A complete list of all the books reviewed on this website over the years.
- Last Chance to See…
The late Douglas Adams travels the world visiting endangered species. - The Salmon of Doubt: And Other Writings
Literary loose ends by the late hitchhiker, including the start of an unfinished Dirk Gently novel. - ‘How to Read a Book’ by Adler & van Doren
The classic guide to intelligent reading. - ‘How to Take Smart Notes’ by Sönke Ahrens
One simple technique to boost writing, learning and thinking: for students, academics and nonfiction book writers. - ‘The Adventures of Sir Thomas Browne in the 21st Century’ by Hugh Aldersey-Williams
Looking at the world through the eyes of a 17th-century polymath. - The War Against Cliché
by Martin Amis. Lit-Crit as is should be writ. I first read this book in 2001. It is an anthology of Martin Amis's Literary Criticism pieces for various publications. I hope Mr Amis never reviews any of my books. He can be pretty scathing at times. But he knows what he's talking about, and he… Continue reading The War Against Cliché - ‘Wanderers’ by Kerri Andrews
A history of women walking. - ‘Speak, Silence’ by Carole Angier
In search of W.G. Sebald. - ‘The Circling Sky’ by Neil Ansell
On nature and belonging in an ancient forest. - ‘Deep Country’ by Neil Ansell
Five years in the Welsh hills. - Deer Island
by Neil Ansell An unexpected memoir. Deer Island was not at all what I expected. Having thoroughly enjoyed Neil Ansell's previous book, Deep Country: five years in the Welsh hills, and seeing his new book's title, I naively assumed that this was going to be more of the same: deeply personal nature writing. As it… Continue reading Deer Island - ‘The Last Wilderness’ by Neil Ansell
A journey into silence. - ‘All Points North’ by Simon Armitage
Humorous memoir from the future Poet Laureate. - Gig: The Life and Times of a Rock-star Fantasist
A writer and poet's obsession with music. - Walking Home
by Simon Armitage Travels with a Troubadour on the Pennine Way. Walking Home is the poet Simon Armitage's account of trying to walk the Pennine Way the wrong way (north to south), performing poetry readings en route to pay his way. As with Armitage's other non-fiction, the book is entertaining, northern and humorous. As ever,… Continue reading Walking Home - ‘The Arvon Book of Literary Non-Fiction’ by Sally Cline & Midge Gillies
Writing about Travel, Nature, Food, Feminism, History, Science, Death, Friendship and Sexuality. - Instead of a Book
by Diana Athill Letters to a Friend I love reading books of letters. The veteran author Diana Athill's letters to her friend the American poet Edward Field were never going to hold quite the same fascination for me as the Correspondence of Charles Darwin, or Philip Larkin's non-PC rantings to his mates, but Instead of… Continue reading Instead of a Book - ‘The Laws of Thermodynamics’ by Peter Atkins
A very short introduction. - ‘Sense and Sensibility’ by Jane Austen
Like Jeeves and Wooster without all the ‘What-ho?!’s. - Fighting for Birds: 25 Years in Nature Conservation
by Mark Avery. An experienced pragmatist describes the minefield that is nature conservation. I downloaded this book to my Kindle after hearing Mark Avery interviewed on episode 94 of Charlie Moores' excellent Talking Naturally podcast. Avery is the outspoken former Conservation Director of the RSPB. He is also a scientist and a pragmatist. Fighting For… Continue reading Fighting for Birds: 25 Years in Nature Conservation - ‘Inglorious’ by Mark Avery
Conflict in the Uplands. - Charles Darwin: The Story of the Amateur Naturalist Who Created a Scientific Revolution and Changed the World
A short, very readable biography of Charles Darwin. - The Peregrine, the Hill of Summer & Diaries: The Complete Works of J.A. Baker
Beatifully observed, poetic nature writing. - Raw Spirit: In Search of the Perfect Dram
Iain (M) Banks gets paid to travel round Scotland drinking malt whisky. - ‘The Journal of a Disappointed Man’ by W.N.P. Barbellion
A deliberately self-inflated masterpiece. - Sir Thomas Browne: a life
by Reid Barbour Biography of a 17th-century polymath. An academic, though entertaining biography of the 17th-century polymath, Sir Thomas Browne. I struggled a bit in places, as, being an academic book, it assumed greater prior knowledge in the reader than I actually had. - Captain Beefheart: the Biography
