Book reviews

Henricus Peters reviews Flames of Extinction: the race to save Australia’s threatened wildlife by John Pickrell. A carefully researched and deeply empathetic portrayal of the battle to save Australia’s precious wildlife as we cook our planet”. Gaia Vince, author of ‘Adventures in the Anthropocene’ is certainly correct in this statement.  John Pickrell has upturned seemingly every possible rock…

Sue Shanks reviews Mother Earth is Weeping  by Claire Donald. This slim little book follows Mother Earth as she shares her worries with the moon about the negative environmental impact that people are having on the planet. Turning to the Sun, Mother Earth and the Moon are cheered by the Sun’s belief that there is capacity for…

Planktonia: the nightly migration of the ocean’s smallest creatures by Erich Hoyt Whilst our planet is covered 75% in salt water to the extent it should be called ‘Blue Planet’ or ‘Planet Ocean’, we still know very little about the ocean waters and their treasures: the amazing organisms that call these waters home. This is especially true…

Sue Fenoughty reviews I Love My World  by Chris Holland. Another Devonian, children’s author Michael Morpurgo, strongly recommends this book as being “a must for all”. Chris Holland is obviously passionate, and very knowledgeable about the natural environment, especially plants, and the activities in the book aim to pass on his passion and knowledge to the…

Henricus Peters reviews Funny bums, freaky beaks and other incredible creature features by Alex Morss & Sean Taylor, illustrated by Sarah Edmunds. Have you ever looked at an animal and wondered if someone had played some practical joke with it – it looks so strange! Certainly, the first ever account of the duck-billed platypus suggested that someone…

Sue Shanks reviews Winter Sleep: a hibernation story by Sean Taylor & Alex Morss This book is comprised of two sections focussing on the topic of hibernation. The first section is a narrative story about a boy visiting his grandmother in winter, following an earlier visit he had made in the summer. He recollects that in summer he…

The Economist says that these are seven texts that explain how the climate is changing—and what to do about it. Just click on the link to see more details – including the note that the 6th book here is not a terrorist handbook. What We Know About Climate Change. By Kerry Emanuel. MIT Press; 88 pages; $15.95.…

British Wildlife has featured book reviews since the very first magazine back in 1989, and every review included in issues since 2018 is available to read on the British Wildlife website. These reviews provide in-depth critiques of important new titles in natural history publishing, from nature-writing bestsellers to technical identification handbooks. They are all authored by experts in…

Professor William Scott reviews Rewild Yourself: 23 spellbinding ways to make nature more visible by Simon Barnes, illustrated by Lee Wright. There is a lot to like about this book, and if everyone did even half of what Simon Barnes recommends, their lives would be more fulfilled, and the rest of us would benefit as well. As is…

Henricus Peters reviews Hollow is a Home by Abbie Mitchell, illustrated by Astred Hicks. Take a peek into the world of tree hollows and the Australian animals that call them home. Trees are praised for many things, and rightly so: provider of nesting site for birds; perching place for beautiful flowers; the roots strengthen and structure the…

Henricus Peters reviews Animals Make us Human by Leah Kaminsky & Meg Keneally Do you know what Sir David Attenborough, Greta Thunberg, the Dalai Lama and Beyoncé all have in common? (The answer is at the end of this review!)  This delightful and important book was born out of devastating circumstances. First the Australian bushfires of 2019–20, as the country’s…