Natural History Books

Book SynopsisMichael Symmons Roberts (Author) Michael Symmons Roberts was born in Preston, Lancashire in 1963. He has published eight collections of poetry and received a number of accolades including the Forward Prize, the Costa Poetry Award and the Whitbread Poetry Prize. His Selected Poems was published in 2016. As a librettist, his work has been performed in concert halls and opera houses around the world, and he is an award-winning broadcaster and dramatist. He is Professor of Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, his Quartet for the End of Time: On Music, Grief and Birdsong was published in 2025.Paul Farley (Author) Paul Farley is the author of four collections of poetry and has won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, the Whitbread Poetry Award and the E.M. Forster Award. He broadcasts regularly on radio and presents The Echo Chamber on Radio 4. Edgelands, co-written with Michael Symmons Roberts, received the Royal Society of Literature's Jerwood Award and the 2011 Foyles Best Book of Ideas Award and was serialised as Radio 4 Book of the Week.Trade ReviewThis book is a delight: witty and wryly contrarian -- Robert MacFarlane * Guardian *A masterpiece of its kind... Even more uplifting is the chapter on weather - truly one of the most extraordinary passages of prose I have read in some time... This is, quite simply, beautiful, but it is also typical of a beautifully conceived work of exploration, by two emissaries to the wilderness who do the wasteland proud -- John Burnside * The Times *Marvellously quirky, fascinatingly detailed and beautifully written * Daily Telegraph *The edgelands, where the veneer of civilisation peels away, are the most despised and ignored of landscapes. Ambition turns to dust in the sewage farm and landfill site. But Farley and Roberts's mischievous and elegant forays into these marginal wastes, show that dust turns back to life in them - into riotous ecologies, agitprop architecture and the wonderful business of playing. A provocative, left-field read -- Richard MabeyHaunting, often inspiring book...Edgelands covers an impressive range of politics, reminiscence, investigation and rumination * Scotland on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisThe village of Mark on the Somerset Levels is a watery wonderland, rich in wildlife: rooks and roe deer; sparrows and snowdrops; buzzards, badgers and butterflies; the iconic brown hare and the spectacular hummingbird hawk-moth. This title is both the story of a small corner of the West Country and a celebration of the natural world.Trade ReviewDelightful, soothing and informative * Daily Mail *An enchanting book, Wild Hares and Hummingbirds is a combination of celebration for what is and regret for what is passing. It is elegiac * Daily Express *An enchanting month-by-month guide to "the natural history of an English village". As richly evocative of January as of June, Moss captures the flora and the fauna of his Somerset home with a grace and charm to warm the coldest winter night * Independent *[A] charmingly produced book…readers are in the hands of an expert -- Steven Barfiel * The Lady *This engaging account…should spark interest in country-dwellers and provide a transporting read for townies. In his placid style, Moss is profoundly informative -- Christopher Hirst * Independent *

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Book Synopsis**SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**One man''s quest to save the bumblebee...Dave Goulson has always been obsessed with wildlife, from his childhood menagerie of exotic pets and dabbling in experimental taxidermy to his groundbreaking research into the mysterious ways of the bumblebee and his mission to protect our rarest bees.Once commonly found in the marshes of Kent, the short-haired bumblebee is now extinct in the UK, but still exists in the wilds of New Zealand, descended from a few queen bees shipped over in the nineteenth century.A Sting in the Tale tells the story of Goulson''s passionate drive to reintroduce it to its native land and contains groundbreaking research into these curious creatures, history''s relationship with the bumblebee, the disastrous effects intensive farming has had on our bee populations and the potential dangers if we are to continue down this path.Trade Review[Goulson’s] book is not only enormously informative, but also hugely entertaining: its light touch and constant humour make cutting-edge research a pleasure to read about… For anyone interested in the natural world, this is essential reading. -- Michael McCarthy * Independent *Goulson reminds himself that he ‘began studying bumblebees not because they are important pollinators but because they are fascinating, because they behave in interesting and mysterious ways, and because they are rather loveable.’ It’s worth reading A Sting in the Tale for the same reasons. -- Hannah Rosefield * Literary Review *A worthy book of the year. -- Mary Beard * Observer *Goulson has plenty of wondrous biological stories to tell, as well as the tale of his own struggle to return the short-haired bumblebee to Britain. -- Patrick Barkham * Guardian *This isn’t one of those natural science books that simply tells you things – it admits how much we don’t know. -- Mark Mason * Spectator *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThrilling dispatches from a vanishing world... A powerful - and entertaining - corrective to the idea that the only hopes that matter on this planet are those of our own species. -- Tim Adams * Observer *Vesper Flights is a book of ideas and urgent, beautiful writing... [Macdonald] is a writer whose every word is to be cherished. -- Tom Lathan * Spectator *Helen Macdonald is one of the best nature writers now working. -- Simon Ings * Telegraph *Books of the Year* *Nature writing at its best... All kinds of wondrous... Each and every essay reminded me what a gifted writer Macdonald is. Her prose is poetry but it also has a drenching kind of a clarity. And this is good because we shouldn't allow ourselves to be lulled by the sheer pleasure of reading her. For these are urgent pieces designed to open our eyes. -- Caroline Sanderson * Bookseller *Book of the Month* *An antidote to so much romantic, reductive writing about the natural world... Macdonald's writing teems with other voices and perspectives, with her own challenges to herself. It muddies any facile ideas about nature and the human, and prods at how we pleat our prejudices, politics and desires into our notions of the animal world... Hers is a gritty, companionable intimacy with the wild... The essays...are short, varied and highly edible. -- Parul Sehgal * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisFrom ash die-back to the Great Storm of 1987 to Dutch elm disease, our much-loved woodlands seem to be under constant threat from a procession of natural challenges. Just when we need trees most, to help combat global warming and to provide places of retreat for us and our wildlife, they seem at greatest peril. But these dangers force us to reconsider the narrative we construct about trees and the roles we press on them.In this now classic book, Richard Mabey looks at how, for more than a thousand years, we have appropriated and humanised trees, turning them into arboreal pets, status symbols, expressions of fashionable beauty - anything rather than allow them lives of their own. And in the poetic and provocative style he has made his signature, Mabey argues that respecting trees'' independence and ancient powers of survival may be the wisest response to their current crises. Originally published with the title Beechcombings, this updated edition includes aTrade ReviewWonderfully subversive, far-reaching and unsentimental * Observer *Richard Mabey is a man for all seasons, most regions and every kind of landscape -- Andrew Motion * Financial Times *An elegant and heartfelt essay on mankind's changing relationship with trees * Sunday Telegraph *A leaf-storm of philosophical musings, journeys of mind and body, reflections and anecdotes that imprint the tree on human culture * Sunday Times *A terrific combination of both natural and intellectual history, informed by penetrating insight * Independent *

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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 SynopsisThe richness and variety of birdsong is both a scientific mystery and a source of wonder. David Rothenberg has a unique approach to this fascinating subject, combining the latest scientific research with a deep understanding of musical beauty and form. Can the standard explanations of territoriality or sexual selection account for so many species'' astonishing inventiveness and devotion to singing? Whether playing the clarinet with the white-crested laughing thrush in Pittsburgh or jamming in the Australian winter breeding grounds of the Albert''s lyrebird, Rothenberg touches the heart and soul of birdsong, offering an intimate look at the most lovely of natural phenomena.