Stupendous biography of rock music's greatest genius. - How to be a Bad Birdwatcher
by Simon Barnes. Birdwatching, not Birding Simon Barnes's fun book explains how you can enjoy watching birds without the need to become an over-the-top, full-blown birder. It's all about accumulating bird-identification skills by stealth—sometimes by accident—until, without any real concerted effort, you can tell a blue tit from a great tit. After that, the world… Continue reading How to be a Bad Birdwatcher - ‘Illuminations’ by Walter Benjamin
An eclectic collection of high-brow essays. - ‘The Good Bee’ by Alison Benjamin & Brian McCallum
A celebration of bees and how to save them. - ‘Keeping On Keeping On’ by Alan Bennett
Volume three of his popular diaries (and other stuff). As with the previous two volumes in this series, Alan Bennett's diary entries from the last ten years are hugely entertaining, as are the articles that follow them. However, the inclusion of a couple of plays at the end of this thick and enjoyable third volume… Continue reading Book review: ‘Keeping On Keeping On’ by Alan Bennett - Untold Stories
Alan Bennett at his Alan Bennettest. - ‘The History of Life’ by Michael J Benton
A very short introduction. - ‘Bento’s Sketchbook’ by John Berger
A compelling mix of journal, reminiscences, sketches, and art theory. - Understanding a Photograph
by John Berger Essays on photographs, photography and photographers. John Berger thinks a lot about images. I greatly enjoyed his book Bento's Sketchbook, so, when his thoughts on photography were reissued, I couldn't wait to read them. One important point that Berger makes—I paraphrase, no doubt inaccurately—is that, despite what the photographer might want or… Continue reading Understanding a Photograph - Darwin & His Children
by Tim M. Berra His other legacy. I've read literally dozens of books about Charles Darwin. In most of them, his children, if they're mentioned at all, hover in the wings somewhere. Tim Berra's book puts them centre-stage. Each of Charles and Emma Darwin & His Children gets their own chapter. Many people will know… Continue reading Darwin & His Children - ‘Threads’ by Julia Blackburn
The Delicate Life of John Craske. - ‘Time Song’ by Julia Blackburn
Searching for Doggerland - ‘Gone’ by Michael Blencowe
A search for what remains of the world’s extinct creatures. - ‘Aftermath’ by Ronald Blythe
Selected writings, 1960–2010. - Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village
Classic oral history from an amalgam of Suffolk villages. - ‘In the Artist’s Garden’ by Ronald Blythe
Book 9 in the Wormingford series. - ‘The Bookman’s Tale’ by Ronald Blythe
Book 6 in the Wormingford series. - ‘Borderland’ by Ronald Blythe
Book 3 of the Wormingford series. - ‘A Year at Bottengoms Farm’ by Ronald Blythe
Book 4 of the Wormingford series. - ‘A Writer’s Day-Book’ by Ronald Blythe
Essays about books and authors. - Field Work
by Ronald Blythe Essays on literature, art and the countryside. I'm a big fan of Ronald Blythe's gentle writing style. His Wormingford series of diaries, which first appeared in his regular column in The Church Times should be seen as a national treasure. Field Work is a series of essays about the countryside and country… Continue reading Field Work - ‘River Diary’ by Ronald Blythe
Book 5 of the Wormingford series. - ‘Stour Seasons’ by Ronald Blythe
Book 10 in the Wormingford series. - The Time by the Sea
by Ronald Blythe Memoir of artistic friendships in Aldeburgh, 1955–1958. The Time by the Sea is veteran author Ronald Blythe's memoir of the three years he spent in Aldeburgh on the Suffolk coast, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Benjamin Britten and E.M. Forster. As with all of Blythe's non-fiction, it is a delightful read.… Continue reading The Time by the Sea - ‘Under a Broad Sky’ by Ronald Blythe
Book 8 in the Wormingford series. - ‘Out of the Valley’ by Ronald Blythe
Book 2 of the Wormingford series. - ‘Village Hours’ by Ronald Blythe
Book 7 in the Wormingford series. - ‘Word From Wormingford’ by Ronald Blythe
Book 1 of the Wormingford series. - ‘At the Yeoman’s House’ by Ronald Blythe
