Books I read in 2009

A list of the 18 books read by me during 2009.

Darwin's Sacred Cause
by Adrian Desmond & James Moore
How Charles Darwin's abhorrence of slavery influenced his science.

Darwin's Island
by Steve Jones
A modern-day updating of Darwin's less well-known books.

Coda
by Simon Gray
Final, posthumous volume of playwright Simon Gray's wonderful series of diaries.

Granta 104: Fathers
by Alex Clark (ed.)
Themed on dads.

The Emigrants
by W.G. Sebald
File under Sebaldian.

The Age of Wonder
by Richard Holmes
Science between the Banks and Darwin voyages.

The Rough Guide to Evolution
by Mark Pallen
A handy guide to all things evolutionary.

Dry Store Room No.1
by Richard Fortey
The personalities and politics behinds the scenes at the Natural History Museum.

Notes From Walnut Tree Farm
by Roger Deakin
The jottings of a great observer of nature's minutiae.

Darwin in Cambridge
by John van Wyhe
A useful booklet about Darwin's Cambridge connections.

Vertigo
by W.G. Sebald
File under Sebaldian.

Campo Santo
by W.G. Sebald
File under Sebaldian.

Leviathan
by Philip Hoare
A wonderful history of man's relationship with the whale.

Granta 105: Lost and Found
by Alex Clark (ed.)
Another eclectic mix..

The Greatest Show on Earth
by Richard Dawkins
Dawkins returns to what he's best at.

The Running Sky
by Tim Dee
A perfect blend of science and poetry.

Granta 106: New Fiction Special
by Alex Clark (ed.)
Yawn!

True North
by Martin Wainwright
The Guardian's Nothern Editor explains why things aren't quite so grim up north.