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Book Synopsis*The classic trilogy set in sun-soaked Corfu that inspired ITV''s acclaimed TV series The Durrells*Three classic tales of childhood on an island paradise - My Family and Other Animals, Birds, Beasts and Relatives and The Garden of the Gods by Gerald Durrell - are available in a single edition for the first time in The Corfu Trilogy.Just before the Second World War the Durrell family decamped to the glorious, sun-soaked island of Corfu where the youngest of the four children, ten-year-old Gerald, discovered his passion for animals: toads and tortoises, bats and butterflies, scorpions and octopuses. Through glorious silver-green olive groves and across brilliant-white beaches Gerry pursued his obsession . . . causing hilarity and mayhem in his ever-tolerant family.''A delightful book full of simple, well-known things: cicadas in the olive groves, lamp fishing at night, the complexities of fish and animals - but, above all, childhood moulded by these things'' New York Times

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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 SynopsisIn The Secret Life of Birds, lifelong bird enthusiast Colin Tudge explores the extraordinary variety, secret history and hidden importance of birds around the world. Birds are beautiful, intriguing and life-enhancing. They can do everything mammals can, and even more besides. Collected here are birds who navigate using the stars, tool-making crows, territorial robins, cooperative penguins and swans who mate for life - among hundreds of others. Revealing everything from why birds sing to how they fly, think, bond and survive, from how they evolved (and whether it really is from dinosaurs) to why, in so many ways, they are very much like us, this rich, evocative book will make you love and admire the birds that are all around you. ''Enjoyable ... entertaining ... masterful''  Stephen Moss, Guardian ''Simply fizzing with ideas ... his heart is with the birds''   Literary Review ''Inspired ... Tudge''s writing is always clear and frequently embellished with wry humour''   Richard Fortey, Sunday Telegraph ''Only when we read this scintillating study do we see how little we''ve known about the creatures we see around us''   Michael Kerrigan, Scotsman Books of the Year ''An author whose own deep relish for the extraordinary lives of birds seems only marginally less pleasurable to him than sharing that wonder with others''   BBC Wildlife Magazine When Colin Tudge was a small boy, he could recognize only five kinds of birds. After studying zoology at Cambridge, Colin wrote for the New Scientist and was a documentary maker for BBC radio. His other books, also published by Penguin, include The Secret Life of Trees and So Shall We Reap: What''s Gone Wrong with the World''s Food - and How to Fix It.

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Book SynopsisPaul Davies'' The Eerie Silence: Searching For Ourselves in the Universe is an engaging and lucid guide to the ''Fermi Paradox'' - why isn''t the universe teeming with alien life? If aliens ever contact us, it will be the single most significant event in human history. And Paul Davies will be responsible for saying something back. For fifty years the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence has been scanning the skies. Now Davies, head of SETI''s Post-Detection Task Group, with ''a rare talent for making physics mind-bogglingly vivid and exciting'' (Times Higher Education), explores what the mysterious silence it has encountered could mean. Here he looks at exciting new ways to make contact with extra-terrestrial life. He considers what form advanced alien intelligence is likely to take if it exists. And more importantly, what exactly it would mean if it didn''t - how extraordinary it would be if we were alone, to be human and here inTrade ReviewIn an area more given to fabulation than fact, [Paul Davies'] level-headedness is positively refreshing. If you ever start worrying about why no one is talking to us, this is the book to calm you down -- David Papineau * Observer *Davies is the most engaging of writers -- Clive Cookson * FT *An immensely readable investigation of the SETI enterprise -- Michael Hanlon * New Scientist *A magnificent cosmic tour d'horizon of what we know, and what we might yet encounter out there, in the apparent emptiness of deep space -- Christoper Hart * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisWhat would dogs ask for, if they knew how? In the Sunday Times bestseller In Defence of Dogs John Bradshaw, an anthropologist at Bristol University who has been at the centre of the latest research into what makes dogs tick, gives us the answers.Overturning the most common myths about dogs'' emotions and behaviour, this book shows how we should really treat our pets, and stands up for dogdom: not the wolf in canine clothes, not the small furry child, not the trophy-winner, but the real dog, who wants to be part of the family and enjoy life - mankind''s closest friend. This is the real science that every dog lover needs to know.Trade ReviewA revelation - a major rethink about the way we understand our dogs ... there is no doubt about it - Professor John Bradshaw is a dog's best friend -- Kate Kellaway * Observer *Every dog lover, dog owner or prospective dog buyer should read this book. It will change how you feel about dogs and, likely enough, how you treat them, too -- James McConnachie * Sunday Times *A must-read for dog lovers everywhere * Independent *Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the complicated psychology behind the growl, the rising hackles and the wagging tail -- Roy Hattersley * Daily Telegraph *Scholarly yet passionate ... nothing less than a manifesto for a new understanding of our canine friends ... fascinating -- Chris Cox * Guardian *A lovely and clear-headed book on all things dog-emotion, mind, and breed. John Bradshaw's authority and experience are matched by the thoughtfulness and humanity of his writing. Read this before you bring a dog into your life. -- Alexandra Horowitz * author of 'Inside of a Dog' *[A] wonderful, reassuring, and encouraging book ... distinguishes canine science from canine folklore -- Jonathan Mirsky * Literary Review *Truly fascinating ... rich in ideas and counter-ideas, and will reward anyone who respects animals ... enlightening ... Bradshaw's years of knowledge and his clear passion for dogs both shine through * The Sunday Business Post *Authoritative, wise and, in its sharp appreciation of the cost of dogs of living with us, rather moving -- Robert Hanks * Independent *The most fantastic book ... required reading for dog lovers everywhere * Observer *A well-grounded overview of the Canis family's evolutionary journey...this is what makes the book so appealing. He does more than simply lay out interesting theories; he uses science to advocate for a better life for companion dogs. * The Bark *A wonderfully informative, quietly passionate book that will benefit every dog whose owner reads it * Economist *Wonderfully humane, calmly-written and curiously moving ... [a] lovely book, illuminating for everyone who has or is thinking of having a dog -- Michael Bywater * The First Post *By giving the reader an overview of mankind's relationship with both dogs and wolves, [Bradshaw] also shows us ourselves -- Bella Bathurst * Observer *One may feel fully confident when reading [this] ... Bradshaw makes deft work of summarising important and novel insights on dog evolution * Times Higher Education *An alternative to conventional, dominance-based approaches to understanding dogs (Cesar Millan's methods, for example) in an informative...guide to how canine biology and psychology determine behavior.... Bradshaw's book is useful to those looking to further their understanding of dog behavior and clarify common misconceptions * Publisher's Weekly *Both an interesting armchair read and an important primer for any dog owner * Science Focus *In Defence of Dogs provides an extensive insight into the minds of man's best friend - a must for all owners. John Bradshaw [is] a pioneer * Big Issue *

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Book SynopsisFollowing Atticus is Tom Ryan''s moving true story, of a man and his remarkable dog.Tom Ryan is a middle-aged, overweight, no-nonsense newspaper editor. But when Atticus M. Finch, a Miniature Schnauzer, arrives, he is forced to question everything about his life. Wanting to raise money in memory of a friend who died of cancer, Tom decides that they will both climb 48 of New Hampshire''s mountains during a single winter - twice.What awaits the pair is the adventure of a lifetime. In an enchanting but dangerous winter wonderland, they face raging blizzards, frostbite and storms. It is a rare test of endurance that soon becomes a soul-searching journey. And then, within a month of returning home, tragedy strikes. Atticus goes blind, and the blood tests suggest something even worse. Now facing an even greater challenge, Tom and Atticus undertake a journey through darkness and into light. For anyone that loved Marley and Me, Following Atticus by Tom Ryan is a heartwarming story of friendship, selflessness, redemption -- and above all, love.Tom Ryan worked as an editor until 2007, when he decided to sell his newspaper move to the White Mountains of New Hampshire. He started climbing in memory of a friend who died of cancer, and in the last five years has climbed an incredible four hundred and fifty 4,000-foot peaks.

