A list of the 14 books read by me during 2007.
Granta 96: War Zones
by Ian Jack (ed.)
A collection of writing (loosely) themed around war zones.
Parasite Rex
by Carl Zimmer
The weird and wonderful ways in which parasites make a living.
The Reluctant Mr Darwin
by David Quammen
Handy analysis of Darwin's procrastination over publishing Origin of Species.
The Confusion
by Neal Stephenson
Part two of the historical page-turner, The Baroque Cycle.
Fencing Paradise
by Richard Mabey
A series of essays about man's relationship with plants.
Coral
by Steve Jones
Expositions on assorted scientific subject, using coral as the unifying theme.
Granta 97: Best of Young American Novelists 2
by Ian Jack (ed.)
Granta's latest selection of promising young American writers.
Darwin's Origin of Species: a biography
by Janet Browne
A short biography of one of the most revolutionary books ever written.
HMS Beagle: Survey Ship Extraordinary
by Karl Heinz Marquardt
Meticulously detailed ship's plans of HMS Beagle, for anyone thinking of making a model or replica.
The Flight of the Iguana
by David Quammen
Science, journalistic and autobiographical essays.
Crow Country
by Mark Cocker
A naturalist's pursuit of rooks and jackdaws.
Granta 98: The Deep End
by Ian Jack (ed.)
'People whose experience of life suggests they have something to tell us about survivial.'
The Evolutionists
by J David Hoeveler
How Darwinian thinking influenced other disciplines in the USA.
The Wild Places
by Robert Macfarlane
Author seeks the remaining wild places of Britain and Ireland.