. I did wonder whether I was going to enjoy the travels of a lone woman through the rainforests of central and South America in search of lots of things including Harpy Eagles – but I very much did. Sarah Woods now works for the RSPB, which I didn’t realise until…
Sunday book review – Undiscovered Owls by Magnus Robb and The Sound Approach.
What a hoot! This is a book about owls and owl sounds – it’s a Sound Approach Guide after all. It’s a very smart-looking and well-written book. And I found myself surprised by how much it gripped my interest. The description of the discovery of the new species, the Omani Owl, is a very good…
Sunday book review – How to clone a mammoth by Beth Shapiro
This is an interesting read. I like learning things and I learned a lot here. There is quite a lot of chatter about de-extinction – the process of bringing extinct species back to life through some genetic wizardry. Think Jurassic Park with proper science! It sounds far-fetched, and it isn’t imminent, but this book tells…
Sunday book review – Few and Far Between by Charlie Elder
This book is about the author’s travels to see 25 of Britain’s ‘rarest’ and ‘most threatened’ animals; five birds, five mammals, five ‘herptiles’, five fish and five ‘everything elses’ in one year. It’s a good read and we readers are taken to some interesting places, some which I would definitely like to go to in…
Sunday book review – The Shepherd’s Life by James Rebanks
I recommend this book as the antivenom to George Monbiot’s book on rewilding (Feral), and vice versa, for this is a book that will make you like sheep and those who, to some extent, look after them in the hills. It’s a very good read and I enjoyed it very much. However, this book is…
Sunday book review – Honourable Friends by Caroline Lucas
I was given this book as a birthday present and I’ve read it all now. Caroline Lucas is a very admirable politician. I’m sure she has lots of faults, we all do, but if only we had a few more politicians like her then environmental matters would get a much fairer hearing in the Westminster…
Sunday book review – Nature in Towns and Cities by David Goode
I’ve had this book for quite some time, and I have kept picking it up and putting it down. For me, that is usually a sign that it hasn’t grabbed me but I’m wondering whether it is me, or the book, or both. In this case I think it is mostly me. I’m not that…
Sunday book review – Britain’s Habitats by Lake et al.
Everybody loves a habitat don’t they? Well, up to a point, Lord Copper. This book is subtitled ‘A Guide to the Wildlife Habitats of Britain and Ireland‘ and that’s very much what it is. There is a lot of good stuff in here but somehow it’s not a book that I can imagine being on…
Sunday book review – Cuckoo by Nick Davies
Nick Davies is a top-scientist (he is a Fellow of the Royal Society), and a birder, and he was the external examiner for my PhD. So, he’s quite a guy. I remember once walking down Tennis Court Road in Cambridge, heading to see a flock of Waxwings which were reported to be nearby. I encountered…