Henricus Peters reviews Animals in Emergencies: Learning from the Christchurch Earthquakes by Annie Potts and Donelle Gadenne “Just imagine being sound asleep in a warm bed when suddenly it’s filled with sandy cold water. This water is so thick, you cannot move or get out of your home. You are stuck up to your neck in…
Gabrielle Back reviews Can You Hear the Trees Talking: Discovering the Hidden Life of the Forest by Peter Wohlleben. This beautifully presented, colourful publication transported me back to a time in my childhood when I played in the woods amongst the towering trees and collected conkers and acorns, such a magical time was had in those days. Peter…
Raichael Lock reviews Learning, Environment and Sustainable Development: a history of ideas by William Scott and Paul Vare; publisher Routledge. ISBN 9780367221935 Towards the end of this book the writers state that the stories ‘we tell ourselves about nature are crucial in determining our relations with the natural world’. For me, this quote provides an…
This book is informative in both scientific and cultural manner, containing facts and statistics. It describes the anatomy of both African and Asian elephants with beautiful illustrations. It highlights how they are so similar to humans in their behaviour, particularly their social interactions and their intelligence. The author writes about their evolution in detail and…
Chair of NAEE Trustees, William Scott, reviews The Long Spring: tracking the arrival of Spring through Europe. Author: Laurence Rose; Illustrator: Richard Alen. On a couple of occasions in the 1990s, when I travelled a lot on the continent for research meetings, I had the good fortune to experience Spring from the south of Spain to the…
Beasts at Bedtime is a very interesting, imaginative and almost magical book, that illustrates the themed wealth of children’s stories. It recognises that many of the great stories for children feature animals and it is written for all those who imagine that children also see themselves as magnificent creatures. There is a great deal of…
Know Your Nature: British Wildlife sets out to introduce the reader to some of the more common flora and fauna found in and around the British Isles. Produced as a hardback board book, the contents are laid out to give a double page spread to a total of fourteen different categories of plant or animal groups.…
This is an extract from a review by Graeme Gourlay in Geographical of Bill McKibben’s latest book, Falter: has the human game begun to play itself out? “In 1978, James F Black, one of Exxon’s senior scientists, told a group of company executives that by doubling the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, we would increase average global…
Ben Ballin reviews The World We’ll Leave Behind – Grasping the Sustainability Challenge by William Scott and Paul Vare; publisher Routledge. ISBN 9781783537730 The foreword to this encyclopaedic book sets the bar high: this is to be a brief introduction to the chief environmental and social challenges facing the world, the key ideas underpinning them…
The Little Book of Trees provides a simple well-presented guide, suitable for children aged 9+ and adults alike. It is arranged in alphabetical order by tree name, from Alder to Yew, with over 40 trees listed. Clear photos help to identify the trees. Each tree has its own dedicated page with facts including its preferred…