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Book SynopsisBoth heartwarming and meditative, The Cat Inside explores not only the personal relationship between Burroughs and cats, but the deeper relationship of cats with mankind, which Burroughs traces back to the Egyptians. This book of moving and witty discourse is for both Burroughs fans and cat lovers alike.

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Book SynopsisArthur Koestler''s extraordinary history of humanity''s changing vision of the universeIn this masterly synthesis, Arthur Koestler cuts through the sterile distinction between ''sciences'' and ''humanities'' to bring to life the whole history of cosmology from the Babylonians to Newton. He shows how the tragic split between science and religion arose and how, in particular, the modern world-view replaced the medieval world-view in the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. He also provides vivid and judicious pen-portraits of a string of great scientists and makes clear the role that political bias and unconscious prejudice played in their creativity.Trade ReviewThe Sleepwalkers is a valuable and provocative book . . . a work with a noble aim * Sunday Times *The greatest part of this massive work is a close and valuable study of Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Kepler, and Galileo . . . He writes tensely, with passion, as though personally involved, about events that took place more than 300 years ago * The Times *

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Book SynopsisAn exuberant tale of craftsmanship for nature lovers and rugged outdoor types everywhereRobert Penn cut down an ash tree to see how many things could be made from it. After all, ash is the tree we have made the greatest and most varied use of over the course of human history. Journeying from Wales across Europe and Ireland to the USA, Robert finds that the ancient skills and knowledge of the properties of ash, developed over millennia making wheels and arrows, furniture and baseball bats, are far from dead. The book chronicles how the urge to understand and appreciate trees still runs through us all like grain through wood.Trade ReviewThere is no greater debt than that which mankind owes to trees, and Robert Penn proves this brilliantly - a highly readable account of the multitude of uses one single ash tree can provide -- Lars Mytting, author of 'Norwegian Wood'Beautifully crafted, [The Man Who Made Things Out of Trees ranges] freely over intellectual territory - masculinity, nostalgia, identity . . . Fascinating . . . Never have the benefits of getting your chopper out appeared more obvious -- Robert Crampton, Books of the Year * The Times *The appeal of Robert Penn's enchanting narrative extends far beyond tree enthusiasts, woodworkers and fanatic loggers like me. It is a book-lover's feast. Penn's wonderful prose and compelling research put The Man who Made Things out of Trees right up there in the league with such classics as John McPhee's The Survival of the Bark Canoe -- Rinker Buck, New York Times bestselling author of 'The Oregon Trail'This book is bound for great things -- Sophie Morris * Independent *Penn is a fine writer, and the mix of research, reportage and personal reflection is persuasive . . . A lovely book -- Ed Cumming * Observer *[An] extended tribute to the beauty and usefulness of the ash tree... A homage to vanishing skills that were once integral to the functioning of rural Britain -- Tom Fort * Literary Review *A beautifully figured and multicolored ode to our love affair with the invaluable Ash tree. I swooned. Penn's paean to the many uses of the Ash is so well-wrought that I am compelled to take up hurling -- Nick OffermanThere's a bit of a wood theme this year, in fact, with ... Robert Penn's The Man Who Made Things Out of Trees. One can't help but wonder if all these books encouraging self-reliance and back-to-nature are signs of impending apocalypse -- Ian Sansom, 'Books of the Year' * Guardian *A eulogy to the importance of ash throughout human history . . . Fascinating -- Tobias Jones * Guardian *I was completely smitten . . . [A] delightful, page-turning love letter to an often-overlooked material -- Grant Gibson * Craft Magazine *Often wry and always interesting . . . A passionate love letter to the ash tree -- Harry Wallop * Daily Telegraph *A delight to read . . . Penn's writing is poetic . . . [The Man Who Made Things Out of Trees] speaks to the quality of the human experience, of craftwork and making things by hand, of appreciating resourcefulness and natural beauty -- Nathalie Spencer * RSA *This book is a great pleasure to read . . . I defy anyone to read this and not want their own collection of natural and unique objects to connect our daily lives back to the natural woodland which once covered the country * Royal Geographical Society *

