Discover NAEE’s book reviews, highlighting inspiring titles that deepen environmental understanding. From classroom resources to thought-provoking reads, explore recommendations that support educators and engage learners with today’s most pressing environmental issues.
James Finds the NAG Patch
Juliette Green reviews James Finds the NAG Patch by Sara Kightley This is the story of an intrepid teddy bear who, like his namesake Captain James T. Kirk, boldly goes where no teddy bear has gone before – to the North Atlantic Garbage Patch (or NAG Patch for short) - “a mysterious [...]
Animals in Emergencies: Learning from the Christchurch Earthquakes
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 [...]
Can You Hear the Trees Talking?
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 [...]
Learning, Environment and Sustainable Development
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 [...]
‘Elephant’ – Errol Fuller
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 [...]
The Long Spring
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 [...]
Beasts at Bedtime
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 [...]
Know your Nature: British Wildlife
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 [...]
Has the human game begun to play itself out?
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, [...]
The World We’ll Leave Behind – Grasping the Sustainability Challenge
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, [...]
