I have reviewed 28 books on this blog this year – an average of more than one a fortnight. Some of these are sent to me by publishers or authors, some I simply go out and buy. Which books you like is as personal a choice as what music you like. But for what it’s…
Category: BOOK REVIEWS
Sunday book review – Yorkshire Dales by John Lee
Sometimes I have a book for a while and I keep putting it down and the voice in my head says ‘I’ll settle down and read it a bit later’ and when that happens it’s a pretty good bet that I’m not going to be gripped by the book. This was one of those books…
Sunday book review – The Man who made things out of Trees by Robert Penn
I liked this book. It’s about Ash trees and what you can make out of their wood. It’s a simple enough idea but it takes the author, Robert Penn, to many parts of the UK , Europe and America and he meets a variety of interesting craftsmen on his journeys. Baseball bats, cricket stumps and…
Sunday book review – Natural Histories by Brett Westwood and Stephen Moss
This is the book of the radio programme. Have a look at that cover – very clever! And quite pretty, too. I’m almost totally addicted to Radio 4 and so I have heard bits of several of the radio programmes that make up the subject matter of this book. The basic idea is that each…
Sunday book review – Natural Capital by Dieter Helm
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…
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…