Short book about veteran author’s extremely old house. - ‘Etta Lemon’ by Tessa Boase
The woman who saved the birds. - A Walk at the Edge of the World
by Nicholas Bone, Sans façon and Ian Cameron The script of a play about walking. Stense bought me this book, which is the script to a play she saw. She thought I'd like it. I did, very much indeed. As I wrote to Stense, after reading the script twice, the play is clearly heavily influenced… Continue reading A Walk at the Edge of the World - ‘Round About Town’ by Kevin Boniface
Diary of a postman. - ‘A Book Of Days’ by Patti Smith
Words and images from an inspirational artist. - ‘Affinities’ by Brian Dillon
Exploring our relationships with images. - ‘Aftermath’ by Harald Jähner
Life in the fallout of the Third Reich. - ‘Buried’ by Prof. Alice Roberts
An alternative history of the first millennium in Britain. - ‘Cuddy’ by Benjamin Myers
Something akin to a multi-media experience, mixing poetry, prayer, play-script, journal entries, and prose. - ‘Darwin Comes to Town’ by Menno Schilthuizen
How the urban jungle drives evolution - ‘Days Like These’ by Brian Bilston
An alternative guide to the year in 366 poems. - ‘Knowing What We Know’ by Simon Winchester
The transmission of knowledge from ancient wisdom to modern magic. - ‘Mansfield Park’ by Jane Austen
Toffs being toffs. - ‘Napoleon’ by David A. Bell
A short introduction. - ‘Next to Nature’ by Ronald Blythe
A lifetime in the English countryside. - ‘One Midsummer’s Day’ by Mark Cocker
Swifts and the story of life on earth. - ‘Pride And Prejudice‘ by Jane Austen
More toffs wittering on about stuff. - ‘Radical By Nature’ by James T. Costa
The revolutionary life of Alfred Russel Wallace. - ‘The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, volume 10 • 1862’
Darwin grows in confidence. - ‘The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, volume 11 • 1863’
Six months of illness, and lots of botany. - ‘The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, volume 12 • 1864’
More sickness, more botany. - ‘The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, volume 13 • 1865 plus supplement (1822–1864)’
Yet more ill-heath, with slow progress on Darwin’s ‘big book’. - ‘The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, volume 14 • 1866’
Getting back to work after prolonged illness. - ‘The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, volume 15 • 1867’
Correcting proofs and researching human evolution, sexual selection, and expressions. - ‘The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, volume 16, part 1 • 1868’
Researching human evolution and expressions. - ‘The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, volume 16, part 2 • 1868’
Researching human evolution and expressions, and revising ‘On the Origin of Species’. - ‘The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, volume 17 • 1869’
Researching human evolution, human and animal emotions, and sexual selection. - ‘The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, volume 18 • 1870’
Putting the finishing touches to ‘The Descent of Man’. - ‘The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, volume 19 • 1871’
A busy year for Darwin: ‘The Descent of Man’ published, with another book on the way, and the final edition of ‘The Origin of Species’. - ‘The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, volume 20 • 1872’
Publication of the final edition of ‘The Origin of Species’, and of ‘The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals’. - ‘The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, volume 21 • 1873’
Back to botany. - ‘The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, volume 9 • 1861’
Poking around in flowers’ private parts. - ‘The Creative Act’ by Rick Rubin
A way of being. - ‘The Diary of Virginia Woolf, vol. 1’
Virginia Woolf’s diaries for 1915–1918. - ‘The Fran Lebowitz Reader’
Humorous journalism. - Book review: ‘The Golden Mole’ by Katherine Rundell
Interesting facts about remarkable species. - ‘The Notebook’ by Roland Allen
A history of thinking on paper. - ‘The World-Ending Fire‘ by Wendell Berry
The essential Wendell Berry - ‘Unrecounted’ by W.G. Sebald & Jan Peter Tripp
Enigmatic Sebaldian poetry. - ‘W. G. Sebald in Context’ by Uwe Schütte (ed.)
