England still has a greater concentration of ancient oaks than the rest of Europe combined. The Dutch dendrologist's explanation and historical survey is compelling.
Explores what happens to places where people no longer live: Chernobyl, swathes of Detroit, Caribbean volcanoes, Scottish mining regions - redemptive, reflective.
Encompasses natural events and their consequences on a vast scale, showing how these have shaped human responses, trade, empires... Particularly trenchant as we try to understand climate cha... read more
A companion volume to the stunning Flora of the Silk Road that ravished us all in 2014. A selection of 600 of the most interesting wild flowers native to the Mediterranean and similar clima... read more
Unusual and interesting plants photographed and described in their natural habitats, often in very remote places - anyone remember the heady uplands of tulip and meadows of fritillary in Gar... read more
A marvellous debut from a young man of complex literary and musical parentage: birds of a feather, sins of the father, on and off the rails (the cenotaph too, memorably) - and a magpie calle... 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).
More reading of natural runes - its subtitle gives the game away: 'How to Read Signs in Every Cloud, Breeze, Hill, Street, Plant, Animal, and Dewdrop'. He doesn't go so far as the use of lak... read more
Densely packed, multi-layered, beautifully composed. HG tells a rich story of shifting tectonic plates and subterranean landscapes, as much about our geological past as it is our future. Bri... read more
Despite his prominence as a crucial figure in China's struggle against deforestation, Purdom (1880-1921) has been largely overlooked by history. He lived a short, quietly heroic life, campai... read more