Earth Sciences, Geography & Environment Books

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Book SynopsisOne of the key works in the nineteenth-century battle between science and ScriptureCharles Lyell's Principles of Geology (1830-33) sought to explain the geological state of the modern Earth by considering the long-term effects of observable natural phenomena. Written with clarity and a dazzling intellectual passion, it is both a seminal work of modern geology and a compelling precursor to Darwinism, exploring the evidence for radical changes in climate and geography across the ages and speculating on the progressive development of life. A profound influence on Darwin, Principles of Geology also captured the imagination of contemporaries such as Melville, Emerson, Tennyson and George Eliot, transforming science with its depiction of the powerful forces that shape the natural world.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics Table of ContentsEdited with an Introduction by James A. SecordNumbers in italics refer to chapters included only as summaries or in brief extractsList of IllustrationsIntroductionFurther ReadingA Note on This EditionVolume I (1830)1: Objects and Nature of Geology2-4: Historical Sketch of the Progress of Geology5: Theoretical Errors which have Retarded the Progress of Geology6: Assumed Discordance of the Ancient and Existing Causes of Change Controverted - Climate7: Climate, continued8: Climate, continued9. Theory of the Progressive Development of Organic Life10-17: Aqueous Causes18-22: Igneous Causes23-24: Earthquakes and their Effects25: Earthquakes, continued - Temple of Serapis26. Causes of Earthquakes and VolcanosVolume II (1832)1: Changes of the Organic World - Reality of Species2: Theory of the Transmutation of Species Untenable3: Limits of the Variability of Species4: Hybrids5-7: Geographical Distribution of Species8: Changes in the Animate World, which Tend to the Extinction of Species9: Changes in the Animate World, which Tend to the Extinction of Species, continued10: Changes in the Inorganic World, Tending to the Extinction of Species11: Whether the Extinction and Creation of Species Can Now be in Progress12: Modifications in Physical Geography Caused by Plants, the Inferior Animals, and Man13-16, 17: How the Remains of Man and his Works are becoming Fossil beneath the Waters18: Corals and Coral ReefsVolume III (1833)1: Methods of Theorizing in Geology2: General Arrangement of the Materials Composing the Earth's Crust3: Different Circumstances under which the Secondary and Tertiary Formations may have Originated4: Determination of the Relative Ages of Rocks5: Classification of Tertiary Formations in Chronological Order6-7: Newer Pliocene Formations - Sicily8: Rocks of the Same Age in Etna9: Origin of the Newer Pliocene Strata of Sicily10-26: Former Changes of the Earth's SurfaceConcluding RemarksGlossaryNotesBibliography of ReviewsIndex>

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Book SynopsisMarco Polo was the most famous traveller of his time. His voyages began in 1271 with a visit to China, after which he served the Kubilai Khan on numerous diplomatic missions. On his return to the West he was made a prisoner of war and met Rustichello of Pisa, with whom he collaborated on this book. The accounts of his travels provide a fascinating glimpse of the different societies he encountered: their religions, customs, ceremonies and way of life; on the spices and silks of the East; on precious gems, exotic vegetation and wild beasts. He tells the story of the holy shoemaker, the wicked caliph and the three kings, among a great many others, evoking a remote and long-vanished world with colour and immediacy.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Rea

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Book SynopsisScholar, churchman, diplomat and theologian, Gerald of Wales was one of the most fascinating figures of the Middle Ages and The Journey Through Wales describes his eventful tour of the country as a missionary in 1188. In a style reminiscent of a diary, Gerald records the day-to-day events of the mission, alongside lively accounts of local miracles, folklore and religious relics such as Saint Patrick''s Horn, and eloquent descriptions of natural scenery that includes the rugged promontory of St David''s and the vast snow-covered panoramas of Snowdonia. The landscape is evoked in further detail in The Description, which chronicles the everyday lives of the Welsh people with skill and affection. Witty and gently humorous throughout, these works provide a unique view into the medieval world.Table of ContentsTranslated by Lewis ThorpeIntroduction:I. The Life of Gerald of WalesGeneaological table: the family of Gerald of WalesII. The Journey Through Wales1. The purpose of the journey and its achievements2. Gerald's role3. The route followed4. The three versions5. "...cum notabilibus suis"6. The editions7. The earlier translation8. This translationIII. The Description of Wales1. The shape and subject-matter2. The three versions3. The changes made in the second and third versions4. The editions5. The earlier translation6. This translationIV. Gerald the HistorianV. Gerald the ArtistVI. Short BibliographyVII. AcknowledgmentsVIII. List of Gerald's Extant WritingsMaps:1. Gerald's Journey Through Wales2. Wales in 1188THE JOURNEY THROUGH WALESFirst PrefaceSecond PrefaceList of Chapter-Headings: Book I; Book IITHE DESCRIPTION OF WALESFirst PrefaceSecond PrefaceList of Chapter-Headings: Book I; Book IIAppendix I: The additions made in Versions II and III of The Journey Through WalesAppendix II: The additions made in Versions II and III of The Description of WalesAppendix III: Gerald of Wales and King ArthurIndex

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Book SynopsisOne of the greatest nineteenth-century scientist-explorers, Alexander von Humboldt traversed the tropical Spanish Americas between 1799 and 1804. By the time of his death in 1859, he had won international fame for his scientific discoveries, his observations of Native American peoples and his detailed descriptions of the flora and fauna of the 'new continent'. The first to draw and speculate on Aztec art, to observe reverse polarity in magnetism and to discover why America is called America, his writings profoundly influenced the course of Victorian culture, causing Darwin to reflect: 'He alone gives any notion of the feelings which are raised in the mind on first entering the Tropics.'For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the Table of ContentsTranslated by Jason Wilson with an Introduction by Malcolm NicolsonMapHistorical Introduction by Malcolm NicolsonIntroduction by Jason WilsonAcknowledgmentsChronologyFurther ReadingPERSONAL NARRATIVEAuthor's IntroductionNotes

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Book SynopsisIn 922 AD, an Arab envoy from Baghdad named Ibn Fadlan encountered a party of Viking traders on the upper reaches of the Volga River. In his subsequent report on his mission he gave a meticulous and astonishingly objective description of Viking customs, dress, table manners, religion and sexual practices, as well as the only eyewitness account ever written of a Viking ship cremation.Between the ninth and fourteenth centuries, Arab travellers such as Ibn Fadlan journeyed widely and frequently into the far north, crossing territories that now include Russia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Their fascinating accounts describe how the numerous tribes and peoples they encountered traded furs, paid tribute and waged wars. This accessible new translation offers an illuminating insight into the world of the Arab geographers, and the medieval lands of the far north.Trade ReviewExceptional...a fascinating book, with a nugget of curious information on each page, adding up to a picture that turns preconceptions on their head...Delightful and intriguing * The Scotsman *

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Book SynopsisColin Tudge''s The Secret Life of Trees: How they Live and Why they Matter explores the hidden role of trees in our everyday lives - and how our future survival depends on them. What is a tree? As this celebration of the trees shows, they are our countryside; our ancestors descended from them; they gave us air to breathe. Yet while the stories of trees are as plentiful as leaves in a forest, they are rarely told. Here, Colin Tudge travels from his own back garden round the world to explore the beauty, variety and ingenuity of trees everywhere: from how they live so long to how they talk to each other and why they came to exist in the first place. Lyrical and evocative, this book will make everyone fall in love with the trees around them. ''A love-letter to trees''  Financial Times ''One of those books you want everyone to have already read''  Sunday Telegraph ''Wonderful, invaluable and timely. Tudge is as illuminating a guide as one could wish for''  Daily Mail ''Everyone interested in the natural world will enjoy The Secret Life of Trees. I found myself reading out whole chunks to friends''  The Times Books of the Year Colin Tudge started his first tree nursery in his garden aged 11, marking his life-long interest in trees. Always interested in plants and animals, he studied zoology at Cambridge and then began writing about science, first as features editor at the New Scientist and then as a documentary maker for the BBC. Now a full-time writer, he is a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London and visiting Research Fellow at the Centre of Philosophy at the London School of Economics. His books include The Variety of Life and So Shall We Reap.

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Book SynopsisIain Sinclair is the author of numerous works of fiction, poetry non-fiction, including Lud Heat; White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings; Downriver; Radon Daughters; Lights Out for the Territory; Rodinsky's Room, with Rachel Lichtenstein; Landor's Tower; London Orbital; Dining On Stones; Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire and Ghost Milk; American Smoke and London Overground. Downriver won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Encore Award. He lives in Hackney, east London.Trade Review'It isn't often that one reads a book and is convinced that it's an instant classic, but I'm sure that LONDON ORBITAL will be read 50 years from now. This account of his walk around the M25 is on one level a journey into the heart of darkness, that terrain of golf courses, retail parks and industrial estates which is Blair's Britain. It's a fascinating snapshot of who we are, lit by Sinclair's vivid prose, and on another level a warning that the mythological England of village greens and cycling aunts has been buried under the rush of a million radial tyres' J. G. Ballard, ObserverTable of ContentsPrejudices declare; soothing the seething - up the Lea Valley with Bill Drummond (and the Unabomber); Paradise Gardens - Waltham Abbey to Shenley; Colne and Green Way - Abbots Langley to Stains; diggers and despots - cutting the corner, Staines to Epsom; salt to source - Epsom to Westerham, through the valley of vision to Dartford and the river; blood and oil - Carfax to Waltham Abbey; millennium eve.

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Book SynopsisThis is a book about how we should address the great, and interconnected, global challenges of the twenty-first century. Our task, Sachs argues, is to achieve truly sustainable development, by which he means finding a global course which enables the world to benefit from the spread of prosperity while ensuring that we don''t destroy the eco-systems which keep us alive and our place in nature which helps sustain our values. How do we move forward together, benefitting from our increasing technological mastery, avoiding the terrible dangers of climate change, mass famines, violent conflicts, population explosions in some parts of the world and collapses in others, and world-wide pandemic diseases? In answering these questions, Sachs shows that there are different ways of managing the world''s technology, resources and politics from those currently being followed, and that it should be possible to adopt policies which reflect long-term and co-operative thinking instead oTrade Review'This is an impressive exercise in presenting complex subject matter in plain English, and relating the practicalities of life- subsistence agriculture and water management, for example - to the biggest ideas of modern science' - Martin Vander Weyer, The Daily Telegraph 'His new book ! bursts with ideas and is suffused with what can only be described as irrepressible optimism' - Ed Pilkington, The Guardian

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Book SynopsisA beautiful gift for the intrepid explorer in your life by one of the most acclaimed and beloved nature writers working today, the internationally bestselling, prize-winning author of Landmarks, The Lost Words and The Old WaysA SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERWINNER OF THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 2019WINNER OF THE STANFORD DOLMAN TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2020''You''d be crazy not to read this book'' The Sunday TimesA Guardian Best Book of the 21st CenturyIn Underland, Robert Macfarlane takes us on a journey into the worlds beneath our feet. From the ice-blue depths of Greenland''s glaciers, to the underground networks by which trees communicate, from Bronze Age burial chambers to the rock art of remote Arctic sea-caves, this is a deep-time voyage into the planet''s past and future. Global in its geography, gripping in its voice and haunting in its implications, Underland is a work of huge range and power, and a remarkable new chapter in Macfarlane''s long-term exploration of landscape and the human heart.SHORTLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE 2020 ''Macfarlane has invented a new kind of book, really a new genre entirely'' The Irish Times''He is the great nature writer, and nature poet, of this generation'' Wall Street Journal ''Macfarlane has shown how utterly beautiful a brilliantly written travel book can still be'' Observer on The Old Ways''Irradiated by a profound sense of wonder... Few books give such a sense of enchantment; it is a book to give to many, and to return to repeatedly'' Independent on Landmarks''It sets the imagination tingling...like reading a prose Odyssey sprinkled with imagist poems'' The Sunday Times on The Old WaysTrade Reviewa brilliant, thrilling, terrifying work of literature, making me want to think more adventurously and live more deeply. * Amy Liptrot *All Macfarlane's books are urgings to take a closer look at the environment we live in, and at the natural world especially. They are perception-shifters. And with its darker, delving subject matter counter-weighing its lyricism, Underland is a magnificent feat of writing, travelling and thinking that feels genuinely frontier-pushing, unsettling and exploratory * Evening Standard *Robert Macfarlane is a magician with words. In Underland he shows us how to see in the dark. His writing is like a vortex... Once caught, you're pulled deeper and deeper with each page -- Andrea Wulf, best-selling author of 'The Invention of Nature'Devastating, lyrical, blazingly vivid... An examination of the darknesses invisible beneath our feet. The book's great power comes from Macfarlane's deliberate turn away from despair and toward a deliberate, loving, and luminous sense of awe -- Lauren GroffRobert Macfarlane's writing reminds us of the astonishing variety of things you can see when you go at walking speed, and of how strange and rich the world is -- Philip PullmanThe great nature writer, and nature poet, of this generation * Wall Street Journal *Exquisite. [Robert Macfarlane] evokes so vividly places to which I and probably you will never go, and at the eeriness of the places themselves and the sense of vast scale they restore to us at a time when it can feel like the world has shrunken around us -- Rebecca SolnitAn epic descent into a series of underground and underwater landscapes * Financial Times *Beautifully written and wise, this haunting book is a treasure... It reads like a seamless dive, crawl, and trek through deep time, in sense-rich landscapes, accompanied by fascinating views of the human saga. Its unique spell is irresistible -- Diane AckermanBeautifully and bravely balanced... This is a radical book in every sense. It goes as deep as it can, unafraid of the risk that what it finds will turn everything on its head * The Oldie *Thrilling and soulful, raw and erudite. Robert Macfarlane writes of his astonishing subterranean explorations with wondrous, indelible power... Underland is a profound reckoning with humankind's self-imperiled position in nature's eternal order. It is a book of revelations -- Philip GourevitchRobert Macfarlane has long provided us with some of the most distinctive and sensitive thinking about how humans understand and experience the terrestrial world. Underland [is] his most urgent, universal, and expansive book yet -- Francisco CantuWhat a total delight. Once again, so many enlivening encounters along paths less frequently trod. Macfarlane remains our perfect guide, reminding us there's so much in the world to wonder at -- Benedict AllenEye-opening, lyrical and moving...capturing the poetry beneath the science. * Publisher's Weekly *Underland is a startling and memorable book, charting invisible and vanishing worlds. Macfarlane has made himself Orpheus, the poet who ventures down to the darkest depths and returns - frighteningly alone-to sing of what he has seen * New Statesman *You'd be crazy not to read this book * The Sunday Times *Marvellous... Neverending curiosity, generosity of spirit, erudition, bravery and clarity... This is a book well worth reading * The Times *Extraordinary... at once learned and readable, thrilling and beautifully written * Observer *