A fascinating collection of academic essays about Sebald’s life, work and influences - ‘Writing Landscape’ by Linda Cracknell
Essays on landscape and writing. - ‘Writing Tools’ by Roy Peter Clark
An excellent collection of writing advice. - Wild Wales
by George Borrow Its People, Language and Scenery. George Borrow's 1862 classic describes a journey on foot round Wales. It is fantastically entertaining. Reading it gives you an excellent overview of life in Wales in the mid-nineteenth century. But far more entertaining is Borrow's occasional patronising pomposity, and his occasional opinionated remarks about tea-totallers, abolitionists,… Continue reading Wild Wales - Darwin's Garden: Down House and The Origin of Species.
The first book with the word Darwin on the spine that I ever gave up on. - You Are Here: A Dossier
TV satirists write a Stupid White Men for the UK. - Wuthering Heights
Brontë classic, written just down the road from here. - ‘The da Vinci Code’ by Dan Brown
International bestseller. - Charles Darwin: Vol.1: Voyaging
Part 1 of an entertaining two-part biography of Charles Darwin. - ‘Charles Darwin: Vol.2: The Power of Place’ by Janet Browne
Part 2 of an entertaining two-part biography of Charles Darwin. Charles Darwin: The Power of Place is part 2 of Janet Browne’s two-part Darwin biography. You can read my combined review of both volumes here. - Darwin's Origin of Species: A Biography
A short biography of one of the most revolutionary books ever written. - Urne-burial
by Sir Thomas Browne Reflections on the iniquity of oblivion. I first encountered the seventeenth-century polymath Sir Thomas Browne in an essay by one of my favourite writers, Stephen Jay Gould. Many years later, I encountered him again in W.G. Sebald's mastepiece, The Rings of Saturn. Sebald refers to Browne's essay on an ancient urn-burial… Continue reading Urne-burial - Brunel: The Life and Times of Isambard Kingdom Brunel
A balanced biography of the legendary early Victorian engineer. - ‘Love of Country’ by Madeleine Bunting
A Hebridean Journey. Love of Country documents numerous trips Madeleine Bunting made to different islands in the Hebrides: a region of the British Isles that contains a surprising amount of history. I enjoyed this book very much (although having the middle-name Lewis, I'm probably biased). - The Plot: a Biography of an English Acre
A daughter's investigations into her eccentric father. - ‘The Diary of a Bookseller’ by Shaun Bythell
A year in the life of a Scottish bookseller. - The Dinosaur Hunters
The Victorian search for dinosaurs. - Slightly Out of Focus
Brief, punchily written account of his WWII exploits by the famous photojournalist. How come nobody has made this into a film? - ‘The Making of the Fittest’ by Sean B Carroll
DNA and the ultimate forensic record of evolution. - ‘On the Moor’ by Richard Carter
Science, History and Nature on a Country Walk. I like the cut of this chap’s jib. You should definitely buy this book. - Saturn's Moons: WG Sebald—a Handbook
by Jo Catling & Richard Hibbit (eds). One for the Sebald nerds. This book is intended for serious Sebald groupies. It is meticulously researched, extremely academic, and weighty in both senses of the word. I found it fascinating reading, even though it does border on the obsessive at times. The only real disappointment was the… Continue reading Saturn's Moons: WG Sebald—a Handbook - On Extinction: How We Became Estranged from Nature
How our estrangement from Nature has led to collapse and extinction of entire ways of life. - ‘Evolution’ by Brian & Deborah Charlesworth
A very short introduction. - ‘In Patagonia’ by Bruce Chatwin
Wandering about Patagonia with no clear plan in mind. - Under the Sun: The Letters of Bruce Chatwin
The correspondence of an unusual and gifted writer. - Imperial Ambitions: Conversations with Noam Chomsky on the Post-9/11 World
What America (and the rest) is really up to. - ‘Heavy Light’ by Horatio Clare
A journey through madness, mania and healing. - ‘The Light in the Dark’ by Horatio Clare
A winter journal. - ‘A Single Swallow’ by Horatio Clare
Following the migration from South Africa to South Wales. - ‘Something of His Art’ by Horatio Clare
Walking to Lübeck with J.S. Bach. - ‘Claxton’ by Mark Cocker
