We might think of night in a similar way to the way we think about winter – something to be endured to get out the other side to better times. Leigh Ann Henion might just persuade you that it’s worth doing a few all-nighters to enjoy nocturnal wildlife as her book celebrates the night and…
Category: BOOK REVIEWS
A book I read recently…
I like this book which we bought recently in the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens for our Edinburgh grandson. He likes books with animals in them, and he likes books with flaps that he can turn over. I like books with those characteristics too. This one caught my attention by having a realistic Grey Squirrel in it,…
Sunday book review – Neurodivergent, by Nature by Joe Harkness
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This book is about the relationship between neurodivergent people and the natural world. I found it interesting and probably more interesting than I thought it might be. The author is neurodivergent (diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and does a very good job in explaining, from the start of the book, what are the…
Sunday book review – Exmoor by Flemming Ulf-Hansen
This New Naturalist of 530 pages is about one of the three upland National Parks in southwest England – you get a better view of the sea (and, on a clear day, of Wales) from this one than from the other two and it has the distinct advantage, from my biased point of view, of…
Sunday book review – Urban Plants by Trevor Dines
This book, out of 50 I reviewed in 2025, was my choice of wildlife book of the year. You can buy this book from Bookshop.org and I have set up a booklist to make that easy through this link https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/MarkAvery Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you…
Sunday book review – Beepedia by Laurence Packer
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This book takes us from Agapostemon to Zacosmia although that may not be the most helpful introduction from me as it suggests that this book is perhaps dull and worthy whereas it is fun and interesting. I enjoyed reading about the links of Danuncia Urban (bee taxonomist) and Charles Michener (another bee taxonomist) with bees…
Sunday book review – The Physics of Birds and Birding by Michael Hurben
Like many biologists, I have a dose of physics-envy born out of fear of physics. At school, I could cope quite well with mechanics because that felt like snooker writ large but when it came to forces, energy and electricity it all was a bit much for me. And so it was with mixed feelings,…
Sunday book review – Land Beneath the Waves by Nic Wilson
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The publisher’s attempt at describing this book’s genre seems pretty accurate to me, loaded as it is with words such as ‘health’, ‘self-help’, ‘illness’, ‘well-being’, ‘family’ and ‘memoir’. Would there be enough nature in here for me, I wondered. And the answer was a resounding ‘yes!’ (although one can’t easily have too much). Those drawn…
Sunday book review – Words from the Hedge by Richard Negus
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I’ve been looking forward to reading this book and that feeling was justified by the pleasure it gave me. Most of the pleasure was because this is a well-written book by someone who seems to be an interesting man with whom I’d be very happy to share a few pints at some stage. He is…
Bank Holiday Monday book review – Wildly Different by Sarah Lonsdale
I wondered whether this book, written by a woman, about five women environmentalists, with praise from three women on its cover was for me but it most certainly was. I’ve read the words about two of the five women – two who lived and worked in the UK – but I may well get to…