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Book Synopsis''Amazing'' GuardianFrom the on-screen experts for BBC2''s Cat Watch, and based on their groundbreaking research - this is the ultimate guide to making your cat a happier, more sociable animal.The idea of a trained cat is a contradiction in terms, isn''t it? Naturally solitary, wary, easily threatened by newcomers, they are attached to place rather than people, and much of their ''antisocial'' behaviour arises in situations where that attachment is threatened. But, as cat experts Sarah Ellis and John Bradshaw argue, such stress-induced behaviour can be prevented, reduced, even eliminated, by training.A comprehensive and engaging step-by-step guide, The Trainable Cat will help you to help your cat negotiate the complexities of everyday life: to enjoy living with humans - including new babies and lively toddlers - and other pets; to answer to their name; settle into a new home; and to overcome the anxiety of a visit to the vet. YTrade ReviewI doubt you'll find a more well-informed or scientific book on cats that better shows you how feline thinking works -- Carol Midgley * The Times *Most people think that cats cannot be trained, but experts John Bradshaw and Sarah Ellis beg to differ ... They explain how even the grumpiest of cats can learn to enjoy being groomed * Lady *In addition to improving the cat's welfare, the training enhances the relationship between owner and animal ... It's amazing what a few treats and perseverance can do... Though the training book is now rather dog-eared, the cat has left it mercifully unchewed * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER''Affectionate, evocative, illuminating. A story of survival - of a flock, a landscape and a disappearing way of life. I love this book'' Nigel Slater''Triumphant, a pastoral for the 21st century'' Helen Davies, Sunday Times, Books of the Year''The nature publishing sensation of the year, unsentimental yet luminous'' Melissa Harrison, The Times, Books of the YearSome people''s lives are entirely their own creations. James Rebanks'' isn''t. The first son of a shepherd, who was the first son of a shepherd himself, he and his family have lived and worked in and around the Lake District for generations. Their way of life is ordered by the seasons and the work they demand, and has been for hundreds of years. A Viking would understand the work they do: sending the sheep to the fells in the summer and making the hay; the autumn fairs where the flocks are replenished; the gruelling toil of winter when the sheep must be kept alive, and the light-headedness that comes with spring, as the lambs are born and the sheep get ready to return to the fells.Trade ReviewTwo pages into The Shepherd's Life, I was gripped. Twenty pages in, I was amazed. By its end, I knew I'd read an extraordinary book, at once political and beautiful - a major addition to the modern British literature of landscape, that can stand alongside Ronald Blythe's classic Akenfield as a portrait of a place and its people as seen from within -- Robert MacfarlaneA very good book -- Alan BennettAffectionate, evocative, illuminating. A story of survival - of a flock, a landscape and a disappearing way of life. I love this book -- Nigel Slater, author of Toast and The Kitchen DiariesBloody marvellous -- Helen Macdonald, author of H is for HawkA powerful - and quietly electrifying - meditation... Page by page, he builds what amounts to a 21st-century pastoral manifesto. The book is an unsentimental education, part history of farming in the Lake District, part personal memoir. And yet it still soars... Rebanks's prose is beautifully sure-footed -- Helen Davies * Sunday Times *A remarkable achievement... Utterly unsentimental, The Shepherd's Life is, nevertheless, profoundly moving... The human values that imbue The Shepherd's Life are, perhaps, ones that Britain, disillusioned and scandal weary, could do with being reminded of right now -- Melissa Harrison * Financial Times *Rebanks's enthusiasm and talent for poetic writing is infectious... [His] words create not only a gorgeous landscape painting of the Lake District and its inhabitants, human, animal, bird and fish, but also a useful social document... What is most striking about this book is its authenticity; this is the real thing -- Carol Midgley * The Times *A wonderfully detailed and candid account of a life that is both individual and typical of this role in rural society... told with perfect pitch, in prose that flows as easily as speech, cleaves hungrily to the particular, and shifts without strain between the workaday and the imaginative -- David Craig * Guardian *Absorbing, often funny, and beautifully written... a testament to the importance of maintaining a connection to the land * Observer *Captivating... A book about continuity and roots and a sense of belonging in an age that's increasingly about mobility and self-invention. Hugely compelling -- Michiko Kakutani * New York Times *Exceptional... Rebanks's way with words is akin to that of that of an expert shearer with the clippers - swift, deft, skilled - and the resulting prose is lean, vivid, tough and handsome. I loved his book. It is one to restore faith in writing and the business of publishing - a story not like any other, told from the inside by someone whose passion for his subject lights up almost every sentence -- Tom Fort * Literary Review *An unforgettable survivor's book that raises important questions, not least about education... one of the most truthful depictions of contemporary rural life that I have read -- Richard Benson * Independent *More than a tribute to a rare and doughty tribe. If hills could speak, this is surely a tale the fells would tell -- Horatio Clare * Telegraph *An enlightening, exquisitely written account... I was beguiled by this book, an eloquent love-letter to a cherished way of life -- Brian Viner * Daily Mail *May well do for sheep what Helen Macdonald did for hawks -- Stephen Moss * Guardian *Punchy, well-read and occasionally lyrical... a glorious book, alive with the author's voice, which is strong and individual, as befits a man who makes a living in this ancient but precarious way. Most striking is its honesty * Herald Scotland *Rebanks offers a fascinating account of his life in farming that is in equal parts memoir, social commentary and procedural. Even for the most committed urbanite, it's a brilliant read -- Alexander Larman * Observer *James Rebanks's unsentimental, sharply detailed memoir about his life as a shepherd gripped me from the first page -- Moira Hodgson * Wall Street Journal *A timely and important book, with flashes of beauty in its spare and honest prose -- Sadie Jones, author of The OutcastIn James Rebanks we hear a new voice from the fells. The toil and the beauty in The Shepherd's Life are utterly compelling -- Nicholas Crane, author of CoastA vivid, honest, unforgettably written account not just of one shepherd's year, but of an ancient way of life -- Lucy Dillon, author of A Hundred Pieces of MeThe Shepherd's Life is a reader's delight. No tourist wandering the iconic Lake District is Rebanks; coming from centuries of farmers he is as 'hefted' to the fells as the Herdwick sheep he keeps. He lives, breathes and works his landscape - which gives him an inside edge as sharp as shears over most of the flock of current countryside-writers. Rebanks has written a marvellous autobiography - of himself, his family, and the hills themselves. For they are indivisible -- John Lewis-Stempel, author of MeadowlandWhat came through was the stolid humility, gentle stubbornness and genuine care you need to live this life. Many books are written about a thing but this book is of a thing and is valuable for it -- Cynan Jones, author of The DigThe Shepherd's Life is that rare thing, a well-written book about the life of the land by a man who gets his living from the land. It's a paean for a peopled landscape, and a powerful counterblast to the doleful environmentalism that would empty our land of its people -- Philip Walling, author of Counting SheepBeautifully written -- Alan Cumming, actor and author of Not My Father's SonIrreverent, honest, achingly beautiful and totally authentic. Rebanks challenges us to understand what would be lost if no one remembers the seasons of a shepherd's life or the culture of sheep farming. His joy is as contagious as his writing -- Linda Lear, author of Beatrix Potter: The extraordinary life of a Victorian geniusTruly extraordinary... written with a mastery of vivid, concrete detail that makes you gasp * WI Life *A wonderful book which will surely become a Lake District classic. Powerfully written and unflinchingly honest, it provides a vivid insight into the realities of hill farming life -- Angus J L Winchester, Professor of Local & Landscape History, Lancaster UniversityA gorgeous book, unsentimental but exultant, vivid and profound, and a fierce defense of small-scale farming -- Maryn McKenna * National Geographic *A beautifully told tale suffused by a profound sense of belonging and a clear-eyed love of the land and its people. * Sunday Morning Herald *His prose is earthed and conversational; it feels as if you're leaning over a gate, listening to his ruminations. The book exudes tough passion, and a sense of belonging and love that holds you rapt to the very last line * Intelligent Life *

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Book SynopsisAs a new wave of interplanetary exploration unfolds, a talented young planetary scientist charts our centuries-old obsession with Mars.''Beautifully written, emotive - a love letter to a planet'' DERMOT O''LEARY, BBC Radio 2Mars - bewilderingly empty, coated in red dust - is an unlikely place to pin our hopes of finding life elsewhere. And yet, right now multiple spacecraft are circling, sweeping over Terra Sabaea, Syrtis Major, the dunes of Elysium and Mare Sirenum - on the brink, perhaps, of a discovery that would inspire humankind as much as any in our history. With poetic precision and grace, Sarah Stewart Johnson traces the evocative history of our explorations of Mars. She interlaces her personal journey as a scientist with tales of other seekers - from Galileo to William Herschel to Carl Sagan - who have scoured this enigmatic planet for signs of life and transformed it in our understanding from a distant point of light into a compTrade ReviewBeautifully written, emotive - a love letter to a planet -- Dermot O'Leary * BBC Radio 2 *Elegantly written and boundlessly entertaining * Sunday Telegraph *Beguiling * The Times *Johnson's prose swirls with lyrical wonder, as varied and multi-hued as the apricot deserts, butterscotch skies and blue sunsets of Mars -- Anthony Doerr * New York Times Book Review *The inside story of the exploration of Mars. A young woman scientist shows what it is like to be in the thick of exciting and ground-breaking research. -- Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Professor of Astrophysics, University of OxfordExhilarating, informative, always engaging... beautiful in its descriptions -- Andrew Crumey * Literary Review *This elegantly crafted book conveys what it's like to be a young scientist involved in the quest. -- Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal and author of On the Future: Prospects for HumanityA celebration of human curiosity, passion and perseverance. Superb in its storytelling, majestic in its vision, The Sirens of Mars will give readers a new appreciation for the preciousness of life in the cosmos. -- Alan Lightman, author of Einstein's DreamsThe Sirens of Mars provides the prospect of great discovery, and an introduction to a writer of the first rank. -- Edward O. Wilson, University Research Professor Emeritus, Harvard UniversityThere's no better guide to what NASA's various Mars missions have revealed ... A true love letter to geology, on this world and others * Nature *A must-read for fans of our Martian neighbour and humanity's longstanding search for life elsewhere in the Universe * BBC Sky At Night *Mars is an exceptionally inhospitable place. The coldest Antarctic winter, the windiest Everest December - each is as nothing compared with an unremarkable day on the red planet. That is precisely why Mars is such a good place to look for life. If it exists there, Sarah Stewart Johnson writes, "the smallest breath in the deepest night", then the only conclusion is there must be life throughout the universe. This beguiling book is about the search for life on Mars - from those who thought the planet was criss-crossed with canals to those, like the author, who just hope for a microbe or two. * Times (best books of the year) *Brilliantly realised... Full of joy and existential curiosity, the book's images and metaphors take up residence in our minds and burn there, connecting scientific inquiry with deep questions about human existence. In every line Johnson makes us feel the passion for discovery and the desire to connect * The Whiting Award Selection Committee *