Field notes from a small planet. - ‘Crow Country’ by Mark Cocker
A meditation on birds, landscape and nature. - ‘A Claxton Diary’ by Mark Cocker
Further field notes from a small planet. - ‘Our Place’ by Mark Cocker
Can we save Britain’s wildlife before it’s too late? - The Moonstone
Victorian blockbuster. - ‘Ariadne's Thread’ by Philippa Comber
In memory of W.G. Sebald. - ‘Life, Love and the Archers’ by Wendy Cope
Recollections, reviews and other prose. - ‘Darwin’s Backyard’ by James T Costa
How small experiments led to a big theory. - Common Ground
by Rob Cowen A strange book about a local edge-land. This book, which has received rave reviews, wasn't what I expected. I was expecting a fairly typical ‘nature writing’ account of the author's local patch of edge-land near Harrogate in Yorkshire. Perhaps I should have read the dust-jacket more carefully: Blurring the boundaries of memoir,… Continue reading Common Ground - ‘The Heeding’ by Rob Cowen
Astonishingly good poetry collection. - ‘Doubling Back’ by Linda Cracknell
Ten paths trodden in memory. - ‘The Making of the British Landscape’ by Nicholas Crane
From the Ice Age to the Present. - Two Degrees West
by Nicholas Crane An English Journey You know Nicholas Crane from off the telly. He's the chap with the brolly who walks a lot. Anyway, back in the last millennium, he set off on foot to walk along the line of longitude two degrees west of Greenwich (the central meridian) from Berwick-upon-Tweed to the Dorset… Continue reading Two Degrees West - ‘Lady Hope’ by L.R. Croft
Re-flogging a long-dead horse. - ‘The Voyage of the Beagle’ by Charles Darwin
Darwin's first masterpiece. - The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, volume 7: 1858–1859
Darwin's correspondence leading up to the publication of On the Origin of Species. - ‘The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, volume 8, 1860’
Letters to and from Darwin in the immediate aftermath of the publication of ‘On the Origin of Species’. - ‘The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex’ by Charles Darwin
Darwin finally sets out to enlighten us on our origins. - The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms
by Charles Darwin The great man's final book. Pure Darwin! I have posted a review of this book on the Friends of Charles Darwin website. - ‘The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals’ by Charles Darwin
How animals and people express emotions, and what this tells us about our ancestry. - ‘Insectivorous Plants’ by Charles Darwin
Darwin at his most Darwinian. - ‘On the Origin of Species’ by Charles Darwin (1st ed., 1859)
…or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. - Flat Earth News: An Award-winning Reporter Exposes Falsehood, Distortion and Propaganda in the Global Media
An excellent exposé of the failure of the newspaper industry. - The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life
Dawkins's lavishly illustrated magnum opus-cum-coffee table book. - A Devil's Chaplain: Selected Essays
Dawkins demonstrating that he can write wonderfully sensitively, as well as rant. - The God Delusion
by Richard Dawkins Why Faith is not a virtue. Although I don't agree with everything he has to say, I greatly admire Richard Dawkins as a writer. But, when it came out, I decided not to read The God Delusion, because I didn't expect to get much out of it: I was already an atheist,… Continue reading The God Delusion - The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution
Dawkins returns to what he's best at. - ‘Notes From Walnut Tree Farm’ by Roger Deakin
The jottings of a great observer of nature’s minutiae. - Waterlog: A Swimmer's Journey Through Britain
A celebration of all things natatorial. - Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees
A celebration of all things arboreal. - Status Anxiety
How people worry about their status, and what they can do about it. - Four Fields
by Tim Dee ...in four very different parts of the world. Four Fields is a strange book. I enjoyed reading it, but I'm not quite sure that I ‘got’ it. Stretching our usual idea of what might constitute a field, Tim Dee visits four of them in four very different parts of the world: his… Continue reading Four Fields - ‘Greenery’ by Tim Dee
Journeys in Springtime. - ‘Ground Work’ by Time Dee (ed.)