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Book SynopsisThomas Friedman''s phenomenal The World is Flat helped millions of people see globalization in a new way. Now he takes a fresh, provocative look at the biggest challenge facing us today - our hot, flat and crowded world.Climate change and rapid population growth mean that it''s no longer possible for businesses, or the rest of us, to keep doing things the same old way. Things are going to have to change - and fast. Here Friedman provides a bold strategy for clean fuel, energy efficiency and conservation that he calls ''Code Green''. It will change everything, from what we put into our cars and see on our electricity bills to how we live our lives. Hot, Flat and Crowded is fearless, forward-looking and rich in common sense about the challenge - and the promise - of the future.Read more

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Book SynopsisCommand and Control interweaves the minute-by-minute story of an accident at a missile silo in rural Arkansas, where a single crew struggled to prevent the explosion of the most powerful nuclear warhead ever built by the United States, with a historical narrative that spans more than fifty years. It depicts the urgent effort to ensure that nuclear weapons can''t be stolen, sabotaged, used without permission, or detonated inadvertently. Schlosser also looks at the Cold War from a new perspective, offering history from the ground up, telling the stories of bomber pilots, missile commanders, maintenance crews, and other ordinary servicemen who risked their lives to avert a nuclear holocaust. Drawing on recently declassified documents and interviews with men who designed and routinely handled nuclear weapons, Command and Control takes readers into a terrifying but fascinating world that, until now, has been largely hidden from view.Trade ReviewSo damnably readable. It drives the vision of a world trembling on the edge of a fatal precipice deep into your mind ... a piece of work of the deepest import, with the multilayered density of an ambitiously conceived novel -- John Lloyd * Financial Times *Do you really want to read about the thermonuclear warheads that are still aimed at the city where you live? Do you really need to know about the appalling security issues that have dogged nuclear weapons in the 70 years since their invention? Yes, you do. In Schlosser's hands it is a reading treat ... he's a natural genius -- Jonathan Franzen * Guardian, Books of the Year *Part techno-thriller, part careful historical investigation ... beautifully written and impressively researched -- Gerard DeGroot * Daily Telegraph *Brilliant, gripping, chilling -- Steven Shapin * London Review of Books *The author of Fast Food Nation does for the American nuclear industry what he did for industrial food production * Economist, Books of the Year *Eric Schlosser detonates a truth bomb in Command and Control * Vanity Fair *Deeply reported, deeply frightening . . . a techno-thriller of the first order * Los Angeles Times *An excellent journalistic investigation of the efforts made since the first atomic bomb was exploded, outside Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945, to put some kind of harness on nuclear weaponry. By a miracle of information management, Schlosser has synthesized a huge archive of material, including government reports, scientific papers, and a substantial historical and polemical literature on nukes, and transformed it into a crisp narrative covering more than fifty years of scientific and political change. And he has interwoven that narrative with a hair-raising, minute-by-minute account of an accident at a Titan II missile silo in Arkansas, in 1980, which he renders in the manner of a techno-thriller . . . Command and Control is how nonfiction should be written -- Louis Menand * The New Yorker *A devastatingly lucid and detailed new history of nuclear weapons in the U.S. . . . fascinating -- Lev Grossman * Time *Command and Control ranks among the most nightmarish books written in recent years; and in that crowded company it bids fair to stand at the summit. It is the more horrific for being so incontrovertibly right and so damnably readable. Page after relentless page, it drives the vision of a world trembling on the edge of a fatal precipice deep into your reluctant mind . . . a work with the multilayered density of an ambitiously conceived novel . . . Schlosser has done what journalism does at its best when at full stretch: he has spent time - years - researching, interviewing, understanding and reflecting to give us a piece of work of the deepest import * Financial Times *Perilous and gripping . . . Schlosser skillfully weaves together an engrossing account of both the science and the politics of nuclear weapons safety . . . The story of the missile silo accident unfolds with the pacing, thrill and techno details of an episode of 24 * San Francisco Chronicle *Disquieting but riveting . . . fascinating . . . Schlosser's readers (and he deserves a great many) will be struck by how frequently the people he cites attribute the absence of accidental explosions and nuclear war to divine intervention or sheer luck rather than to human wisdom and skill. Whatever was responsible, we will clearly need many more of it in the years to come * New York Times Book Review *Easily the most unsettling work of nonfiction I've ever read, Schlosser's six-year investigation of America's 'broken arrows' (nuclear weapons mishaps) is by and large historical-this stuff is top secret, after all-but the book is beyond relevant. It's critical reading in a nation with thousands of nukes still on hair-trigger alert . . . Command and Control reads like a character-driven thriller as Schlosser draws on his deep reporting, extensive interviews, and documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act to demonstrate how human error, computer glitches, dilution of authority, poor communications, occasional incompetence, and the routine hoarding of crucial information have nearly brought about our worst nightmare on numerous occasions * Mother Jones *A powerful mix of history, politics, and technology, told with impressive authority * Independent *Eric Schlosser brings the investigative rigour of his big hit Fast Food Nation to this overview of our global nuclear arsenal * Herald *

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Book SynopsisHappy City is the story of how the solutions to this century''s problems lie in unlocking the secrets to great city livingThis is going to be the century of the city. But what actually makes a good city? Why are some cities a joy to live in?As Charles Montgomery reveals, it''s not how much money your neighbours earn, or how pleasant the climate is that makes the most difference. Journeying to dozens of cities - from Atlanta to Bogotá to Vancouver - he talks to the new champions of the happy city to explore the urban innovations already transforming people''s lives. He meets the visionary Colombian mayor who turned some of the world''s most dangerous roads into an urban cycling haven; the Danish architect who brought the lessons of medieval Tuscan towns to modern-day Copenhagen; and the New York City transport commissioner who turned the gridlock of Times Square into a place to lounge in the sun.Drawing on the lessons from their stories, from brain scieTrade ReviewExcellent . . . Montgomery believes in the importance of smart town planning and Happy City is a compendium of its major ideas . . . It's a castigating economic, social, moral and environmental argument for planning urban spaces around the thing they affect the most: people -- Will Dean * Independent *A valuable book ... [it says] forcefully what can't be said too much. It is surely better, most of the time, for most people, to spend as little time as possible in cars and to increase the possibilities of encountering other people and new experiences -- Rowan Moore * Observer *Admirable ... past writers on this subject have mainly praised existing communities they find conducive to human well-being. Montgomery is all about creating new ones ... not only readable but stimulating. It raises issues most of us have avoided for too long -- Alan Ehrenhalt * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisExposes the destruction of wildlife through the widespread use of pesticides. This book aims to creates public awareness of the environment.Trade ReviewOne of the very few books truly to have changed the course of history * The Times *Rachel Carson educated a planet ... Silent Spring is the cornerstone of the conservation movement. Its impact was immediate, far-reaching and ultimately life-enhancing ... One of the most effective books ever written * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisPopular and portable, The Paris Mapguide-now in its second edition-contains everything visitors need to know to enjoy themselves in, get the best out of, and find their way around Paris. Its colorful, informative maps are easy to read and convenient to handle-no unfolding necessary. As terrific as the easily readable maps are, however, there is much more here. Packed into these 64 pages is a surprising amount of information about the many different sights and activities to see and do in and around the City of Light.

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Book Synopsis''Captivating. Will change the way you think about the natural world, and your place in it'' Hugh Fearnley-WhittingstallIn Feral, George Monbiot, one of the world''s most celebrated radical thinkers offers a riveting tale of possibility and travel in the wildHow many of us sometimes feel that we are scratching at the walls of this life, seeking to find our way into a wider space beyond? That our mild, polite existence sometimes seems to crush the breath out of us? Feral is the lyrical and gripping story of George Monbiot''s efforts to re-engage with nature and discover a new way of living. He shows how, by restoring and rewilding our damaged ecosystems on land and at sea, we can bring wonder back into our lives. Making use of some remarkable scientific discoveries, Feral lays out a new, positive environmentalism, in which nature is allowed to find its own way.Trade ReviewA genuine landmark * The Sunday Times *George Monbiot is always original - both in the intelligence of his opinions and the depth and rigour of his research. In this unusual book he presents a persuasive argument for a new future for the planet, one in which we consciously progress from just conserving nature to actively rebuilding it -- Brian EnoA Book of Revelations for our times -- Farley MowatFeral has really opened my mind to the history and possibilities of our landscape. It reflects a very real need in us all right now to be released from our claustrophobic monoculture and sense of powerlessness. To break the straight lines into endless branches. To free our land from its absent administrators. To rewild both the landscape and ourselves. It is the most positive and daring environmental book I have read. In order to change our world you have to be able to see a better one. I think George has done that -- Thom YorkePart personal journal, part rigorous (and riveting) natural history, but above all unbridled vision for a less cowed, more self-willed planet, this is a book that will change the way you think about the natural world, and your place in it. Big, bold and beautifully written, his vision of a rewilded world is, well, truly captivating -- Hugh Fearnley-WhittingstallIt could not be more rigorously researched, more elegantly delivered, or more timely. We need such big thinking for our own sakes and those of our children. Bring on the wolves and whales, I say, and, in the words of Maurice Sendak, let the wild rumpus start -- Philip Hoare * Sunday Telegraph (Book of the Week) *This is prose style as auditory experience; what majesty the eye notes in the landscape is echoed in the vocabulary. ... This is nature writing prepared to go off at a tangent when it needs to, prepared to explore the byways of our passions. Yes, there is a wildness here and it's a welcome one * Independent *

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Book SynopsisA timely intervention on climate change from the author of the hugely influential The Weather Makers.The tools required to avoid a climate disaster already exist. Between emissions cuts and emerging technologies, we can do it. Here Professor Tim Flannery introduces us to the innovative new solutions being developed around the world, which work with the Earth''s systems to combat climate change - and could safeguard our future. ''An important voice in the debate on global warming'' Josh Glancy, Sunday Times''Balances the difficult business of raising alarm about the dangers ahead with proposals for the types of action we need to take now to head off catastrophe tomorrow'' Robin McKie, Guardian ''If you''re not already addicted to Tim Flannery''s writing, discover him now'' Jared Diamond''Thoughtful, candid and - yes - ultimately upbeat, Atmosphere of Hope could not be more timely. It is just the book the world needsTrade ReviewThoughtful, candid and - yes - ultimately upbeat, Atmosphere of Hope could not be more timely. It is just the book the world needs right now. -- Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth ExtinctionThink Indiana Jones crossed with Charles Darwin * Financial Times *A wonderful writer, an original scientist, and a gifted populariser -- Martin Woollacott * Guardian *If you're not already addicted to Tim Flannery's writing, discover him now -- Jared Diamond

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Book Synopsis''Deserves to be read by everyone interested in the future of the United Kingdom'' Andrew Marr, The Sunday TimesThere can be no relationship in Europe''s history more creative, significant, vexed and uneasy than that between Scotland and England. From the Middle Ages onwards the island of Britain has been shaped by the unique dynamic between Edinburgh and London, exchanging inhabitants, monarchs, money and ideas, sometimes in a spirit of friendship and at others in a spirit of murderous dislike.Tom Devine''s seminal new book explores this extraordinary history in all its ambiguity, from the seventeenth century to the present. When not undermining each other with invading armies, both Scotland and England have broadly benefitted from each other''s presence - indeed for long periods of time nobody questioned the union which joined them. But as Devine makes clear, it has for the most part been a relationship based on consent, not force, on mutual advantageTrade ReviewDeserves to be read by everyone interested in the future of the United Kingdom... this is analytical, synthetic, argumentative history at its best; it slays lazy myths and tells us the "why" of a momentous story every intelligent Briton ought to understand...cracking. -- Andrew Marr * The Sunday Times *Brilliant. Easily surpasses any of the glut of books surrounding our constitutional upheaval of the last five years or so. -- Kevin McKenna * The Observer *Never less than compelling ...Independence or Union is his best book to date, is required reading and a perfect example of why history matters. -- Alan Taylor * The Herald *Surefooted, balanced and reliable in analysis throughout. -- Colin Kidd * London Review of Books *The book offers a crisp and well-paced assessment of the Union... a thoroughly reasoned assessment -- Donald MacRaild * Times Higher Education *Briskly, clearly and fairly he sketches a complex and detailed history, bringing new life and fresh perspectives to old stories... if he hadn't already been knighted for services to Scottish history, Devine would have been high on the list for preferment after this new work. -- John McTernan * Prospect Magazine *Devine brings his usual acute historical critique to the question in hand. -- Keith M. Brown * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisTHE TIMES, ECONOMIST AND GUARDIAN BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2017It is accepted wisdom today that human beings have irrevocably damaged the natural world. Yet what if this narrative obscures a more hopeful truth?In Inheritors of the Earth, renowned ecologist and environmentalist Chris D. Thomas overturns the accepted story, revealing how nature is fighting back.Many animals and plants actually benefit from our presence, raising biological diversity in most parts of the world and increasing the rate at which new species are formed, perhaps to the highest level in Earth''s history. From Costa Rican tropical forests to the thoroughly transformed British landscape, nature is coping surprisingly well in the human epoch.Chris Thomas takes us on a gripping round-the-world journey to meet the enterprising creatures that are thriving in the Anthropocene, from York''s ochre-coloured comma butterfly to hybrid bison in North America, scarTrade ReviewAn immensely significant book. It is fluently written, carefully thought through, ruthlessly argued, neatly illustrated with case studies - and shockingly contrarian -- Matt Ridley * The Times (Book of the Week) *His flowing narrative is rich in stories of his fieldwork round the world ... Thomas's vision ... aspires to something nobler, more optimistic -- Fred Pearce * New Scientist *Fascinating ... Chris Thomas examines our human relationships with nature, bad and good, and sets out a more hopeful truth to current narratives and alarms ... This is a rich and timely tale, fearless too, with examples and cases drawn from ecosystems across the world -- Prof Jules Pretty * Times Higher Education *[A] thrilling and uplifting counter to the pessimism of the Anthropocene -- Stuart Blackman * BBC Wildlife Magazine *A decent and humane tale about the threat and promise of biodiversity change -- James Lovelock, author of 'The Revenge of Gaia' and 'A Rough Guide to the Future'The most interesting / challenging / surprising thing I've read about the natural world for years -- James Rebanks, author of 'The Shepherd's Life'A provocative book that challenges us to look positively at our human changes to the natural world and reimagine conservation in the Anthropocene -- Gaia Vince, author of 'Adventures in the Anthropocene'Chris Thomas takes the million-year view of today's human-dominated world. The result is a thoughtful, provocative, and improbably hopeful book -- Elizabeth Kolbert, author of 'The Sixth Extinction' and 'Field Notes from a Catastrophe'With a perspective that stretches many epochs into the past and forward to the year One Million A.D., Thomas reframes Earth's current ecological upheaval as a time of great creation as well as great loss. Without minimizing or excusing the damage humans have done to the planet, Inheritors of the Earth opens our eyes to the splendid and fascinating ways nature is adapting and evolving to the world we have made. He urges us to take our cue from the majestic dynamism of nature and work with other species as they change and move, rather than fighting an impossible battle to freeze the planet in time. All change is not bad. I thought I was an optimist. Thomas is the real ecological optimist. -- Emma Marris, author of 'Rambunctious Garden'With Inheritors of the Earth, Chris D. Thomas issues a challenge to the conventional view of nature in decline. He urges us to embrace the environmental changes we've set in motion, daring to suggest that human activities will ultimately increase the diversity of life on Earth. A timely and provocative read -- Thor Hanson, author of 'The Triumph of Seeds'Provocative ... Filled with lovely anecdotes ... Remarkably clear * New York Times Book Review *An immensely significant book. It is fluently written, carefully thought through, ruthlessly argued, neatly illustrated with case studies - and shockingly contrarian -- Matt Ridley * The Times (Book of the Week) *

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Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES NATURE BOOK OF THE YEARThe new bestseller from the author of The Shepherd''s Life''A beautifully written story of a family, a home and a changing landscape'' Nigel Slater As a boy, James Rebanks''s grandfather taught him to work the land the old way. Their family farm in the Lake District hills was part of an ancient agricultural landscape: a patchwork of crops and meadows, of pastures grazed with livestock, and hedgerows teeming with wildlife. And yet, by the time James inherited the farm, it was barely recognisable. The men and women had vanished from the fields; the old stone barns had crumbled; the skies had emptied of birds and their wind-blown song. English Pastoral is the story of an inheritance: one that affects us all. It tells of how rural landscapes around the world were brought close to collapse, and the age-old rhythms of work, weather, community and wild things were loTrade ReviewRemarkable ... A brilliant, beautiful book ... Eloquent, persuasive and electric with the urgency that comes out of love -- Christine Patterson * The Sunday Times *It is a book full of love: of his grandfather, of his children and of the Lake District valley where he lives and farms ... Some books change our world. I hope this turns out to be one of them. -- Julian Glover * Evening Standard *A beautifully written story of a family, a home and a changing landscape. -- Nigel SlaterJames Rebanks's English Pastoral deserves to be called a masterpiece. Four generations of his family building on centuries of their farming in the Cumbrian Fells gives us a poetic, practical, raw and almost miraculously detailed picture of this ancient way of life struggling to survive and to be reborn. This wonderful book was waiting to be written. -- Melvyn Bragg * New Statesman Book of the Year *A wonder of a book, fierce, tender, and beautiful. Deeply personal but also global in significance, its pages course with love and concern so palpable I more than once wept while reading it. James Rebanks writes lyrically and passionately of the shadow that has fallen over our relationship with land, and how we might reconfigure the ways we think about it, relate to it, interact with it, and with each other. It's both a sobering, urgent read and a deeply inspiring, hopeful one. The book, and author, are to be treasured -- Helen Macdonald * author of H is for Hawk *Powerful, important and deserves every accolade. -- Raynor WinnOne of the most important books of our time. Told with humility and grace, this story of farming over three generations - where we went wrong and how we can change our ways - will be our land's salvation. -- Isabella TreeWhat a terrific book: vivid and impassioned and urgent--and, in both its alarm and its awe for the natural world, deeply convincing. Rebanks leaves no doubt that the question of how to farm is a question of human survival on this hard-used planet. He should be read by everyone who grows food, and by everyone who eats it -- Philip GourevitchJames Rebanks's story of his family's farm is just about perfect. It belongs with the finest writing of its kind -- Wendell BerryAmbitious, accomplished ... Rebanks is eloquent - scenes of mud and guts are interspersed with quotes ranging from Virgil to Schumpeter, Rachel Carson to Wendell Berry ... English Pastoral builds into a heartfelt elegy for all that has been lost from our landscape, and a rousing disquisition on what could be regained - a rallying cry for a better future. -- Laura Battle * Financial Times *Heartfelt, rich with detail ... James Rebanks writes with his heart, and his heart is in the right place. We should listen to him. -- Jamie Blackett * Telegraph *Marvellous and moving -- Richard Flanagan, Man Booker Prize winning author of Narrow Road to the Deep NorthIt moved me to tears, made me feel excited and optimistic, and said, so eloquently and succinctly, all the things I've been thinking and feeling ... It is not just a beautiful book to read, but so important and so timely. A wonderful, thought-provoking, heartlifting read. -- Kate HumbleRapturous ... For Rebanks writing and farming have proved complementary: while working long hours on the land he has produced a book in a pastoral tradition that runs from Virgil to Wendell Berry -- Blake Morrison * Guardian *I have never met anyone so roaringly, joyously in context and content as James Rebanks, belting around his farm in the rain ... The story of Rebanks and his family is the story of what farming has been in Britain but, also, the story of what it could become -- Caitlin Moran * The Times *Perfectly judged, it made me cry (twice) and left me with a new understanding of agriculture, and a real sense of hope. -- Melissa HarrisonWonderful ... I can't imagine anyone starting to read English Pastoral and not being eager to read it all at once, as I did -- Philip PullmanA heartfelt book and one that dares to hope. -- Alan BennettA home-grown Georgics for the twenty-first century * The Tablet *A wonderful and timely account of one farmer's lifelong effort to do right by his family, his land, his animals and his ecosystem -- Nick OffermanLyrical, evocative, generous ... Thank the gods of agriculture for James Rebanks -- Kristin Kimball * New York Times *A book of toil and beauty, rooted in a fell farm in the Lake District ... English Pastoral is a nuanced, hopeful, honest story. It is essential reading. * Geographical Magazine *The power of English Pastoral lies not just in the passion and eloquence of its prose or the clarity of its argument. It carries the authority of one who has not just thought about these problems, but lived them. It is a timely and important book. * TLS *Beautiful and shocking, but ultimately so gloriously hopeful. The book we should all read as we emerge from this latest strangeness. -- Paula HawkinsI can't remember a book I've wanted to press into people's hands more this year than this resonant, immensely thoughtful look back at three generations of a farming family ... Managing to cram the whole modern history of British farming and nature into 270 beautifully written pages, this is a gem that's moving and immensely informative. -- Andrew Holgate * The Sunday Times Nature Book of the Year *A rare and urgent book ... Its beauty is not only in the writing but in what is behind it: a gentle and wise sensibility that is alive to the human love affair with the land and yet also intimately cognisant of our collective and systematic cruelty towards it. -- Hisham MatarI think, genuinely, this is the best book I've read this year, and one of the most important books of recent years. It is about food and farming, and how we eat what we eat. It's about progress and nostalgia, without being prideful or mawkish, it's about families and tradition, and the passing of time. It made me simultaneously proud to be British, and sad for what we have become, but hopeful that we can change. -- Adam RutherfordJames Rebanks combines the descriptive powers of a great novelist with the pragmatic wisdom of a farmer who has watched his world transformed. This is a profound and beautiful book about the land, and how we should live off it. -- Ed CaesarThrough the eyes of James Rebanks as a grandson, son, and then father, we witness the tragic decline of traditional agriculture, and glimpse what we must now do to make it right again. As an evocation of British landscape past and present, it's up there with Cider With Rosie. -- Joanna BlythmanA beautiful and important book. -- Sadie JonesEnglish Pastoral is a work of art. It is nourishing and grounding to read ... this brave and beautiful book will shape hearts and minds. -- Jane Clarke, author of When the Tree FallsA wonderful, humane book told through the eyes of a man who has watched much vanish from his land, and now wants to put it back ... Moving and illuminating. -- Benedict Macdonald, author of RebirdingJames Rebanks describes the life of a Lakeland working farmer from the inside with a unrivalled truth and eloquence -- Tom Fort, author of Casting ShadowsVivid, accessible, inspiring - a story about one man's emerging land ethic, and an appreciation of the old ways in modern times. A vital book for anybody who eats -- Kathryn Aalto, author of Writing WildJames Rebanks is a beautiful writer, in a unique position to describe the challenges currently being faced by farmers throughout the world. English Pastoral is a joy to read and extremely moving - a book which should be read by every citizen. -- Patrick Holden, Sustainable Food TrustFarming, unlike almost any other job, is bound up in a series of complex ropes that Rebanks captures in his own story so beautifully: family pressure and loyalty, ego, loneliness, and a special kind of peer pressure...English Pastoral is going to be the most important book published about our countryside in decades, if not a generation -- Sarah LangfordA deeply personal account by a farmer of what has happened to farming in Britain. Everyone interested in food should read this compelling, informative, moving book -- Jenny LinfordRebanks is a rare find indeed: a Lake District farmer whose family have worked the land for 600 years, with a passion to save the countryside and an elegant prose style to engage even the most urban reader. He's refreshingly realistic about how farmed and wild landscapes can coexist and technology can be tamed. A story for us all. * Evening Standard, Best Books of Autumn 2020 *Moving, thought-provoking and beautifully written. -- James HollandEnglish Pastoral is one of the most captivating memoirs of recent years ...The traditional pastoral is about retreat into an imagined rural idyll, but this confronts very real environmental dilemmas. Like the best books, it gives you hope and new energy. -- Amanda Craig * Guardian *James Rebanks has a sharp eye and a lyrical heart. His book is devastating, charting the murderous and unsustainable revolution in modern farming ... But it is also uplifting: Rebanks is determined to hang on to his Herdwicks, to keep producing food, and to bring back the curlews and butterflies and the soil fertility to his beloved fields. Truly a significant book for our time. * Daily Mail – Books of the Year *Lyrical and illuminating ... will fascinate city-dwellers and country-lovers alike. * Independent – 10 Best Non-Fiction Books of 2020 *A lyrical account of Rebanks' childhood on the Lake District farm that he's made famous; an account of how he learned about stockmanship and community and the rhythms of the land from his father and grandfather. [...] His writing is properly Romantic, which is a high compliment [...] Rebanks is obviously a wonderful human as well as a splendid writer. -- Charles FosterA lament for lost traditions, a celebration of a way of living and a reminder that nature is 'finite and breakable.' Mr. Rebanks hits all the right notes and deserves to be heard * Wall Street Journal *The most important story, perfectly told -- Amy LiptrotMemorable, urgent, eloquent ... Rebanks speaks with blunt, unmatched authority. He is also a fine writer with descriptive power and a gift for characterisation ... English Pastoral may be the most passionate ecological corrective since Rachel Carson's Silent Spring -- Caroline Fraser * New York Review of Books *

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Book Synopsis''An enthralling, elegantly written and, ultimately, profoundly alarming history'' EconomistA bold new perspective on the history of South Asia, telling its story through its climate, and the long quest to tame its watersSouth Asia''s history has been shaped by its waters. In Unruly Waters, historian Sunil Amrith reimagines this history through the stories of its rains, rivers, coasts, rivers and seas - and of the weather-watchers and engineers, mapmakers and farmers who have sought to control them. He shows how fears and dreams of water have, throughout South Asia, shaped visions of political independence and economic development, provoked efforts to reshape nature through dams and pumps, and unleashed powerful tensions within and between nations.Every year humans have watched with overwhelming anxiety for the nature of that year''s monsoon to be revealed, with entire populations living or dying on the outcome. From the first small weather-reporting stations to today''s satellites, the modern battle both to understand and manage water has literally been a matter of life or death.Today, Asian nations are racing to construct hundreds of dams in the Himalayas, with dire environmental impacts; hundreds of millions crowd into coastal cities threatened by cyclones and storm surges. In an age of climate change, this highly original work of history is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand not only Asia''s past but its future.

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Book SynopsisThe Times Nature Book of the Year 2020Winner of the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award A Finalist for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award''Remarkable. If only every endangered species had a guardian angel as impassioned, courageous and pragmatic as Jonathan Slaght'' Isabella Tree, author of Wilding''Gripping'' Dave Goulson, author of A Sting in the TalePrimorye, a remote forested region near to where Russia, China and North Korea meet in a tangle of barbed wire, is the only place where brown bears, tigers and leopards co-exist. It is also home to one of nature''s rarest birds, the Blakiston''s fish owl. A chance encounter with this huge, strange bird was to change wildlife researcher Jonathan C. Slaght''s life beyond measure.This is the story of Slaght''s quest to safeguard the elusive owl from extinction. During months-long journeys covering thousands of miles, he has pursued it through its forbidding territory. He has spent time with the Russians who struggle on in the harsh conditions of the taiga forest. And he has observed how Russia''s logging interests and evolving fortunes present new threats to the owl''s survival. Preserving its habitats will secure the forest for future generations, both animal and human - but can this battle be won? Exhilarating and clear-sighted, Owls of the Eastern Ice is an impassioned reflection on our relationship with the natural world and on what it means to devote one''s career to a single pursuit.''Slaght makes the people, wildlife and landscape of the Russian Far East come alive. I haven''t enjoyed a book on remote Russia as much as this since Ian Frazier''s Travels in Siberia'' Sophy Roberts, author of The Lost Pianos of Siberia''True epic. Powerful, passionate'' Charles Foster, author of Being a BeastTrade ReviewSlaght has a rare gift for startling evocations of the natural world...A refreshingly old-school, tautly strung adventure -- Helen Macdonald * Guardian *Excellent...The brutality of human habitation is counterpoised with the brutality of the natural world. The reader becomes, like the author, "stunned by the quiet violence of this place." -- Clement Knox * The Times *This is a tale of man's endurance, determination and perseverance in search of this elusive and beautiful creature ... wonderful -- Bill BaileyThe remarkable story of one man's heroic quest to save the astonishing fish owl. If only every endangered species had a guardian angel as impassioned, courageous and pragmatic as Jonathan Slaght. -- Isabella Tree, author of WildingA gripping account of the author's obsessive quest to save one of the world's most magnificent birds. -- Dave Goulson, Professor of Biology at the University of Sussex and author of A Sting in the TaleA vivid dispatch from the front line of conservation, Owls of the Eastern Ice is engrossing and uplifting; an inspiring story of vital work undertaken with utter determination in wild and distant places. -- Horatio Clare, author of Orison for a CurlewSlaght's story reveals the patience and determination of a true conservationist. And the ears and eyes of a poet. Above all, he makes the people, wildlife and landscape of the Russian Far East come alive for armchair travellers. I haven't enjoyed a book on remote Russia as much as this since Ian Frazier's Travels in Siberia -- Sophy Roberts, author of The Lost Pianos of SiberiaTrue epic. A powerful, passionate and highly readable reflection on the wildness both inside us and out there in the forest. -- Charles Foster, author of Being a BeastA fascinating account of one man's quest to conserve the magnificent fish owl of Eastern Asia, this is a book that feels both urgent and relevant. -- Christopher Skaife, author of The RavenmasterFrom the very first pages, Slaght grips readers with vivid language and tight storytelling ... The cast of characters he brings to life - both human and avian - illuminate the delicate symbiosis of the natural world and shed a welcome light on the remarkable creatures that are too little known. Top-notch nature writing in service of a magnificent, vulnerable creature. * Kirkus *A detailed and thrilling account of efforts to conserve an endangered species. . . Slaght evinces humor, tirelessness, and dedication in relating the hard and crucial work of conservation. Readers will be drawn to this exciting chronicle of science and adventure, a demonstration that wilderness can still be found. * Publishers Weekly *A thoroughly engaging read which will appeal both to those specifically interested in owls, as well as those with a wider interest in the natural world. Will make armchair and keyboard conservationists envious and uncomfortable in equal measures -- John Gray, The International Owl SocietyThis is an epic tale of hangovers, violence and obsessive ornithology. It is a superb depiction of a far-flung corner of the world where bears, tigers and men battle with relentless environment and each other. It is a powerful antidote to saccharine nature writing; Slaght encounters such a host of pickled gritty characters that you could imagine the Coen brothers adapting it for the screen. -- The Times Nature Book of the YearWonderful... If [COP26 organisers] picked it up in the jet-lagged early hours they might find their dreams haunted, as mine have been, by huge, endangered owls swooping low through their subconscious, reminding them what survival might mean -- Tim Adams * Guardian *

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Book Synopsis*WINNER OF THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2018**WINNER OF THE PUSHKIN HOUSE BOOK PRIZE 2019*''As moving as it is painstakingly researched. . . a cracking read'' Viv Groskop, Observer''A riveting account of human error and state duplicity. . . rightly being hailed as a classic'' Hannah Betts, Daily TelegraphOn 26 April 1986 at 1.23am a reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Soviet Ukraine exploded. While the authorities scrambled to understand what was occurring, workers, engineers, firefighters and those living in the area were abandoned to their fate. The blast put the world on the brink of nuclear annihilation, contaminating over half of Europe with radioactive fallout.In Chernobyl, award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy draws on recently opened archives to recreate these events in all their drama. A moment by moment account of the heroes, perpetrators and victims of a trTrade ReviewAn insightful and important book, that often reads like a good thriller, and that exposes the danger of mixing powerful technology with irresponsible politics -- Yuval Noah Harari, author of SapiensAs moving as it is painstakingly researched, this book is a tour de force and a cracking read. . . Without losing any detail or nuance, Plokhy has a knack for making complicated things simple while still profound -- Viv Groskop * Observer *A work of deep scholarship and powerful stroytelling. Plokhy is the master of the telling detail -- Victor Sebestyen * Sunday Times *A compelling history of the 1986 disaster and its aftermath. . . Plokhy's well-paced narrative plunges the reader into the sweaty, nervous tension of the Chernobyl control room -- Daniel Beer * Guardian *The first comprehensive history of the Chernobyl disaster. . . here at last is the monumental history the disaster deserves -- Julie McDowall * The Times *Plokhy, a Harvard professor of Ukrainian background, is ideally placed to tell the harrowing story of Chernobyl. . . he has an immense knowledge of Russian and Ukrainian history and maintains the highest standards of scholarship -- Tony Barber * Financial Times *A meticulous account of the disaster - and how the Soviet authorities tried to cover it up. . . A worthy winner of this year's Baillie Gifford prize for nonfiction -- Robbie Millen * The Times Books of the Year *A riveting account of human error and state duplicity. . . rightly being hailed as a classic -- Hannah Betts * Daily Telegraph *A masterful retelling. . . Mr Plokhy's book will endure as a definitive history * Economist *

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Book Synopsis**SUNDAY TIMES AND THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**''An epoch-defining book'' Matt Haig''If you read just one work of non-fiction this year, it should probably be this'' David Sexton, Evening StandardSelected as a Book of the Year 2019 by the Sunday Times, Spectator and New StatesmanA Waterstones Paperback of the Year and shortlisted for the Foyles Book of the Year 2019Longlisted for the PEN / E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award It is worse, much worse, than you think. The slowness of climate change is a fairy tale, perhaps as pernicious as the one that says it isn''t happening at all, and if your anxiety about it is dominated by fears of sea-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible, even within the lifetime of a teenager today.Over the past decades, the term Anthropocene has climbed into the popular imagination - a name given to the geologic era we live in now, one defined by human intervention in the life of the planet. But however sanguine you might be about the proposition that we have ravaged the natural world, which we surely have, it is another thing entirely to consider the possibility that we have only provoked it, engineering first in ignorance and then in denial a climate system that will now go to war with us for many centuries, perhaps until it destroys us. In the meantime, it will remake us, transforming every aspect of the way we live-the planet no longer nurturing a dream of abundance, but a living nightmare.Trade ReviewIn crystalline prose, Wallace-Wells provides a devastating overview of where we are in terms of climate crisis and ecological destruction, and what the future will hold if we keep on going down the same path. Urgently readable, this is an epoch-defining book. -- Matt Haig, 'The Book that Changed My Mind' * The Guardian *'Clear, engaging and often dazzling' * The Telegraph *'A masterly analysis' * Nature *Relentless, angry journalism of the highest order. Read it and, for the lack of any more useful response, weep. . . .The article was a sensation and the book will be, too. -- Bryan Appleyard * The Sunday Times *The most terrifying book I have ever read . . . a meticulously documented, white-knuckled tour through the cascading catastrophes that will soon engulf our warming planet. * The New York Times *This is what I'm reading now: The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells. It focuses on the range of realistic possibilities with climate change. It does not sugarcoat, and can be quite scary -- that's without primarily focusing on the worstcase scenario. When people ask 'What can I do? - Read! What we need right now, in this country, is for all of us to be better, including ourselves.A must-read. It's not only the grandkids and the kids: it's you. And it's not only those in other countries: it's you. -- Margaret Atwood * Twitter *I've not stopped talking about The Uninhabitable Earth since I opened the first page. And I want every single person on this planet to read it.Riveting . . . Some readers will find Mr Wallace-Wells's outline of possible futures alarmist. He is indeed alarmed. You should be, too. * The Economist *Skipping the scientific jargon and relaying the facts in urgent and elegant prose, the magazine editor crafts a stirring wake-up call to recognize how global warming will permanently alter every aspect of human life. -- Best Nonfiction Books of 2019 So Far * Time *Wallace-Wells is an extremely adept storyteller, simultaneously urgent and humane . . . [he] does a terrifyingly good job of moving between the specific and the abstract. * Slate *Enough to induce an honest-to-God panic attack ... The margins of my review copy of the book are scrawled with expressions of terror and despair, declining in articulacy as the pages proceed, until it's all just cartoon sad faces and swear words ... To read The Uninhabitable Earth is to understand the collapse of the distinction between alarmism and plain realism -- Mark O'Connell * The Guardian *There is much to learn from this book. From media and scientific reports of the past decade, Wallace-Wells sifts key predictions and conveys them in vivid prose. -- David George Haskell * The Observer *Brilliant ... At the heart of Wallace-Wells's book is a remorseless, near-unbearable account of what we are doing to our planet * The New York Times *Not since Bill McKibben's "The End of Nature" 30 years ago have we been told what climate change will mean in such vivid terms. -- Fred Pearce * The Washington Post *Everyone should stop what they're doing and read The Uninhabitable Earth by @dwallacewells. This is our future if we don't act now. -- Johann Hari * Twitter *Wake up! Get educated - The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace Wells is a great place to start. -- Paris Lees * Vogue *A book that's by turns alarming, terrifying and just downright bleak . . . a sustained piece of informed polemic. * The Evening Standard *A very accessible and compelling read . . . a much more nuanced and a much more hopeful vision than you might expect. * The Irish Times *I think everyone should probably right now read David Wallace-Wells's The Uninhabitable Earth, which tells the grim story with as much optimism as possible, and which gives all the facts. -- Daniel Swift * The Spectator, Books of the Year *Well-written, captivating, occasionally wry and utterly petrifying * i News *In his gripping new book ... Wallace-Wells shocks us out of complacency' * Prospect *If you read just one work of non-fiction this year, it should probably be [this] . . . What this book forces you to face is more important than any other subject you could be informing yourself about. * The Evening Standard *Exceptionally well researched and written. . . . This short, concise book pulls no punches.Yes, this book will scare you, but it will also prompt you to take action to ensure the damage we as humans have done to the planet is stopped. * Stylist, ‘Your guide to 2019’s best non-fiction books’ *Most of us known the gist, if not the details, of the climate change crisis. And yet it is almost impossible to sustain strong feelings about it. David Wallace-Wells has now provided the details, and with writing that is not only clear and forceful, but often imaginative and even funny, he has found a way to make the information deeply felt. This is a profound book, which simultaneously makes me terrified and hopeful about the future, full of regret and new will.Harrowing. -- Jonathan Franzen * The New Yorker *The Uninhabitable Earth hits you like a comet, with an overflow of insanely lyrical prose about our pending armageddon.Just finished The Uninhabitable Earth by @dwallacewells. Everyone, everywhere, should read it. Can't remember the last time a book had such an impact on me. * Twitter *Yes, this book will scare you, but it will also prompt you to take action to ensure the damage we as humans have done to the planet is stopped. * Stylist, Your Guide to the Best Books of 2019 *On [Alexandra] Ocasio-Cortez's office bookshelf, near a picture of her late father and a photo of her with a local Girl Scout troop, two books nestle together in uneasy union. One is the Federalist papers. The other is The Uninhabitable Earth. * Time magazine profile on Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez *If there are people around to write history books in the future, they will look back at the @ExtinctionR protestors and think they were the sanest people of our time. Read The Uninhabitable Earth by @dwallacewells if you don't know why. * Johann Hari, Twitter *If we don't want our grandchildren to curse us, we had better read this book.David Wallace-Wells argues that the impacts of climate change will much graver than most people realize, and he's right. The Uninhabitable Earth is a timely and provocative work.Trigger warning: when scientists conclude that yesterday's worst-case scenario for global warming is probably unwarranted optimism, it's time to ask Scotty to beam you up. At least that was my reaction upon finishing Wallace-Wells' brilliant and unsparing analysis of a nightmare that is no longer a distant future but our chaotic, burning present.A lucid and thorough description of our unprecedented crisis, and of the mechanisms of denial with which we seek to avoid its fullest recognition.

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Book Synopsis''This is one of those rare books that have something really important to say. Anatol Lieven is telling his fellow realists that at this moment the world''s great powers are far more threatened by climate change than they are by each other'' Ivan Krastev, author of The Light That FailedIn the past two centuries we have experienced wave after wave of overwhelming change. Entire continents have been resettled; there are billions more of us; the jobs done by countless people would be unrecognizable to their predecessors; scientific change has transformed us all in confusing, terrible and miraculous ways.Anatol Lieven''s major new book provides the frame that has long been needed to understand how we should react to climate change. This is a vast challenge, but we have often in the past had to deal with such challenges: the industrial revolution, major wars and mass migration have seen mobilizations of human energy on the greatest scale. Just as previous geTrade ReviewProvocative, original and thought-provoking ... Lieven argues convincingly that there is no inevitable link between nationalism and climate denialism. -- Pilita Clark * Financial Times *Striking ... The climate crisis is a test of our character. And Lieven does not like what it reveals. His book offers a blueprint for an epochal social and political transformation. -- Adam Tooze * New Statesman *Lieven believes we must start again - or, rather, return to older foundations in the face of this primal threat to our planet's future. We need, he argues, a new nationalism ... We should heed Lieven's call to action. -- Mark Malloch-Brown * Literary Review *Lieven maps out a response to the environmental crisis that draws on both the radical social democracy of Bernie Sanders' Green New Deal and the burgeoning "eco-nationalism" of Europe's reactionary populists ... There's no denying the prescience of Lieven's analysis ... Lieven offers a sobering account of the climate crisis, how dramatically it is going to reshape human life, and how quickly that transformation is likely to take effect. -- Jamie Maxwell * The Herald *Convincing ... Lieven weaves his first-hand knowledge and experience into a compelling narrative ... He makes a strong case for urgent action, especially by powerful states. -- Maria Ivanova * Nature *This is one of those rare books that have something really important to say. Anatol Lieven, one of the most original and independent-minded foreign policy thinkers, is telling his fellow realists that at this moment the world's great powers are far more threatened by climate change than they are by each other. -- Ivan Krastev, author of The Light That FailedPassivity in the face of climate change is the fatalism of our age. Anatol Lieven's book offers a bracing riposte to those who believe only world government can solve global warming. Lieven makes a brilliant case that the nation state has to be the chief vehicle to confront humanity's surpassing crisis. Lieven is utterly persuasive about this challenge - above all the importance of our not allowing the perfect to be the enemy of the good. If you read one book on global warming, this should be it. -- Edward Luce, author of The Retreat of Western LiberalismThus far, the global response to climate change emphasises talk rather than effective action. Lieven fills this strategic void by insisting that enlightened civic nationalism alone can stem this threat. Only the nation state can constrain corporate capitalism from further harming the environment. Only the nation state can motivate citizens to make the sacrifices needed to curb the mounting damage. This is a bold, original, gutsy, and absolutely essential book. -- Andrew J. Bacevich, author of The Age of IllusionsThis book is a clarion call for a renewed civic nationalism focused on the preservation of the environment and the arresting of climate change as vital aspects of a shared national and international good-one that true patriots of any country ought to place at the front and center of their political agenda. Lieven makes a compelling case for contesting the intolerant and anti-scientific far right's would-be monopoly on the language, imagery, and emotions of nationalism. -- Aviel Roshwald, Professor of History, Georgetown UniversityClimate activists have yet to devise a successful political strategy for dramatically reducing the pace of warming. In his brilliant new book, Lieven argues that 'civic nationalism,' combining loyalty to the nation and public sacrifice, is the only strategy with a chance at success. While not everyone may agree with his conclusions, it is impossible to escape the hard logic of his reasoning. -- Michael Klare, author of All Hell Breaking Loose

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Book SynopsisOver the past twenty years European cities have become the envy of the world: a Kraftwerk Utopia of historic centres, supermodernist concert halls, imaginative public spaces and futuristic egalitarian housing estates which, interconnected by high-speed trains traversing open borders, have a combination of order and pleasure which is exceptionally unusual elsewhere.In Trans-Europe Express, Owen Hatherley sets out to explore the European city across the entire continent, to see what exactly makes it so different to the Anglo-Saxon norm - the unplanned, car-centred, developer-oriented spaces common to the US, Ireland, UK and Australia. Attempting to define the European city, Hatherley finds a continent divided both within the EU and outside it.Trade ReviewA scathing, lively and timely look at the "European city", from one of our most provocative voices on culture and architecture today -- Owen JonesThe best book I've read on Europe, blending history, architecture and contemporary politics and written in Owen Hatherley's trademark mixture of scepticism, erudition and humanity. He is a writer of lasting merit who will be read fifty years from now. -- Anna MintonThe latest heir to Ruskin. -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *

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Book Synopsis''A hymn of love to the world ... A journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise'' Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, LoveAs a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two ways of knowledge together. Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, a mother, and a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings - asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass - offer us gifts and lessons, even if we''ve forgotten how to hear their voices. In a rich braid of reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.Trade ReviewRemarkable, wise and potentially paradigm-shifting * Guardian *Braiding Sweetgrass is the book we all need right now. It is a vision of a new world, of reciprocity, gratitude and seeing the living world for what it is: an abundance of gifts. Kimmerer is uniquely placed to braid indigenous knowledge with scientific learnings and she does it with kindness, ingenuity and a poet's prose. It is truly the text for our times. -- Lucy Jones * author of Losing Eden *An extraordinary book, showing how the factual, objective approach of science can be enriched by the ancient knowledge of the indigenous people. It is the way she captures beauty that I love the most - the images of giant cedars and wild strawberries, a forest in the rain and a meadow of fragrant sweetgrass will stay with you long after you read the last page -- Jane GoodallOne of the most beautiful books I've ever read. * Daily Herald *I give daily thanks for Robin Wall Kimmerer for being a font of endless knowledge, both mental and spiritual. -- Richard Powers * The New York Times *Reading this book was like looking at the world afresh. Radical, hopeful, honest and wise, Robin Wall Kimmerer has woven us a precious heartsong for difficult times -- Helen JukesA journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise -- Elizabeth GilbertRobin Wall Kimmerer opens a sense of wonder and humility for the intelligence in all kinds of life we are used to naming and imagining as inanimate. -- Krista TippettIn a world where only six percent of mammalian biomass on the planet now comprises of wild animals, I longed for books that pressed me up against the inhuman, that connected me to an inhuman world. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer moved me to actual tears -- Alexandra Kleeman, THE MILLIONSWith deep compassion and graceful prose, Robin Wall Kimmerer encourages readers to consid­er the ways that our lives and language weave through the natural world. A mesmerizing story­teller, she shares legends from her Potawatomi ancestors to illustrate the culture of gratitude in which we all should live * Publishers Weekly *In Braiding Sweetgrass, botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer tackles everything from sustainable agriculture to pond scum as a reflection of her Potawatomi heritage, which carries a stewardship 'which could not be taken by history: the knowing that we belonged to the land.' . . . It's a book absorbed with the unfolding of the world to observant eyes?that sense of discovery that draws us in. -- NPRThe gift of Robin Wall Kimmerer's book is that she provides readers the ability to see a very common world in uncommon ways, or, rather, in ways that have been commonly held but have recently been largely discarded. She puts forth the notion that we ought to be interacting in such a way that the land should be thankful for the people * Minneapolis Star Tribune *Beautifully written . . . Anyone who enjoys reading about natural history, botany, protecting na­ture, or Native American culture will love this book * Library Journal *Professor and botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer knows that the answer to all forms of ecological unbalance have long been hidden in plain sight, told in the language of plants and animals, minerals and elements. She draws on her own heritage . . . pairing science with Indigenous principles and storytelling to advocate for a renewed connection between human beings and nature. * Outside *Kimmerer eloquently makes the case that by observing and celebrating our reciprocal relationship with the natural world, one can gain greater ecological consciousness. * Sierra Magazine *Braiding Sweetgrass is instructive poetry. Robin Wall Kimmerer has put the spiritual relationship that Chief Seattle called the 'web of life' into writing. Industrial societies lack the understanding of the interrelationships that bind all living things?this book fills that void. I encourage one and all to read these instructions. -- Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper, Onondaga Nation and Indigenous Environmental Leader

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Book SynopsisA TIMES AND TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR''Beautifully written, movingly told and meticulously researched ... a convincing plea for a wilder, richer world'' Isabella Tree, author of Wilding''By the time I''d read the first chapter, I''d resolved to take my son into the woods every afternoon over winter. By the time I''d read the sixth, I was wanting to break prisoners out of cells and onto the mossy moors. Losing Eden rigorously and convincingly tells of the value of the natural universe to our human hearts'' Amy Liptrot, author of The OutrunToday many of us live indoor lives, disconnected from the natural world as never before. And yet nature remains deeply ingrained in our language, culture and consciousness. For centuries, we have acted on an intuitive sense that we need communion with the wild to feel well. Now, in the moment of our great migration away from the rest of nature, more and more scientific evidence is emerging to confirm its place at the heart of our psychological wellbeing. So what happens, asks acclaimed journalist Lucy Jones, as we lose our bond with the natural world-might we also be losing part of ourselves? Delicately observed and rigorously researched, Losing Eden is an enthralling journey through this new research, exploring how and why connecting with the living world can so drastically affect our health. Travelling from forest schools in East London to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault via primeval woodlands, Californian laboratories and ecotherapists'' couches, Jones takes us to the cutting edge of human biology, neuroscience and psychology, and discovers new ways of understanding our increasingly dysfunctional relationship with the earth. Urgent and uplifting, Losing Eden is a rallying cry for a wilder way of life - for finding asylum in the soil and joy in the trees - which might just help us to save the living planet, as well as ourselves.Trade ReviewEarnest, painstakingly-researched...A heartfelt love-letter to the outdoors * Daily Mail *The benefits of experiencing nature may be far greater than is commonly appreciated ... A fascinating exploration of the new science of our connection to the natural world ... written in such lush, vivid prose that reading it, one can feel transported and restored. * New Statesman *Beautiful...science is proving just how deeply the cycles and rhythms of the natural world have been knitted into our every cell -- Anthony Doerr * Daily Mail *Urgent, accessible, moving ... A beautifully written, research-heavy study about how nature offers us wellbeing * Observer *Losing Eden provides the evidence of how nature makes us calmer, healthier, happier, even kinder. Jones moves between close biological evidence -- how our parasympathetic nervous system is triggered when we're in nature, how bacteria found in soil increases stress resilience -- to large-scale environmental studies. The book is shot through with personal experience [...but is] not really a memoir; it's about all of us. * TLS *Wonderful ... This is an important book * Telegraph Book of the Year *We've all heard it said that going for a dawdle in the park is good for us, but we probably assumed that such ideas are rooted in whimsy rather than empirical fact. Lucy Jones tracks down evidence for the benefits of rewilding our lives. People, research suggests, are not just happier when cities are greener but are also less violent. Losing Eden is just the right blend of the personal and the scientific as she also recounts how reconnecting with nature gave her some meaning after a period of coming undone. * The Times Books of the Year *Beautifully written, movingly told and meticulously researched, Losing Eden is an elegy to the healing power of nature, something we need more than ever in our anxiety-ridden world of ecological loss. Woven together with her own personal story of recovery, Lucy Jones lays out the overwhelming scientific evidence for nature as nurturer for body and soul with the clarity and candour that will move hearts and minds - a convincing plea for a wilder, richer world. * Isabella Tree, author of Wilding *By the time I'd read the first chapter, I'd resolved to take my son into the woods every afternoon over winter. By the time I'd read the sixth, I was wanting to break prisoners out of cells and onto the mossy moors. Losing Eden rigorously and convincingly tells of the value of the natural universe to our human hearts. It's a simple message but Lucy Jones looks at it by using so many interesting and diverse ideas and places that it always stays vital. It is exciting, pertinent and elegantly written: I recommend it to anyone who makes decisions. * Amy Liptrot, author of The Outrun *Brilliant -- Melissa HarrisonFascinating ... the connection between mental health and the natural world turns out to be strong and deep - which is good news in that it offers those feeling soul-sick the possibility that falling in love with the world around them might be remarkably helpful. And those who fall in love with the world might protect it, a virtuous cycle that would make a real difference in the fight for a workable planet. * Bill McKibben, author of Falter; Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? *An absorbing book...more than just a scientific treatise: Jones writes beautifully about nature and her own experiences of its healing powers * Country and Townhouse *Fantastic -- Guy Shrubsole

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Book SynopsisThe Sunday Times bestseller *Shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize*A New Statesman and Spectator Book of the Year''This book calls for nothing less than a revolution in the future of food'' Kate RaworthFrom the bestselling author of Feral, a breathtaking first glimpse of a new future for food and for humanityFarming is the world''s greatest cause of environmental destruction - and the one we are least prepared to talk about. We criticise urban sprawl, but farming sprawls across thirty times as much land. We have ploughed, fenced and grazed great tracts of the planet, felling forests, killing wildlife, and poisoning rivers and oceans to feed ourselves. Yet millions still go hungry.Now the food system itself is beginning to falter. But, as George Monbiot shows us in this brilliant, bracingly original new book, we can resolve the biggest of our dilemmas and feed the world without devouring the planet.Regenesis is a breathtaking vision of a new future for food and for humanity. Drawing on astonishing advances in soil ecology, Monbiot reveals how our changing understanding of the world beneath our feet could allow us to grow more food with less farming. He meets the people who are unlocking these methods, from the fruit and vegetable grower revolutionising our understanding of fertility; through breeders of perennial grains, liberating the land from ploughs and poisons; to the scientists pioneering new ways to grow protein and fat. Together, they show how the tiniest life forms could help us make peace with the planet, restore its living systems, and replace the age of extinction with an age of regenesis.Trade ReviewThis book calls for nothing less than a revolution in the future of food - one that will literally transform the face of the Earth, to make food affordable for all while restoring the living world. Such a vision sounds near impossible, but Monbiot reveals the food pioneers whose extraordinary innovations could bring it within reach. Never shying from controversy, Regenesis weaves the poetry of soil into the politics of farming to shake the ground on which we all grow. This is Monbiot's masterpiece: an urgent and exhilarating journey into remaking what and how we eat -- Kate RaworthRegenesis speaks to us like a poem that begins with a phantasmagoria of that which lies under the soil, offers a magnificent political economy of global food production and concludes with a hopeful vision of a techno-ethical equilibrium between Humanity and Nature. It must be read -- Yanis VaroufakisPeople from all walks of life should read this remarkable book. It is in my view one of the two or three most important books to appear this century -- Prof. Sir David King, former Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK GovernmentAs we begin to rethink our relationship with Nature, the unstinting work of George Monbiot becomes ever more valuable. Monbiot has been at the cutting edge of the discussion for decades, and his extraordinary book covers this complex, evolving subject with depth and breadth, sincerity and humour. I never cease to be surprised by the unexpected perspectives he brings to bear, leading me through problems I never envisaged and solutions I never imagined. We are left with the hope that the solutions might triumph, that we might make it through -- Brian EnoA book offering evidence-based hope is a rare thing in these days of climate and nature emergency - yet that's exactly what George Monbiot has written. Inspiring and compelling, Regenesis sets out a transformative vision of a new food future with the potential to both restore nature and feed the world. Monbiot's blueprint is both wildly ambitious and deeply practical, and might well be our last best hope of stopping the sixth great extinction -- Caroline LucasThis remarkable book, staring curiously down at the soil beneath our feet, points us convincingly in one of the directions we must travel. I learned something on every page -- Bill McKibbenGeorge Monbiot clears paths towards solutions that lie dormant within us, which, if embraced, could transform our world and our societies into better places. He reaches for new ideas that might ignite the collective consciousness in a push to protect, rather than tragically destroy, the biosphere. Read George Monbiot and you will meet the cheerful courage and passion of a fellow traveller on this earth who seeks authentic hope -- ANOHNIFor anyone who cares about where our food comes from and its impact on the planet Regenesis is essential reading. This deeply researched book lifts the lid on our current methods of food production and all its dirty secrets: but more than that it provides a blueprint for the future. Monbiot pursues the key question: how can we have healthy food that's cheap enough for everyone to eat? His answers provide critical pathways towards a way to feed the planet -- Rosie BoycottForget Elon Musk's dry-as-dust retro sci-fi fantasies, George Monbiot gives us an inspiring vision of the future that is alive and kicking and grounded in the latest scientific discoveries. George Monbiot has combined his gifts as an investigator, interviewer and witty storyteller to create an exhiliarating epic! -- Robert NewmanA fascinating and ultimately positive book ... a harmonic vision of how changing our relationship to land use, farming and the food that we eat could transform our lives -- Thom YorkeWonderful ... Monbiot shows that the thin layer on which all terrestrial ecosystems stand is alive with organisms as diverse, fascinating and mysterious as any found above ground. He shatters the shibboleths of farming, showing the way to a radical transformation of agricultural practices and exciting new opportunities for nourishment -- David SuzukiRegenesis is a world-making, world-changing book; at once visionary and rigorous and practicable. It rings and sings throughout with Monbiot's extraordinary combination of passion, generosity and justice. It is braced by his unshakeable commitment to bettering the planet for all its inhabitants, human and other-than-human. It is a thrilling work, more ambitious even than its predecessor, Feral, and it gripped me as I read. Recognising that "the future is underground", Monbiot shows us that the possibility for a transformed relationship with food, the living world and each other lies just beneath our feet, right under our noses -- Robert MacfarlaneA brilliant, mesmerizing, vital book. Beneath each square meter of soil live thousands of species, and each chapter of George Monbiot's eye-opening exploration of that soil and its potential is similarly, dynamically rich-delivering a whole new way of thinking about our agriculture and our diets, our climate and our future. And much needed hope, besides -- David Wallace-WellsA genuinely brilliant, inspirational book ... George Monbiot embarks on a journey of discovery, realising that soil and its role in our life is bigger than everything else. Halfway through, I felt like a child who was bursting to share a secret with anyone who would listen. By the time I had finished reading, I felt as if the purest mountain stream had washed through my brain, and Monbiot had shared the most fundamentally important insight of his life -- Sir Tim Smit, Founder of the Eden ProjectYou may think you are across environmental and climate change issues, but think again. This passionate, extraordinary book opens up a compelling and vital new dimension: food and the way the world farms -- Will HuttonWith rigour, singular bravery and an infectious love for the living world, George Monbiot presents the Silent Spring of our time. Regenesis is an eye-watering reckoning of humanity's land and food crisis and an astonishing vision of survival and restoration. Monbiot takes us on a journey from the rhizospheres and the drilospheres through soil ecology, cultural myths, to the future of food all bound together with his own wonder-ful, beautifully-written observations. There is no topic more important for planetary survival than land and food, and there is no writer willing to dispense of bullshit, tell us the truth, and take on powerful forces and perceived wisdom like George Monbiot. A visionary, fearless, essential book -- Lucy JonesMonbiot rolls up his sleeves and pulls on his boots for an uncompromising session of agricultural dragon-slaying and foodie myth-busting. Unafraid to propose a new world order for farming and food production that is kinder to both people and planet, Regenesis is rigorous and restive, but also witty, original and humane. Let us hope it is read, digested and acted on by people, politicians and policy-makers the world over -- Hugh Fearnley-WhittingstallI am so grateful George Monbiot has applied his razor sharp intellect, bountiful curiosity and love for the land to the complex and fundamental issue of what we eat. This book offers a deep dive into the most essential question of our time - how might we feed ourselves without destroying our planet in the process? -- Lily ColeThis is an important book and a gripping read. It will enflame vested interests on all sides. Because Monbiot has that most aggravating of gifts - the ability lucidly to point out things that people desperately do not want to be true -- Henry DimblebyHow can we ensure that everyone is fed without destroying the biosphere? Regenesis is a lively and deeply researched enquiry that confronts our dilemmas head on. There are no easy answers, but Monbiot provides a brilliant guide to asking the right questions. Transformation is urgently needed and this book shows how it is possible -- Merlin SheldrakeGeorge Monbiot is a very skilful writer, and Regenesis shows all his powers at full stretch. He seems to see more fully than almost anyone else in this field, with a clarity of attention both to the smallest realities of a handful of soil and to the widest implications of the way human beings have lived and continue to live in the world. Telling things in the right order doesn't seem like one of the functions of the imagination, but again and again Monbiot shows that it is, with all the imaginative sympathy of a great storyteller as well as the overarching understanding of a moral visionary. This is a fine and necessary book -- Philip PullmanGeorge Monbiot is one of the most fearless and important voices in the global climate movement today -- Greta ThunbergI used to look up to the stars for thoughts of infinity, eternity and divine cooperation. This book revealed to me I could find the same inspiration beneath the soles of my feet in less than a foot of soil. My walks on earth will never be the same as they were. The writing, observation and devotion is infectiously compelling. The learning is deep and immense -- Mark RylanceA magnificent new overview of how we might live and feed ourselves without destroying ourselves ... It is riveting ... Along with a dazzling array of stats, there's also impressive investigative reporting ... rich food for thought, devastating figures, startling insights and even the odd joke ... A hugely important read -- Christopher Hart * The Sunday Times *A call to raze the pastoral imaginary so that we can begin to think clearly about how we produce food and steward the soil ... To have any chance of turning the age of extinction into an age of regeneration, systemic reform, based on the facts, not pastoral myth-making, is essential -- Philippa Nuttall * New Statesman *Colossally important... You've got to read it -- Max Porter (via Twitter)A treasure trove of hope and solutions, and a vision for a sustainable, healthy, equitable world. We meet inspiring farmers as well as some radical solutions ... Comprehensive, devastating, rousing ... An essential book -- Rowan Hooper * New Scientist *Big ideas, beautifully written and the portraits of people building the alternatives are gorgeous! Makes you angry and enraptured with the beauty of the natural world all at once -- Aaron Bastani (via Twitter)A paean to the wonder that is the ecology of soil, scientifically informed and beautifully told. The perfect bank holiday read -- Yadvinder Malhi, Professor of Ecosystem Science at the University of OxfordPhenomenal. Clear, eloquent, fearless and devastating in its analysis. A revolution in the future of food -- Adam Rutherford (via Twitter)Glorious ... intelligent, deeply researched .... The point Monbiot makes so ably and so necessarily is that system change is both essential and possible through a complexity of solutions ... The stakes could not be higher. If a book can change hearts and minds about one of the most critical issues of our time, this rational, humane polemic is it -- Gaia Vince * Observer *Revolutionary ... Rigorous, bold and clear-sighted ... To conjure the miracle of more food with less farming, we need to rethink what lies beneath our feet -- David Farrier * Prospect *Vivid and memorable... Regenesis is a compelling, deeply researched account of a deeply broken food system and how we might heal it * Irish Times *A compelling story of soil, food and farming * Financial Times *Ambitious and deeply researched ... Monbiot exposes, with journalistic flair, the 'gulf between perception and reality' about where and how our food is produced ... it includes some fascinating case studies ... bristling with ideas and imagination -- Laura Battle * Financial Times *Eye-opening, persuasive, meticulously researched [...] Monbiot thinks globally [... and] his arguments take account of the needs of everyone in society -- Amy Liptrot * Guardian *A paean to soil, told more gracefully and memorably than anyone before him... Regenesis is likely to become a classic. Monbiot is a writer of the first rank -- Bill McKibben * Times Literary Supplement *Inspiring, courageous, and bursting with ideas -- Jeremy Williams * The Earthbound Report *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewGates' book is compulsively readable. His ambition was to 'cut through the noise' and give consumers better tools for understanding what works, an ambition he meets admirably. It more than that, however. Gates can get an audience with anyone, can marshal almost limitless resources, and is dogged in the detail. The result - particularly in the wake of the Trump presidency - is thrilling -- Emma Brockes * The Guardian *Of the many books I have come across recently making the case that climate change will be a catastrophe, but we can do something about it, this is the best ... The relentless practicality of the book combined with Gates's firm faith in innovation do not promote despair. He exudes optimism; things will get better, not least because, as John Lennon once sang, they can't get no worse -- Bryan Appleyard * Sunday Times *It is mostly concerned with solutions rather than problems. This already marks it out as something of an outlier within environmental literature... if you're after an approachable book about what needs to happen next, this is a great place to start -- Ed Conway * The Times *Bold but well argued ... a compelling explanation of how the world can stop global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions effectively to zero... [Gates] is a serious and genuine force for good on climate change -- Bob Ward * Observer *How to Avoid a Climate Disaster is clear, concise on a colossal subject, and intelligently holistic in its approach to the problem. -- Adam Vaughan * New Scientist *It all makes for a meaty manifesto which Gates hopes can offer sufficient variety to appeal across political divides and "shift the conversation" away from the polarisation and misinformation that has clouded discussion about climate change up until now. -- Martin Bentham * Evening Standard *Books about the environment can induce a paralysing despair. The billionaire Bill Gates is a can-do, problem-solving chap, and his book is full of detailed, practical plans * The Times *Gates's carefully packaged nuggets of information are not only easy to understand, but they aim to provide the reader with practical tools to engage with the density of climate change information ... What Gates has achieved with his book is something rare in the swelling arena of popular climate literature. The Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist has compiled a solutions-based strategy that is as informed on the commercial realities of scaling new technologies as it is on the environmental consequences of not doing so. -- Daniel Murray * The Business Post *The most refreshing aspect of this book is its bracing mix of cold-eyed realism and number-crunched optimism ... Ultimately [Gates's] book is a primer on how to reorganise the global economy so that innovation focuses on the world's gravest problems. It is a powerful reminder that if mankind is to get serious about tackling them, it must do more to harness the one natural resource available in infinite quantity-human ingenuity. * Economist *Gates plots out, in patient, simple prose, a pathway that would allow us to reduce carbon emissions from the current 51 billion tonnes a year to zero by 2050. -- Thomas Jones * London Review of Books *"System change not climate change!" cry the protesters, demanding that we choose between capitalism and a healthy planet. "Oh!" the less ascetically minded among us might pout. "Can't we have both?" Thankfully, according to Bill Gates, we can. In How to Avoid a Climate Disaster he outlines the new technologies we need to fight climate change, and how businesses can help to invent and deploy them. Capitalism is not only capable of stopping climate change, he says, it's also the only way to provide a decent standard of living to the world's poorest. -- Ben Cooke * The Times Books of the Year *This is an optimistic account of how climate change might be solved without destroying the world's economies in the process. * The Times *

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Book SynopsisLonglisted for the Wainwright PrizeShortlisted for the Richard Jeffries AwardThe story of one woman''s passion for glaciersAs one of the world''s leading glaciologists, Professor Jemma Wadham has devoted her career to the glaciers that cover one-tenth of the Earth''s land surface. Today, however, these ''ice rivers'' are in peril. High up in the Alps, Andes and Himalaya, once-indomitable glaciers are retreating; in Antarctica, meanwhile, thinning ice sheets are releasing meltwater to sensitive marine foodwebs, and may be unlocking vast quantities of methane stored deep beneath them. The potential consequences for humanity are almost unfathomable.Jemma''s first encounter with a glacier, as a student, sparked her love of these icy landscapes. There is nowhere on Earth she feels more alive. Whether abseiling down crevasses, skidooing across frozen fjords, exploring ice caverns, or dodging polar bears - for a glaciologist, it''s all iTrade ReviewIce Rivers is a remarkable book. For those of us who have had the privilege of scrambling across glaciers around the world, this work will bring back sharp memories of their otherworldly beauty. For those who haven't, this is the perfect introduction into a crucial and vanishing part of our planet. Jemma Wadham works to understand, to bear witness, and to protect - it's hard to imagine a more fully human undertaking -- Bill McKibben, author of The End of NatureA compelling warning about the realities of climate change... Also a highly readable memoir -- Best Books of 2021 * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisA lyrical celebration of birdsong, and the rekindling of a deep passion for nature.''At this time of year, blackbirds never simply fly: instead, like reluctantly retired officers, they''re always on manoeuvres, and it''s easy to see from their constant agitation that for them every flower bed is a bunker, every shed a redoubt and every hedge-bottom a potential place of ambush''As the world went silent in lockdown, something else happened; for the first time, many of us started becoming more aware of the spring sounds of the birds around us. Birdsong in a Time of Silence is a lyrical, uplifting reflection on these sounds and what they mean to us.From a portrait of the blackbird - most prominent and articulate of the early spring singers - to explorations of how birds sing, the science behind their choice of song and nest-sites, and the varied meanings that people have brought to and taken from birdsong, this book ultimately shows that natural history and human history cannot be separated. It is the story of a collective reawakening brought on by the strangest of springs.Trade ReviewA delightful meditation on the wonder of birdsong, and how it helped us at a moment of crisis -- Stephen MossThis is a joyous and profound meditation on birdsong and what it means to us, a book that brings to life an essential part of the natural world that most of us take so much for granted that we scarcely notice it -- PD Smith * Guardian (Book of the Day) *Lovatt's approach is fresh, joyful and uncomplicated. Birdsong in a Time of Silence recalls a spring we will never forget but also reminds us that the pandemic grew out of our disregard for nature, and could presage ecological disaster -- Nicola Chester * Financial Times *This is a lyrical, exhilarating work of utter loveliness * Saga *Beautifully observed... exhilaratingly original... [Written with] exquisite prose that soars as high as his beloved birds -- Bel Mooney * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisTHE TIMES BEST SCIENCE BOOK OF 2024WINNER OF THE BLUE PLANET PRIZE 2025'Argues persuasively . . . nothing less than eye-opening' Financial TimesCan we really restore the earth's atmosphere within our lifetime?Whether through sustainable technologies such as fossil-free steel production, hydrogen-powered ships and electric motorbikes, or natural solutions like rewilding peatlands, people all over the world are finding new ways to travel, feed themselves and drive industry while safeguarding a liveable planet for future generations. Drawing on decades of research and a vast network of experts, Rob Jackson, Chair of the Global Carbon Project, introduces some of the brilliant innovators behind the boldest solutions to climate change including an Eritrean agricultural scientist, a Swedish CEO and a Brazilian hydrologist. Now we have more tools to combat climate change than ever before, Into the Clear Blue Sky traces a clear path to a better future for us all one that will see us cutting emissions in inventive new ways that protect our health and livelihoods, while repairing the damage we have caused to the atmosphere. This visionary and transformative book is the call to action we need right now.

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Book SynopsisIn twenty short books, Penguin brings you the classics of the environmental movement.In Hot Money Naomi Klein lays out the evidence that deregulated capitalism is waging war on the climate, and shows that, in order to stop the damage, we must change everything we think about how our world is run.Over the past 75 years, a new canon has emerged. As life on Earth has become irrevocably altered by humans, visionary thinkers around the world have raised their voices to defend the planet, and affirm our place at the heart of its restoration. Their words have endured through the decades, becoming the classics of a movement. Together, these books show the richness of environmental thought, and point the way to a fairer, saner, greener world.

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Book SynopsisIn twenty short books, Penguin brings you the classics of the environmental movement.From the Congo Basin to the traditions of the Kikuyu people, the lucid, incisive writings in The World We Once Lived In explore the sacred power of trees, and why humans lay waste to the forests that keep us alive.Over the past 75 years, a new canon has emerged. As life on Earth has become irrevocably altered by humans, visionary thinkers around the world have raised their voices to defend the planet, and affirm our place at the heart of its restoration. Their words have endured through the decades, becoming the classics of a movement. Together, these books show the richness of environmental thought, and point the way to a fairer, saner, greener world.

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Book SynopsisIn twenty short books, Penguin brings you the classics of the environmental movement.Provocative and playful, All Art is Ecological explores the strangeness of living in an age of mass extinction, and shows us that emotions and experience are the basis for a deep philosophical engagement with ecology.Over the past 75 years, a new canon has emerged. As life on Earth has become irrevocably altered by humans, visionary thinkers around the world have raised their voices to defend the planet, and affirm our place at the heart of its restoration. Their words have endured through the decades, becoming the classics of a movement. Together, these books show the richness of environmental thought, and point the way to a fairer, saner, greener world.

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Book SynopsisIn twenty short books, Penguin brings you the classics of the environmental movement.Food Rules, Michael Pollan''s wise and witty critique of the western industrialised diet, distils the wisdom of history and traditional cultures to three simple rules: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.Over the past 75 years, a new canon has emerged. As life on Earth has become irrevocably altered by humans, visionary thinkers around the world have raised their voices to defend the planet, and affirm our place at the heart of its restoration. Their words have endured through the decades, becoming the classics of a movement. Together, these books show the richness of environmental thought, and point the way to a fairer, saner, greener world.

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Book SynopsisIn twenty short books, Penguin brings you the classics of the environmental movement.This is Jared Diamond''s haunting account of visiting the mysterious stone statues of Easter Island, showing how a remote civilization destroyed itself by exploiting its own natural resources - and why we must heed this warning.Over the past 75 years, a new canon has emerged. As life on Earth has become irrevocably altered by humans, visionary thinkers around the world have raised their voices to defend the planet, and affirm our place at the heart of its restoration. Their words have endured through the decades, becoming the classics of a movement. Together, these books show the richness of environmental thought, and point the way to a fairer, saner, greener world.

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Book SynopsisCHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY SUNDAY TIMES AND HISTORY TODAY''Absolutely stunning. . . a formidable achievement. A six-part historical thriller that is essential reading for both our politicians and the ordinary citizen'' Kai BirdBest-selling historian Serhii Plokhy returns with an illuminating exploration of the atomic age through the history of six nuclear disasters In 2011, a 43-foot-high tsunami crashed into a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. In the following days, explosions would rip buildings apart, three reactors would go into nuclear meltdown, and the surrounding area would be swamped in radioactive water. It is now considered one of the costliest nuclear disasters ever. But Fukushima was not the first, and it was not the worst. . .In Atoms and Ashes, acclaimed historian Serhii Plokhy tells the tale of the six nuclear disasters that shook the world: Bikini Atoll, Kyshtym, Windscale, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima. Based on wide-ranging research and witness testimony, Plokhy traces the arc of each crisis, exploring in depth the confused decision-making on the ground and the panicked responses of governments to contain the crises and often cover up the scale of the catastrophe.As the world increasingly looks to renewable and alternative sources of energy, Plokhy lucidly argues that the atomic risk must be understood in explicit terms, but also that these calamities reveal a fundamental truth about our relationship with nuclear technology: that the thirst for power and energy has always trumped safety and the cost for future generations.Trade ReviewA timely and enthralling study of the atomic age and its perils . . . a meticulously researched history -- Lawrence Freedman * Financial Times *A superbly crafted but enormously frightening history of nuclear disasters . . . without ever preaching, Plokhy constructs a formidable case for consigning nuclear power to the past -- Gerard DeGroot * The Times *Plokhy's gripping, measured accounts of human error and staggering heroism in the face of the terrifying forces of nuclear power get under the skin -- Simon Ings * The Telegraph *Frightening . . . With catastrophic climate change bearing down on us, nuclear power has been promoted by some as an obvious solution, but this sobering history urges us to look hard at that bargain for what it is -- Jennifer Szalai * New York Times *A revealing tour of some of the most terrifying experiences involving nuclear power. Plokhy excels in unpacking the human and systemic factors that contribute to nuclear disasters * Nature *Gripping . . . Plokhy combines newspaper interviews, memoirs, government reports and secondary sources to give a vivid account of the perils of nuclear power * TLS *Expertly concise. . . this account of the downhill slide of atomic power since its heyday in the 1950s illustrates why it can never be the solution to global heating -- Robin McKie * Observer *Absolutely stunning. A formidable achievement. Plokhy has written a six-part historical thriller that is essential reading for both our politicians and the ordinary citizen. We have survived the Nuclear Age for three-quarters of a century, but this book calmly reminds us that accidents happen?and will surely happen again. His stories of nuclear accidents are riveting and frightening -- Kai Bird, co-author of American Prometheus

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Book SynopsisHighly Commended for the Wainwright Prize 2023, and shortlisted for the Zócalo Book Prize and the Christopher Moore Prize For Human Rights Writing ''Gaia Vince''s new book should be read not just by every politician, but by every person on the planet'' ObserverAn urgent investigation of the most underreported, seismic consequence of climate change: how it will force us to change where - and how - we liveWe are facing a species emergency. With every degree of temperature rise, a billion people will be displaced from the zone in which humans have lived for thousands of years. While we must do everything we can to mitigate the impact of climate change, the brutal truth is that huge swathes of the world are becoming uninhabitable. From Bangladesh to Sudan to the western United States, and in cities from Cardiff to New Orleans to Shanghai, the quadruple threat of drought, heat, wildfires and flooding will utterly reshape Earth''s human geography in the coming decades.In this rousing call to arms, Royal Society Science Book Prize-winning author Gaia Vince describes how we can plan for and manage this unavoidable climate migration while we restore the planet to a fully habitable state. The vital message of this book is that migration is not the problem - it''s the solution. Drawing on a wealth of eye-opening data and original reporting, Vince shows how migration brings benefits not only to migrants themselves, but to host countries, many of which face demographic crises and labour shortages. As Vince describes, we will need to move northwards as a species, into the habitable fringes of Europe, Asia and Canada and the greening Arctic circle.While the climate catastrophe is finally getting the attention it deserves, the inevitability of mass migration has been largely ignored. In Nomad Century, Vince provides, for the first time, an examination of the most pressing question facing humanity.Trade ReviewWith the government's migration policy in such appalling disarray, Gaia Vince's Nomad Century has to be the most timely book of the year. Vince's calm, compassionate and authoritative explanation of the inevitability of migration is essential reading... There should be a copy on every desk in Whitehall -- Michael Brooks, Books of the Year * New Statesman *A tour de force... Nomad Century should be on the reading list of anyone and everyone in any position of power. It is not simply a future atlas of human geography showing where will be habitable and for how many, but a hard-hitting must-read on how we will need to live in the coming decades to secure the long-term survival of humankind -- Anjana Ahuja * Financial Times *Essential, bold and clear-sighted... I have yet to read a book that takes the question of how to survive the coming decades more seriously -- David Farrier * Prospect *A powerful, provocative argument * Nature *After a summer of climate catastrophes, not least the appalling floods that left a third of Pakistan under water at the end of August, now should be the moment to consider radical solutions -- Philippa Nuttall * New Statesman *Engaging and constructive... Vince leaves the reader with more than a few sparks of hope * Herald *Gaia Vince's new book should be read not just by every politician, but by every person on the planet, because it lays out, much more clearly than any existing scientific assessment, the world we are creating through global heating... Passionate and powerful -- Bob Ward * Observer *Powerful... It holds much wisdom with which to tackle the challenges of our turbulent century... Nomad Century is a visionary book, an attempt to imagine how climate change might reshape our notions of what is politically possible -- Ben Cooke * The Times *Nomad Century is a landmark work - terrifying in its message and urgency, but ultimately empowering in its conviction about a path forward. Gaia Vince lays bare the scale of the challenge before us, and the grand ideas that will be needed to meet it. We must be ready; this book shows us how -- Ed YongOnce again Gaia Vince demonstrates that she is one of the finest science writers at work today -- Bill BrysonThe climate crisis already has millions of people on the move, and that number will steadily grow higher till it breaks the political structures of the planet - unless, as the author suggests, we start now to remake those structures so they can cope, and indeed benefit, from the flow of humans that is now inevitable. An important and provocative start to a crucial conversation -- Bill McKibbenThis book is a rather astounding addition to a growing body of thought that suggests the twenty-first century is going to include, and even require, lots of human migration-and that handled correctly, this could be part of a good adaptation to the climate and biosphere crisis we are now entering. What Vince gives us here is some cognitive mapping to understand the situation and see a way forward -- Kim Stanley RobinsonVince's perspectives and proposals are refreshing in a world where a Don't-Look-Up-style denial is solidly in place... If this book results in even a smidgeon more sympathy for the huge numbers of people being forced away from their homes, that will be a great thing -- Sally Hayden * Irish Times *Nomad Century is the most important book I imagine I'll ever read. Gaia Vince calmly -- without drum-banging or hand-wringing -- sets forth likely consequences and end-of-century projections for our rapidly changing planet. It'll knock you flat. But before you hit the ground, she hands over an impressively detailed survival plan: supporting radical migration from newly uninhabitable regions, rethinking urban structures and food practices, restoring climate. The book is heavily researched, but Gaia's clean, intelligent prose propels the reader -- Mary RoachTerrifying, yet strangely hopeful and immensely important. I'm not sure if you can 'love' a book about our precarious future but this is essential reading. Nomad Century brings together the two most pressing issues of our time: the climate emergency and migration. Every single one of us will be affected by this - and therefore we should all read this book. It's packed with facts, solutions and even some optimism ... so, yes, maybe I actually do 'love' it -- Andrea WulfBrilliant. The most far-sighted book on migration I have read. Gaia Vince doesn't waste a sentence. Read this to understand our future -- Henry ManceNomad Century will broaden your horizon when thinking about the biggest humanitarian crisis of known history. A passionate plea for humankind -- Ece TemelkuranVince sounds the air raid siren for humanity, then offers a thrilling path forward. A harrowing then inspiring read -- Musa OkwongaRigorously researched, accessibly written and illuminating... Vince's book makes a persuasive case that we can meet the momentous tasks ahead * Geographical *The UN's International Organisation for Migration predicts as many as 1.5 billion environmental migrants by 2050, with many fleeing drought, flood and wildfire. The coming together of two hot-button issues - the climate crisis and migration - is the basis for Nomad Century (Allen Lane) by Gaia Vince, an essential book on how humanity must adapt as the planet warms and some regions become uninhabitable. The question, she says, is whether the transition will be managed calmly or whether "hunger and conflict will erupt - an unconscionable outcome that would endanger us all" -- Anhana Ahuja, Books of the Year * New Statesman *After a year in which wildfires, storms and floods have driven thousands from their homes, this book's warning about a rising population of climate migrants has a chilling resonance. The survival solutions it offers - such as global freedom of movement - are not entirely persuasive. But the case it makes for fresh thinking is utterly convincing -- Pilita Clark, Books of the Year * Financial Times *The Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, has said that she dreams of sending planes full of migrants to Rwanda. But policymakers are in denial about the number of people who will be forced to move as the impacts of climate change become more profound, argues the scientist Gaia Vince in Nomad Century: How to Survive the Climate Upheaval (John Murray). She calls for us all to step up and manage migration humanely -- Philippa Nuttall, Books of the Year * New Statesman *In the opening chapters of Nomad Century, science writer and broadcaster Gaia Vince paints a stark picture of what the world is likely to look like if global average temperatures rise 4°C above pre-industrial levels. This isn't a distant or unrealistic prospect: climate models suggest we're currently heading towards a 3°C-4°C rise by the end of the century - less than three generations away. In this rigorously researched, accessibly written and illuminating book, Vince examines what these changes will entail and how we should respond, ending with an eight-point 'manifesto' to guide us. While not shying away from the scale of the challenges, she doesn't give in to fatalism or inertia: '[We] are facing a species emergency - but we can manage it -- Books of the Year * Geographical *My first choice is Nomad Century by Gaia Vince, a brilliant and disturbing analysis of how climate change will affect the world's migration patterns. Vince argues that, instead of being afraid, we should embrace these new migratory movements. After all, she says, civilisations have all been built on the backs of migration. It is both a disturbing and a hopeful read -- Baroness Boycott, Book of the Year * Politics Home *Got to be one of the most important books in the world today -- Max Porter, author of SHY

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Book SynopsisThe NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA radically new understanding of and practical approach to climate change by noted environmentalist and creator of Drawdown, Paul Hawken The dangers of climate change and a warming world have been in the public eye for fifty years. For three decades, scientists and the United Nations have urged us to address future existential threats. In Regeneration Paul Hawken has flipped the narrative, bringing people back into the conversation by demonstrating that addressing current human needs rather than future threats is the only path to solving the climate crisis.From land to ocean, food to industries - Regeneration proposes an extensive menu of actions that collectively can reverse the overheating and degradation of our planet. The solutions, techniques, and practices range from solar power, electric vehicles, and tree planting to bioregions, azolla fern and forest farms; they are all doa

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Book Synopsis*A Times, Financial Times, Observer and Nature Book of the Year*Spectacular ... this work is planetary in scale' IndependentIt offers real, rich hope' Observer, Books of the YearWe still have time to change the world. From the world''s leading climate activist, this is the essential book for making it happen.Created by Greta Thunberg in partnership with over 100 climate experts working around the globe, with her commentaries throughout and updates for this new paperback edition to reflect the latest research, The Climate Book equips us with knowledge, and gives us hope. Together, it shows, we can do the seemingly impossible. But it has to be us, and it has to be now.Trade ReviewWith The Climate Book, a stunning and essential new work, Greta Thunberg takes her mission to the next level ... [It is] an incredible and moving resource. There are chapters on almost everything you might need to know about ... the book is a curated, portable library of knowledge, full of classics. Everyone will get something different from reading this book ... It is an extraordinary body of work and I can't recommend it highly enough. You feel the passion as well as the intellectual heft of the authors, and that is what is so moving about it. It is time for all of us to rise up -- Rowan Hooper * New Scientist *I would hope it is the kind of book everyone feels they should buy, read and act on: if you've tried to recycle a coffee pod, bought an electric car or started using a reusable water bottle, this book knows the combination of fear, hope and duty that made you do it and has a million more suggestions. It should be a bookcase staple, like Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time or Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens -- Caitlin Moran * The Times *Spectacular ... The scope of this work is planetary in scale. It is a massive undertaking in which Greta Thunberg calls on the best people possible to help her make sense of the rapid trashing of the natural world and the ecosystems life depends on ... Ultimately, this is an unexpectedly uplifting volume, fizzing with the world's best science and analysis, and what we can now do with it -- Harry Cockburn * Independent *This book is superb at explaining the urgency and importance of preventing climate change... its writers weave messages with skill and beauty... this is a campaigning book of course, but much more than that -- Gaia Vince * Guardian *A compelling read... Thunberg has called upon some of the brightest minds in the fight against global warming * Herald *Important and stunningly handsome... this is a superb vademecum -- Steven Poole * Telegraph *Most of us don't know very much about climate science. More than a rallying call, what we need is a crash course. So [Thunberg] has gathered together an anthology of essays from more than a hundred scientists, journalists and activists-a kind of beginner's guide to global warming ... [It] looks fantastic, with beautifully rendered charts and haunting photographs... My copy is dotted with annotated exclamation marks -- Rhys Blakeley * The Times *As brave as it is accomplished and succeeds well beyond any reasonable expectation -- John Gibbons * Business Post *An admirable and monumental effort...[Thunberg] is a truly exceptional figure, fluent way beyond her years in grasping and communicating the complexity and connectedness of these crises * Irish Times *A valuable resource for anyone who wants an ironclad summary of the problems, combined with some credible remedies -- Dorian Lynskey * Observer *A compendious introduction to climate change's impacts and solutions by more than 100 writers, activists, and academics. Together, they break down the sometimes overwhelming complexity of climate change into manageable chunks -- Ben Cooke * The Times Books of the Year *I'll be giving Greta Thunberg's The Climate Book to everyone: for the way it urges us to refuse to acquiesce in the destruction of the living world. It offers real, rich hope: but only if that hope is active -- Katherine Rundell * Observer Books of the Year *Impressive... the cumulative impact on my understanding of the [climate] crisis through its data, cross-cultural reflections, and paths for step-by-step change became mesmerizing -- Barbara J. King * NPR *

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Book SynopsisThe definitive history of the modern climate change era, from an award-winning writer who has been at the centre of the fight for more than thirty yearsIn 1979, President Jimmy Carter was presented with the findings of scientists who had been investigating whether human activities might change the climate in harmful ways. A wait-and-see policy may mean waiting until it is too late, their report said. They were right -- but no one was listening. Four decades later, we are haunted by the consequences of this inattention, and the years of complacency, obfuscation and denialism that followed. Today, the staggering scale and scope of what we have done to the planet is impossible to ignore: the seasons of fire and flood have crossed into plain view. Fire and Flood is a comprehensive, compulsively readable history of climate change from veteran environmental journalist Eugene Linden. Linden retells the story of the modern climate change era decade by decade, Trade ReviewFascinating ... This will be a telling story for a long time to come (assuming we're around to hear it) -- Bill McKibbenUrgent, meticulous ... Linden pulls no punches * Publishers Weekly *Praise for The Winds of Change * - *Beautifully written ... a very thought-provoking volume. Linden manages to weave history, science, and narrative together in a compelling way * Science *Impressive ... Linden takes a penetrating historical view * The New York Times *Fascinating * NPR *Invaluable * Washington Post *Linden expertly and succinctly describes the natural cycles that control climate and the many ways they interact * Nature *Should be required reading for policy makers across the globe -- Doug Macdougall * Chronicle of Higher Education *Fascinating-a tour de force. Linden has accumulated a greater comprehension of paleo-climatic and oceanographic issues than all but a very few scientists. I have nothing but admiration for this book -- George Woodwell, founder of the Woodwell Climate Center and former president of the Ecological Society of AmericaIn-depth, expertly researched, eminently readable ... Linden combines analysis with solutions as to where humanity should and may go, and those solutions should surprise, enrage, and enlighten readers... Fire and Flood should be on every person's bookshelf -- Laure Hiatt * Library Journal *A hard-hitting study of contemporary climate change, exploring how science, business and public perception have become dangerously misaligned ... Linden cuts through the thickets of information to deftly guide the reader towards knowledge that is urgently required in this troubling age * BBC History *Refreshing... Eugene Linden tells a sorry story of good intentions backed by serious research * The Energy Mix *Linden's aim is true and, even if he doesn't name names, his analysis of the financial industry's role in the climate crisis is fresh... Fire and Flood stays on the shelf * Literary Review *

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Book SynopsisYoung Abikanile and all of the villagers of Yao feel safe hidden deep within the African jungle. But word has come that the slavers are on their way! Abikanile looks to her mother and her grandmother for strength and guidance. These two brave women come up with a plan to fool the slavers and protect their tribe. But as the villagers retreat into the forest, Abikanile finds that she too has the courage to help her people stay safe and free.

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Book SynopsisOne of the great works of American exploration literature, this account of a scientific expedition forced to survive famine, attacks, mutiny, and some of the most dangerous rapids known to man remains as fresh and exciting today as it was in 1874.The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons, recently ranked number four on Adventure magazine’s list of top 100 classics, is legendary pioneer John Wesley Powell’s first-person account of his crew’s unprecedented odyssey along the Green and Colorado Rivers and through the Grand Canyon. A bold foray into the heart of the American West’s final frontier, the expedition was achieved without benefit of modern river-running equipment, supplies, or a firm sense of the region’s perilous topography and the attitudes of the native inhabitants towards whites.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-sp

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Book SynopsisAs war clouds darkened over Europe in 1914, a party led by Shackleton set out to make the first crossing of the entire Antarctic continent via the Pole. But their initial optimism was short-lived as ice floes closed around their ship, gradually crushing it and marooning 28 men on the polar ice. Alone in the world's most unforgiving environment, Shackleton and his team began a brutal quest for survival. And as the story of their journey across treacherous seas and a wilderness of glaciers and snow fields unfolds, the scale of their courage and heroism becomes movingly clear.Table of ContentsSouth: The Endurance ExpeditionIntroduction by Fergus FlemingPrefaceI. Into the Weddell SeaII. New LandIII. Winter MonthsIV. Loss of the EnduranceV. Ocean CampVI. The March BetweenVII. Patience CampVIII. Escape from the IceIX. The Boat JourneyX. Across South GeorgiaXI. The RescueXII. Elephant IslandXIII. The Ross Sea PartyXIV. Wintering in McMurdo SoundXV. Laying the DepotsXVI. The Aurora's DriftXVII. The Last ReliefXVIII. The Final PhaseAPPENDIX IScientific WorkSea-Ice NomenclatureMeteorologyPhysicsSouth Atlantic Whales and WhalingAPPENDIX IIThe Expedition Huts at McMurdo SoundIndex

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Book SynopsisNature has been Robert Bateman's inspiration ever since he began painting birds from his bedroom window as a young boy. The wildlife he features in his paintings are expressions of his love and respect for the natural world. A passionate environmentalist who has devoted his life to documenting the awesome power of nature, Bateman is deeply worried about the state of our planet and the fate of our natural heritage. Whenever he talks about his paintings, he talks about the environmental messages they convey, and those who have heard him speak have clamoured for a book that encapsulates his philosophy. Thinking Like a Mountain is the result of many years of thinking, talking and writing about the world's growing environmental crisis. Beautifully designed and illustrated with original drawings, it is a gathering of questions, observations and ideas Robert Bateman has drawn from his own life experiences and gleaned from the writings of some of the visionaries who have infl

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Book Synopsis

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