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Book SynopsisPete Brown is simultaneously allergic to and obsessed by apples. He has written several books on food and drink, including Man Walks into a Pub, Three Sheets to the Wind, and Hops and Glory. His discriminating palate has led him to be a judge in the Great Taste Awards and the Radio 4 Food and Farming Awards, and a frequent contributor to Radio 4's Food Programme.Trade ReviewWonderful, revelatory ... very moving -- Sheila Dillon, BBC Radio 4An absorbing love letter to the English apple tree...lyrical and joyful * The Times Literary Supplement *His ability to laugh at himself, openness to wonder and willingness to go wherever the search takes him make Brown an engaging writer and The Apple Orchard an entertaining journey * Mail on Sunday *A delightful book * Sunday Times *

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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 SynopsisDavid Christian, creator of Big History (''My favourite course of all time'' Bill Gates), brings us the epic story of the universe and our place in it, from 13.8 billion years ago to the remote future''Nails home the point: Life is a miracle ... A compelling history of everything'' Washington Post ''Spectacular'' Carlo RovelliHow did we get from the Big Bang to today''s staggering complexity, in which seven billion humans are connected into networks powerful enough to transform the planet? And why, in comparison, are our closest primate relatives reduced to near-extinction? Big History creator David Christian gives the answers in a mind-expanding cosmological detective story told on the grandest possible scale. He traces how, during eight key thresholds, the right conditions have allowed new forms of complexity to arise, from stars to galaxies, Earth to homo sapiens, agriculture to fossil fuels. This last mega-innovation gave us an energy bonanza that brought huge benefits to mankind, yet also threatens to shake apart everything we have created.''Rather like the Big Bang, the book is awe-inspiring ... Superb'' The Times''With fascinating ideas on every page and the page-turning energy of a good thriller, this is a landmark work'' Sir Ken Robinson, author of The ElementTrade ReviewIf you read one book this year, make it this one -- Fareed Zakaria, CNNA journey through billions of years that nails home the point: Life is a miracle ... [A] remarkably cogent and compelling history of everything * Washington Post *Rather like the Big Bang, the book is awe-inspiring. The processes it describes are all familiar, but I'd never seen them explained with such clarity and verve ... Superb -- Gerard Degroot * The Times *[Origin Story is] long-haul science with wit and oomph * Nature *Christian tells this story very well, providing, in effect, a short course in modern science. This is a brief history of the universe, and an excellent one * Wall Street Journal *I have long been a fan of David Christian. In Origin Story, he elegantly weaves evidence and insights from many scientific and historical disciplines into a single, accessible historical narrative -- Bill GatesIn Origin Story, David Christian has found a spectacular way to use history to put order in the entire set of our knowledge about the world. This is a wonderful achievement -- Carlo Rovelli * author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and The Order of Time *Origin Story is a majestic distillation of our current understanding of the birth of the universe, of the solar system, of the oceans, of mountains and minerals, of all life on earth and of the driving dynamics of human culture and achievement. All of this in just over 300 pages of captivating prose that weaves together innumerable insights from the sciences, arts and humanities. With fascinating ideas on every page and the page turning energy of a good thriller, this is a landmark work that comes at a time when it has never been more important for humanity to have a clearer, more informed understanding of our place on earth and of the earth's place in the cosmos. A spellbinding synthesis -- Ken Robinson * educator and bestselling author of The Element and You, Your Child and School *A remarkable book that puts us self-important humans in our proper place in the cosmos, yet also explains why the story of human culture and knowledge - what Christian calls collective learning - matters for understanding our present world and shaping its future -- Merry Wiesner-Hanks, President of the World History Association

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Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR''A beautiful and thoughtful exploration of the role of the horse in creating our world'' James Rebanks''Scintillating, exhilarating ... you have never read a book like it ... a new way of considering history'' ObserverThe relationship between horses and humans is an ancient, profound and complex one. For millennia horses provided the strength and speed that humans lacked. How we travelled, farmed and fought was dictated by the needs of this extraordinary animal. And then, suddenly, in the 20th century the links were broken and the millions of horses that shared our existence almost vanished, eking out a marginal existence on race-tracks and pony clubs.Farewell to the Horse is an engaging, brilliantly written and moving discussion of what horses once meant to us. Cities, farmland, entire industries were once shaped as much by the needs of horses as humans. The intervention of hoTrade ReviewA beautiful and thoughtful exploration of the role of the horse in creating our world... lyrical and creative...I very much enjoyed it. Some of the scenes in it will stay with me for a long time to come * James Rebanks *Intellectual and passionate ... Raulff's material is gloriously diverse ... [a] refined and ambitious book * The Sunday Times *It becomes evident within three paragraphs that you have never read a book like it ... his writerly pace is exhilarating -- Kate Kellaway * Observer *Covers ground as rapidly and thrillingly as a Cossack horseman. It lays bare a dizzying network of connections and repeatedly offers unfamiliar approached to old themes * Literary Review *Sex, violence and 6,000 years of horse power... an elegy to the way horses have galloped through our culture' -- Melanie Reid * The Times *This is not the Pony Club Manual or a trot through the more familiar sights of equestrian art history; it's Kafka, Aby Warburg, Tolstoy, psychoanalytic theory, Nietzsche and bleak monochrome photos in the style of Sebald. This epic enterprise is relieved by Raulff's spare, vivid style and deep learning -- Susannah Forrest * Literary Review *A brilliant, entertaining tour-de-force * Die Zeit *Amazing insights sweep through the book - an entrancing history packed with stories * Neue Zürcher Zeitung *Great cultural history * Der Tagesspiegel *Ulrich Raulff is a wonderful storyteller * Südwestrundfunk *A fabulous book -- Uli HufenAn exciting and entertaining ride through various landscapes -- Harry NuttStrange and fascinating . . . A sweeping cultural history, more kaleidoscopic than totale, as bibliographical as it is historical . . . Farewell to the Horse is a whirlwind that seems capable of drawing into its vortex almost anyone who ever thought of a horse. -- Verlyn Klinkenborg * New York Review of Books *A remarkably nimble, creative thinker . . . Raulff's text is somehow dreamy but not sentimental . . . A brilliant examination of our complicated and violently unilateral relationship with Equus caballus . . . Though this book is about horses, it is just as much about thinking as a devotional act. -- C. E. Morgan * New York Times Book Review *