Writings on places and people. - ‘Landfill’ by Tim Dee
A celebration of gulls. - ‘The Running Sky’ by Tim Dee
A birdwatching life. - Darwin in Scotland: Edinburgh, Evolution and Enlightenment
Darwin's influences and influencees north of the border. - Darwin's Sacred Cause: Race, Slavery and the Quest for Human Origins
How Charles Darwin's abhorrence of slavery influenced his science. - Night Walks
by Charles Dickens Victorian essays. Night Walks is vol. 88 in Penguin's Great Ideas series of little books by ‘great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilisation and helped make us who we are’. In the case of this particular book, I think that's stretching things a bit. Not that Night Walks isn't… Continue reading Night Walks - ‘Slouching Towards Bethlehem‘ by Joan Didion
Counter-cultural journalism from the Swinging Sixties. - The Place at the End of the World: Essays from the Edge
Journalism from the world's war zones. - ‘The Abundance’ by Annie Dillard
Enigmatic essays. I read The Abundance immediately after reading Annie Dillard's earlier collection of essays Teaching a Stone to Talk. Once again, I was impressed at her skill of choosing off-beat essay topics which often end up making surprisingly profound observations. If anything, I think I preferred this collection. - ‘Pilgrim at Tinker Creek’ by Annie Dillard
Pulitzer-Prize-winning ruminations on the natural world. - ‘Teaching a Stone to Talk’ by Annie Dillard
An eclectic mix of science, nature and memoir. - ‘For the Time Being’ by Annie Dillard
Strange essay collection that doesn't quite work. I read this book immediately after reading Annie Dillard's essay collections Teaching a Stone to Talk and The Abundance. I was hopeful that I would enjoy this book as it was the original source of one of my favourite essays from The Abundance. Unfortunately, I struggled a great… Continue reading Book review: ‘For the Time Being’ by Annie Dillard - ‘The Writing Life’ by Annie Dillard
Definitely not a writing guide. - ‘Essayism’ by Brian Dillon
A celebration of the essay. - ‘Suppose a Sentence’ by Brian Dillon
Essays on single sentences. - The Missing of the Somme
by Geoff Dyer An essay about Remembrance The Missing of the Somme is a book-length essay about the cult of Remembrance that developed during and after the Great War: The issue, in short, is not simply the way the war generates memory but the way memory has determined—and continues to determine—the meaning of the war.… Continue reading The Missing of the Somme - The Ongoing Moment
by Geoff Dyer Recurring themes in famous photographs by famous photographers. I really enjoyed this strange book, which I read hot-on-the-heels of John Berger's Understanding a Photograph. It's primarily about the recurring themes that appear in famous photographs by famous photographers: hats, steps, benches, blind people, doors, beds, drive-in-movies, views from car windows, roads vanishing… Continue reading The Ongoing Moment - ‘White Sands’ by Geoff Dyer
Experiences from the Outside World. Geoff Dyer begins this collection with an explanatory note: [T]his book is a mixture of fiction and non-fiction. What’s the difference? Well, in fiction stuff can be made up or altered. My wife, for example, is called Rebecca whereas in these pages the narrator’s wife is called Jessica. So that’s… Continue reading Book review: ‘White Sands’ by Geoff Dyer - Working the Room
by Geoff Dyer. Essays Geoff Dyer groups this collection of essays into four sections—Visuals, Verbals, Variables and Personals—to reflect, respectively, pieces about the visual arts (mainly photography), literature, miscellaneous stuff, and personal stuff. I read it on my Kindle, so the Visuals section turned out to be less enjoyable than it should have been due… Continue reading Working the Room - Yoga for People Who Can't be Bothered to Do It
by Geoff Dyer Occasionally amusing travel pieces. I only discovered Geoff Dyer's writing recently. I very much enjoyed his Working the Room and The Missing of the Somme, but Yoga for People Who Can't be Bothered to Do It didn't do much for me, I'm afraid to say. The individual ‘travel’ pieces were OK, but… Continue reading Yoga for People Who Can't be Bothered to Do It - Darwin: Discovering the Tree of Live
A fascinating analysis of the development of Darwin's thinking. - A Year in the Woods: The Diary of a Forest Ranger
A rather special book from a forest ranger. - The Crimson Petal and the White
Massive Victorian-era novel with plenty of rude bits. - ‘Edgelands’ by Paul Farley & Michael Symmons Roberts
Journeys into England's true wilderness. - Don't You Have Time to Think?
