An American voice on the environmental disaster of post-war industrial agriculture, and the positive signs of recovery from poly-cultural farms and permaculture embraced by a new generation ... read more
Its second subtitle is "an adventurous history of botany". JG is a scientist and an historian of exploration (his "The Rattlesnake: A Voyage of Discovery to the Coral Sea" was excellent).
Fascinating study of our relationship with birds, from hunting to providing us with food, as messengers, guardians, omens, deities, metaphors, symbols and inspiration. Many illustrations.
Our use of birds is well-known - feathers for hats as well as for nests, birds deified, personified, caged, used for food and for hunting. Less well know is how birds interact with us. (Not ... read more
Tree-poaching and the ownership of wildnernesses from Sherwood to the Amazon: a well-researched study of the black market for timber and its wider implications.
Thorogood's version of 'up hill and down dale' takes him over cliffs and up volcanoes - all in the pursuit of pitcher plants, irises, orchids... Illustrated by the author.
The Scottish Highlands are facing climate chaos too, despite being so far north, and its effects are already being felt. Crumley's meditations on the seasons in one volume.