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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''Why can''t a human be more like a cat? That is the question threaded through this vivid patchwork of philosophy, fiction, history and memoir ... a wonderful mixture of flippancy and profundity, astringency and tenderness, wit and lament'' Jane O''Grady, Daily Telegraph''When I play with my cat, how do I know she is not passing time with me rather than I with her?'' MontaigneThere is no real evidence that humans ever ''domesticated'' cats. Rather, it seems that at some point cats saw the potential value to themselves of humans. John Gray''s wonderful new book is an attempt to get to grips with the philosophical and moral issues around the uniquely strange relationship between ourselves and these remarkable animals.Feline Philosophy draws on centuries of philosophy, from Montaigne to Schopenhauer, to explore the complex and intimate links that have defined how we react to and behave with this most unlikely ''pet''.At the heart of the book is a sense of gratitude towards cats as perhaps the species that more than any other - in the essential loneliness of our position in the world - gives us a sense of our own animal nature.Trade ReviewThe intellectual cat's pyjamas ... Gray's is the perfect book for the estranging oddness of the pandemic. -- Tim Adams * The Observer *Why can't a human be more like a cat? That is the question threaded through this vivid patchwork of philosophy, fiction, history and memoir ... Feline Philosophy is a wonderful mixture of flippancy and profundity, astringency and tenderness, wit and lament. -- Jane O'Grady * Daily Telegraph *Engaging, amusing, perceptive and untimely, in the most admirable Nietzschean sense. -- Mark Rowlands * New Statesman *An elegant philosophical study of the good life ... one of the most important thinkers alive ... It's a mark of the book's subtlety that you're not quite sure how seriously to take him. -- James Marriott * The Times *A scratching, spitting, and finally purring tour de force. -- Will Self

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Book SynopsisNAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE ECONOMIST, OBSERVER, NEW SCIENTIST, BBC FOCUS, INDEPENDENT AND WASHINGTON POST ''A rollicking tour of the wildest physics. . . Like an animated discussion with your favourite quirky and brilliant professor'' Leah Crane, New Scientist''Weird science, explained beautifully'' - John ScalziWe know the universe had a beginning. But what happens at the end of the story?With lively wit and wry humour, astrophysicist Katie Mack takes us on a mind-bending tour through each of the cosmos'' possible finales: the Big Crunch, Heat Death, Vacuum Decay, the Big Rip and the Bounce. Guiding us through major concepts in quantum mechanics, cosmology, string theory and much more, she describes how small tweaks to our incomplete understanding of reality can result in starkly different futures. Our universe could collapse in upon itself, or rip itself apart, or even - in the next five minutes - succumb to an inescapable expanding bubble of doom.This captivating story of cosmic escapism examines a mesmerizing yet unfamiliar physics landscape while sharing the excitement a leading astrophysicist feels when thinking about the universe and our place in it. Amid stellar explosions and bouncing universes, Mack shows that even though we puny humans have no chance of changing how it all ends, we can at least begin to understand it.The End of Everything is a wildly fun, surprisingly upbeat ride to the farthest reaches of all that we know.Trade ReviewKatie Mack is a great scientist, a passionate inquirer of nature, a great companion in this exploration, full of wit and lightness. I have learned from her plenty of things I did not know. And I have found myself staring out of the window, meditating about the end of it all -- Carlo Rovelli * Observer Books of the Year *Witty, clear and upbeat -- Bill Clinton * Guardian *An engrossing and often funny tour of all the ways our cosmos might come to a close. Mack's enjoyment of physics stands out - and is contagious. She describes primordial black holes as "awfully cute in a terrifying theoretical kind of way", antimatter as "matter's annihilation-happy evil twin" and the universe as "frickin' weird". All true, and Mack's explanations are entertaining and informative * New Scientist Books of the Year *Mack's humour and eclectic references (from Shakespeare to 'Battlestar Galactica') carry the book along. Even through discussions of cutting-edge science, the general reader is never bewildered * The Economist Books of the Year *An enthusiastic celebration of the fact that we exist at all, here, right now, and are able to wonder about such stuff. . . By introducing concepts such as entropy and heat death with metaphors of unscrambling eggs or your coffee going cold, she takes the reader from the cosmos to the kitchen, and Mack's true skill is to do all this without a whiff of condescension or self-importance. . . while dealing with many of the same mind-bending cosmic conundrums, she succeeds brilliantly where Hawking failed * Sydney Morning Herald *Tremendous... makes me laugh the kind of laugh that puts doom in perspective. How useful! I feel weirdly lulled when I read about all the many ravishing ways the universe might, and will, end -- Johanna Hedva * White Review *In which everything ends, or doesn't, with bangs and whimpers. Like many good serious books, it's also funny -- Sarah BakewellA rollicking tour of the wildest physics. . . Like an animated discussion with your favourite quirky and brilliant professor. What stands out most is Mack's pure enjoyment of physics, and it is contagious. . . If you need a moment to be distracted from everyday life and journey to the deep cosmic future, I highly recommend it -- Leah Crane * New Scientist *Mack is brilliant, and my neighbour's six-year-old daughter loves her. I love her. . . The cosiest way to read The End of Everything, her fast-paced book about universal death, is as a murder mystery. In the middle of the carpet is our butchered universe. How did it die? Squashed ('The Big Crunch')? Boiled ('Heat Death')? Eviscerated ('The Big Rip')? Burst apart from every pore ('Vacuum Decay')? To one side, almost dancing with excitement, is Inspector Mack. . . -- Alexander Masters * The Spectator *One of the most popular voices on science. . . Katie Mack achieves two improbable feats. First, she writes about the end of the universe with a jauntiness that makes it not actually that depressing. And second, she takes concepts in cosmology, string theory and quantum mechanics and makes them accessible -- Tim Lewis * Observer *Exactly the sort of book I would have given to myself at 14, 24, 34 and honestly pretty much every age after. Weird science, explained beautifully -- John ScalziJoyous, beautiful and strange. . . filled with brilliant moments where you just have to stop and stare out of the window for a while -- Robin InceEverything dies, even the universe. But will it be a peaceful fading-away, or a dramatic cataclysm? Scientists don't know for sure, but Katie Mack provides an expert and entertaining guide to the possibilities. Who knew a book about the end of the universe could communicate so much passion for science? -- Sean Carroll, author of Something Deeply HiddenThis book teaches you that the universe could end at any moment, but is so good that you will be rooting for it not to-at least, not until you finish the book. Katie Mack's witty, lucid prose is endlessly delightful -- Alexandra Petri, author of Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is WhyAn engrossing, elegant timeline of the cosmos. . . Mack sprinkles in delightful esoterica along the way, while providing a guide to some of the most plausible scenarios about the end of the universe * New York Times *Mack is a great science communicator and I suspected I was going to like this book as soon as I saw her name. I am pleased to say it does not disappoint * BBC Sky at Night *Mack creates an accessible, easy-to-digest guide to how the universe might end, speaking in a casual way that feels like sitting down for coffee with a good friend - one who can break down the physics of destruction into bite-sized delights * Discover *Excellent, far-reaching... the perfect antidote to the malaise of mundane worries * Science *I found it helpful -- not reassuring, certainly, but mind-expanding -- to be reminded of our place in a vast cosmos. -- James Gleick, The New York Times Book ReviewHaving a great time enjoying The End of Everything. A mind blowing book. I got mine on Kindle as I need to underline particularly mind boggling ideas. Why not join me? -- Eric Idle