The Correspondence of physicist, Nobel laureate and bongo player, Richard Feynman. - ‘Islands of Abandonment’ by Cal Flyn
Life in the post-human landscape. - Dry Store Room No.1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum
The personalities and politics behinds the scenes at the Natural History Museum. - ‘The Wood for the Trees’ by Richard Fortey
The long view of nature from a small wood. Retired trilobite palaeontologist and current TV presenter Richard Fortey used the proceeds from one of his television series buy a small woodland plot in Oxfordshire. This enjoyable book describes his getting to know the history and ecology of the wood in depth. My kind of book.… Continue reading Book review: ‘The Wood for the Trees’ by Richard Fortey - ‘The Screaming Sky’ by Charles Foster
A celebration of swifts. - ‘The Tree’ by John Fowles
Dissing science (and art) for no good reason. - ‘Empire Antarctica’ by Gavin Francis
Ice, silence and emperor penguins. - Spies
Short novel about how children misunderstand the adult world. - ‘Ravilious & Co.’ by Andy Friend
The pattern of friendship. - Kuhn vs. Popper: The struggle for the soul of science.
Over-academic analysis of two differing scientific philosophies. - ‘Stasiland’ by Anna Funder
Stories from behind the Berlin Wall. - ‘Lines in the Sand’ by A.A. Gill
Collected journalism. - ‘Man of Iron’ by Julian Glover
Thomas Telford and the Building of Britain. - ‘The Practice’ by Seth Godin
A bunch of bullet points with the bullets removed. - Diary of a Madman and other stories
by Nikolai Gogol A masterpiece, apparently. I had great hopes for this book: everyone says Gogol was a genius; the book had a cool cover; it was nice and short. It did nothing for me. I just didn't get it. It reminded me of Kafka, but I didn't get Kafka either. But if short stories… Continue reading Diary of a Madman and other stories - ‘Triggers’ by Marshall Goldsmith
Sparking positive change and making it last. I bought this book having heard a favourable review of it on one of my favourite podcasts. It’s a self-help book about changing yourself for the better. It sounded pretty constructive. There are a few useful, although hardly ground-breaking suggestions in this book. And it’s pretty readable—although, as… Continue reading Book review: ‘Triggers’ by Marshall Goldsmith - The Walker's Guide to Outdoor Clues & Signs
by Tristan Gooley How keeping your eyes peeled can tell you more about your walk. An entertaining book about the signs to look out for when you're out and about that tell you a bit more about where you are. For example, how the non-symmetrical profile of a tree gives you clues about prevailing winds.… Continue reading The Walker's Guide to Outdoor Clues & Signs - ‘Bully for Brontosaurus’ by Stephen Jay Gould
Reflections in Natural History. - ‘Ever Since Darwin’ by Stephen Jay Gould
Reflections in Natural History. - ‘The Flamingo’s Smile’ by Stephen Jay Gould
Reflections in natural history. - The Hedgehog, the Fox, and the Magister's Pox: Mending and Minding the Misconceived Gap Between Science and the Humanities
Gould's last science book. It goes on a bit, but the chapter criticising Edward O Wilson's misappropriation of the term Consilience is Gould at his best. - ‘Hen's Teeth & Horse's Toes’ by Stephen Jay Gould
Science essays. The third of Stephen Jay Gould’s long-running series of popular science essay collections that first appeared in his monthly column in Natural History magazine, Hen's Teeth & Horse's Toes covers topics which include: evolutionary oddities (e.g. the eponymous horse's toes); evolutionary adaptations; essays on a number of scientists; the Piltdown Man forgery; science… Continue reading Book review: ‘Hen's Teeth & Horse's Toes’ by Stephen Jay Gould - The Mismeasure of Man
Why intelligence testing is stupid. - Triumph and Tragedy in Mudville: A Lifelong Passion for Baseball
The late, great science writer's final book—about baseball. - ‘The Panda’s Thumb’ by Stephen Jay Gould
More Reflections in Natural History. The second of Stephen Jay Gould’s long-running series of popular science essay collections that first appeared in his monthly column in Natural History magazine, The Panda’s Thumb covers topics including: how imperfections in organisms’ demonstrate their evolutionary history; Charles Darwin and his theories; human evolution; science and politics; the rate… Continue reading Book review: ‘The Panda’s Thumb’ by Stephen Jay Gould - The Structure of Evolutionary Theory
The maestro's magnum opus. - A Buzz in the Meadow
by Dave Goulson A fantastic sequel to a fantastic prequel. Dave Goulson's previous book, A Sting in the Tale, about bumblebees, was one of my favourite books of 2013. So I greatly looked forward to reading this sequel, about the insect life inhabiting his somewhat derelict farm in France. As with its predecessor, what I… Continue reading A Buzz in the Meadow - A Sting in the Tale
by Dave Goulson Fascinating book about bumblebees. This is a fantastic book: a wonderful mixture of memoir and science writing. By the end of it, you are almost as hooked on the wonderful creatures that are bumblebees as is Dave Goulson—if such a thing were possible. I particularly liked the way Goulson describes the simple-sounding… Continue reading A Sting in the Tale - Granta 100: One Hundred
Extra thick edition, celebrity guest editor, Hockney cover, big name authors: this must be the 100th edition! - Granta 101: One Hundred and One
A return to form for the relaunched Granta. - Granta 102: The New Nature Writing
More environments than nature writing, really—but still great stuff. - Granta 103: The Rise of the British Jihad
Far better than I initially thought it was going to be. - Granta 104: Fathers: The Men Who Made Us
Themed on dads. - Granta 105: Lost and Found
Another eclectic mix. - Granta 106: New Fiction Special
Yawn! - Granta 107
Uncharacteristically unthemed. - Granta 108: Chicago
Pieces about the Windy City. - Granta 109: Work
Pieces loosely themed on the subject of work. - Granta 110: Sex
Very poor edition, depite its sexy theme. - Granta 111: Going Back
A return to form for Granta. - Granta 112: Pakistan
All about Pakistan. - Granta 113: The Best of Young Spanish-Language Novelists
An entire edition of Granta utterly wasted. - Granta 114: Aliens
Typical Granta mixed bag. - Granta 115: The F Word
by John Freeman (ed.). Granta 115 is a feminist issue. Granta 115 really didn't work for me. A couple of very good non-fiction pieces, but, to be honest, my eyes kept glazing over and I skipped entire chunks of it. BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour tends to have the same effect. Granta seems to be… Continue reading Granta 115: The F Word - Granta 116: Ten Years Later
by John Freeman (ed.). Ten years since 911, and how is the world faring? Hoo-bloody-ray! I was beginning to lose hope: a return to form for Granta! Lots of excellent pieces about the current state of the world, ten years after the 911 attacks. Some excellent reportage—and even some of the fiction is pretty damn… Continue reading Granta 116: Ten Years Later - Granta 117: Horror
by John Freeman (ed.). Ho-hum. After an excellent start with two very good memoir-type pieces by Will Self and Paul Auster, this edition of Granta then became rather ho-hum. The theme was Horror, but the editor stretched it to breaking point at times (thank goodness). A slightly better non-fiction to fiction ratio than usual, I… Continue reading Granta 117: Horror - Granta 118: Exit Strategies
by John Freeman (ed.). Too much fiction, yet again. For once, most of the pieces in this edition of Granta actually seem to fit the chosen theme, Exit Strategies, very well. Most of the pieces are about people trying to get out of particular situations. There are a couple of excellent pieces of memoir, particularly… Continue reading Granta 118: Exit Strategies - Granta 119: Britain
by John Freeman (ed.). More of the same. The theme for Granta 119 is Britain (as opposed to Great Britain). So, of course, the cover shows a cracked and broken teacup. How very symbollick. The book-cum-magazine contains the usual mix of prose, poetry, and photography. As ever, it does not contain nearly enough non-fiction, but… Continue reading Granta 119: Britain - Granta 120: Medicine
John Freeman (ed.) An anthology of illness and its treatment. This edition of Granta is themed around illness and its treatment. As ever, my advice to the reader is to skip anything which is obviously fiction, and concentrate on the factual (some of which is first-person fiction, but it is impossible to tell unless you… Continue reading Granta 120: Medicine - Granta 121: The Best of Young Brazilian Novelists
by John Freeman (ed.). There's more to 'new writing' than novels. Granta's obsession with 'young [insert nationality] novelists' continues unabated. Brazil is a fascinating country. I would like to learn more about the place. Granta 121 is a missed opportunity. From the brief author biographies included with each piece in this edition of 'the magazine… Continue reading Granta 121: The Best of Young Brazilian Novelists - Granta 122: Betrayal
by John Freeman (ed.) The straw that broke the camel's back The theme of Granta 122 is Betrayal, which is ironic to say the least. As a long-term subscriber, I feel utterly betrayed. