This is a lovely book about a lovely place – the island of Oronsay. I’ve seen Oronsay from afar but never visited. This book by artist Jane Smith opens the door to the island and its wildlife. Since Oronsay is an RSPB nature reserve I know some of the characters in the pages of this…
Category: BOOK REVIEWS
Sunday book review – the Sacred Combe by Simon Barnes
Simon Barnes’s new book is a very readable collection of stories, memories and short essays on places that are important to him – all with a strong link to the natural world. I enjoyed reading them. And I enjoyed the illustrations by Pam Guhrs-Carr too. I wasn’t completely convinced that the book deserved the handicap…
Sunday book review – Shetland by Ann Cleeves
Ann Cleeves is probably known to most people for her crime novels, the Vera and Shetland series. Back in the fairly distant past, Ann was the assistant cook at the Fair Isle Bird Observatory despite, she says, not being interested in birds and not being that great a cook. It was there that she met…
This blog’s books of the year
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…
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…