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Book Synopsis''Deliciously tactile and meditative . . . to read this is to luxuriate in the land, and to connect to it and oneself'' Bernardine Evaristo What fills my lungs is wider than breath could be. It is a place and a language torn, matted and melded; flowered and chiming with bones. That breath is that place and until I get there I will not really be breathing.Spurred on by her father''s declining health and inspired by the history he once wrote of his small Devon village, Elizabeth-Jane Burnett delves through layers of memory, language and natural history to tell a powerful story of how the land shapes us and speaks to us. The Grassling is a book about roots: what it means to belong when the soil beneath our feet is constantly shifting, when the people and places that nurtured us are slipping away.Trade ReviewBurnett manages the delicate feat of maintaining our sense of reverence for the nebulous Anglo-Saxon romanticism..., but twins it with astute scientific nous which never strays into the esoteric. She does this with such joy that we cannot help but want to join in... a heartening read. * The Quietus *With a blend of poetry, memoir and a uniquely experimental, sensory style of nature writing, The Grassling celebrates the lusciousness of both land and language ... Ideas that might in a lesser writer have seemed whimsical are grounded by the rich layers of Burnett's prose. -- Clare Saxby * TLS *A poetic, lyrical tribute to the earth beneath our feet . . . Burnett is one of the freshest voices in the current crop of nature writers -- Ben Hoare * Countryfile *This astonishingly beautiful ode to the sights, sounds and smells of the countryside . . . [evokes] a richly immersive sense of the natural world and our place within it. * Country Living *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA scientific memoir as gripping as any HBO drama series... Just as she disinters earthy mushrooms and the finest of filaments, so she lays bare the human heart with moving simplicity... It is her gallant mission in the book and in her life - and one essential to combating the climate crisis - to make science more humanly engaged -- Kate Kellaway * Observer *Finding the Mother Tree is the kind of story we need to be telling, a new way of communicating that the world desperately needs to hear... A reminder to listen to our wilder selves, and to remember, with humility, how little we know of the complexities of the natural world -- Tiffany Francis-Baker * Guardian *This book is a testament to Simard's skill as a science communicator. Her research is clearly defined, the steps of her experiments articulated, her astonishing results explained and the implications laid bare: We ignore the complexity of forests at our peril -- Jonathan C. Slaght * The New York Times *A masterwork of planetary significance * Booklist (starred review) *[Simard] is an intellectual force... Simard's results are so revolutionary and controversial that they have quickly worked their way into social theory, urban planning, culture and art... We have a lot of rethinking to do about the economic and political models that, since Darwin, have been taken to be natural -- Kate Brown * Independent *Finding the Mother Tree has come at a crucial moment... With biodiversity on a knife edge, the need to appreciate and understand the complexity and brilliance of the natural world could not be more important -- Rosie Boycott * Financial Times *Vivid and inspiring... a radical new understanding of plants -- Eugenia Bone * Wall Street Journal *Speaking with Simard felt like coming to the headwaters of a vast system of ideas, both innovative and ancient... To read Finding the Mother Tree is to imagine the view from a 250-foot redwood. The recognition that we're all connected is one of the great gifts of the memoir * Los Angeles Times *[Suzanne Simard] forever transformed our views of the world and the interconnectivity of our environment. Finding the Mother Tree is not only a deeply beautiful memoir about one woman's impactful life, it's also a call to action to protect, understand and connect with the natural world -- Amy AdamsA vivid and compelling memoir of [Simard's] lifelong quest to prove that the forest is more than just a collection of trees * The New York Times *Extraordinary * BBC Wildlife Magazine *The moving and remarkable story of one of the greatest ecological discoveries of our time. Writing with humility and passion, Suzanne Simard's unravelling of the secret life of trees is changing the scientific mindset. Finding the Mother Tree is a crucial step towards healing our planet -- Isabella Tree, author of Wilding and The Living GoddessFew scientists make much impact with their PhD thesis, but, in 1997, Suzanne Simard did just that ... What was then a challenge to orthodox ideas is today widely accepted * New Scientist *Finding the Mother Tree is a rare and moving book - part charming memoir, part crash course in forest ecology. And yet, it manages to be about the things that matter most: the ways we care for each other, fail each other and listen to each other. After the last year and a half, its lessons about motherhood, connection and the natural world are more timely than ever -- Jake GyllenhaalFew researchers have had the pop culture impact of Suzanne Simard * Scientific American *The interplay of personal narrative, scientific insights and the amazing revelations about the life of the forest make a compelling story... These are stories that the world needs to hear -- Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding SweetgrassSuzanne Simard has a completely beguiling way of writing. I love how she combines brilliant scientific explanation with emotion and feeling -- Patrick Barkham, author of Wild Child and The Butterfly IslesSuzanne Simard is a total legend - someone who transformed the world in the way of James Lovelock, or Lynn Margulis -- Rowan HooperRevolutionary on both the scientific and the spiritual level. It is so extraordinary that it is, frankly, hard to believe - until you see the data, the science, the rigour, and the many independent affirmations of her findings... Simard is one of [Nature's] most insightful and eloquent translators -- John Vaillant, author of The Tiger

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Book Synopsis''A memorable, oddly beautiful book'' Wall Street Journal''A marvellous glimpse of the Japan that rarely peeks through the country''s public image'' Washington PostOne sunny spring morning in the 1970s, an unlikely Englishman set out on a pilgrimage that would take him across the entire length of Japan. Travelling only along small back roads, Alan Booth travelled on foot from Soya, the country''s northernmost tip, to Sata in the extreme south, traversing three islands and some 2,000 miles of rural Japan. His mission: ''to come to grips with the business of living here,'' after having spent most of his adult life in Tokyo.The Roads to Sata is a wry, witty, inimitable account of that prodigious trek, vividly revealing the reality of life in off-the-tourist-track Japan. Journeying alongside Booth, we encounter the wide variety of people who inhabit the Japanese countryside - from fishermen and soldiers, to bar hostesses and schTrade Review'Illuminating' * Economist *'A memorable, oddly beautiful book' * Wall Street Journal *'A marvellous glimpse of the Japan that rarely peeks through the country's public image' * Washington Post *Fluent in the language, well-informed and disabused, [Booth] is in the fine tradition of hard-to-please travellers like Norman Douglas, Evelyn Waugh, and V.S. Naipaul. A sharp eye and a good memory for detail...give an astonishing immediacy to his account. * The Times Literary Supplement *[Booth] achieved an extraordinary understanding of life as it is lived by ordinary Japanese....Frequently brilliant in his insights * The New York Times *'One of the classic Japan travel books of the modern age ... a vivid but witty portrayal of rural Japan in the seventies, and the quirky characters who populated it' * Japan Times *Booth vividly evokes his 2,000-mile, 128-day journey on foot from Japan's northernmost point, Cape Soya in Hokkaido, to Cape Sata in the south. As he recounts his misadventures on this epic trek, he engagingly reveals the realities of off-the-tourist-track Japan. * National Geographic *

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Book Synopsis“Kurlansky finds the world in a grain of salt.” - New York Times Book ReviewAn unlikely world history from the bestselling author of Cod and The Basque History of the WorldBest-selling author Mark Kurlansky turns his attention to a common household item with a long and intriguing history: salt. The only rock we eat, salt has shaped civilization from the very beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of humankind. A substance so valuable it served as currency, salt has influenced the establishment of trade routes and cities, provoked and financed wars, secured empires, and inspired revolutions.  Populated by colorful characters and filled with an unending series of fascinating details, Salt is a supremely entertaining, multi-layered masterpiece.

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Book SynopsisHow can you enter a pet show when your pet runs away? That's the question Archie faces when he can't find his cat to enter in the neighborhood pet show. Fortunately, he does some fast thinking to win a prize in this beloved classic from award-winning author-illustrator Ezra Jack Keats.

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Book SynopsisWhen she hurts her paw on the fourth day of the race, Akiak can no longer compete in the Iditarod—the famed dogsledding race through 1,151 miles of Alaskan terrain. Her musher has no choice but to leave her behind. The rules say once a dog is dropped from the race, it may not rejoin the team. But ten-year-old lead dog Akiak doesn't know the rules, and nothing will stop her from catching up to her team. Akiak has never won the race before. Will she be able to help her team win this time?

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Book SynopsisThe perfect books for the true book lover, Penguin's Great Ideas series features twelve more groundbreaking works by some of history's most prodigious thinkers. Each volume is beautifully packaged with a unique type-driven design that highlights the bookmaker's art. Offering great literature in great packages at great prices, this series is ideal for those readers who want to explore and savor the Great Ideas that have shaped our world.Thoreau's account of his solitary and self-sufficient home in the New England woods remains an inspiration to the environmental movement—a call to his fellow men to abandon their striving, materialistic existences of 'quiet desperation' for a simple life within their means, finding spiritual truth through awareness of the sheer beauty of their surroundings.

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Book SynopsisA timeless and majestic portrait of Africa by renowned writer Peter Matthiessen (1927-2014), author of the National Book Award-winning The Snow Leopard and the new novel In Paradise A finalist for the National Book Award when it was released in 1972, this vivid portrait of East Africa remains as fresh and revelatory now as on the day it was first published. Peter Matthiessen exquisitely combines nature and travel writing to portray the sights, scenes, and people he observed firsthand in several trips over the course of a dozen years. From the daily lives of wild herdsmen and the drama of predator kills to the field biologists investigating wild creatures and the anthropologists seeking humanity''s origins in the rift valley, The Tree Where Man Was Born is a classic of journalistic observation. This Penguin Classics edition features an introduction by groundbreaking British primatologist Jane Goodall.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 series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

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Book SynopsisThe author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Forest Unseen visits with nature's most magnificent networkers - trees

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Book SynopsisFrom the author of The Old Ways and Underland, an eloquent (and compulsively readable) reminder that, though we're laying waste the world, nature still holds sway over much of the earth's surface. --Bill McKibben Winner of the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature and a finalist for the Orion Book AwardAre there any genuinely wild places left in Britain and Ireland? That is the question that Robert Macfarlane poses to himself as he embarks on a series of breathtaking journeys through some of the archipelago's most remarkable landscapes. He climbs, walks, and swims by day and spends his nights sleeping on cliff-tops and in ancient meadows and wildwoods. With elegance and passion he entwines history, memory, and landscape in a bewitching evocation of wildness and its vital importance.

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Book Synopsis“A necessary book for anyone truly interested in what we take from the sea to eat, and how, and why.” —Sam Sifton, The New York Times Book ReviewAcclaimed author of American Catch and The Omega Princple and life-long fisherman, Paul Greenberg takes us on a journey, examining the four fish that dominate our menus: salmon, sea bass, cod, and tuna. Investigating the forces that get fish to our dinner tables, Greenberg reveals our damaged relationship with the ocean and its inhabitants. Just three decades ago, nearly everything we ate from the sea was wild. Today, rampant overfishing and an unprecedented biotech revolution have brought us to a point where wild and farmed fish occupy equal parts of a complex marketplace. Four Fish offers a way for us to move toward a future in which healthy and sustainable seafood is the rule rather than the exception.

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Book SynopsisThis is a fully revised and updated edition of the bestselling feline behaviour bible. Thanks to her regular appearances in the media and at veterinary conferences and humane organizations, most cat owners already recognize Pam Johnson-Bennett as the authority on all things feline.Over the past ten years, the award-winning author has continued to refine her work and techniques. From basic health care to more serious behavioural issues, from training cats to use a scratching post to avoiding litter box problems this newly revised edition of Think Like a Cat covers all of a cat owner''s most pressing concerns-and solidifies its position as the topic leader for years to come.Trade Review"Think like a cat--it's a tall order but sound advice in a fun book full of expertise and compassion, wisdom, and promise of great cat-filled years to come."—Roger A. Caras"An insightful and easy-to-follow tour of the land and language of felines. Even experienced owners will benefit from this book. She's the queen of cat behavior!"—Steve Dale, author of My Pet World"If you have a cat, buy ths book. If you know someone who shares their home with a cat, buy it for them!"—Mark Waldrop, DVM, Nashville Cat Clinic

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Book SynopsisAs dogs take their place as coddled family members and their numbers balloon to over 77 million in the United States alone, it’s no surprise that canine culture is undergoing a massive transformation. Now subject to many of the same questions of rights and ethics as people, the politics of dogs are more tumultuous and public than ever—with fierce moral battles raging over kill shelters, puppy mills, and breed standards. Incorporating interviews and research from scientists, activists, breeders, and trainers, What’s a Dog For? investigates how dogs have reached this exalted status, and why they hold such fascination for us humans.

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Book SynopsisA heartwarming collection of short verse celebrating our beloved pets and the wonder of life  Daniel Ladinsky is the internationally acclaimed poet known for his inspired, contemporary renderings of works by Hafiz, Rumi, St. Francis of Assisi, and poet-saints East and West. Patrick McDonnell is the venerated author, artist, and creator of the beloved MUTTS comic strip. In Darling, I Love You! these two artists have collaborated for the first time to create a delightful, universal collection of sweet, welcome-to-the-moment poems about the essential places animals and wonder hold in our lives and in our hearts, accompanied by line drawings of the illustrious MUTTS characters that readers have come to know and love.“Pet owners will chuckle knowingly about the way the speakers shift between simple observations and deeper statements . . . that remind us why humans need animals as much as they need us.” —The

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Book SynopsisDiscover the astonishing lessons rescue dogs can teach us about life, love, and ourselvesAs seen on BuzzFeed’s Best Books Gift Guide  In the follow-up to his New York Times bestseller Rescue Road, acclaimed journalist Peter Zheutlin offers a heartwarming and often humorous new look into the world of rescue dogs. Sharing lessons from his own experiences adopting Labs with large personalities as well as stories and advice from dozens of families and rescue advocates, Zheutlin reveals the surprising and inspiring life lessons rescue dogs can teach us, such as:   - How to “walk a mile in a dog’s paws” to get a brand-new perspective - Living with a dog is not one continuous Hallmark moment—but it’s never dull! - Why having a dog helps you see your faults and quirks in a new light, even if you can’t “shed” them completely - How to set the world right,

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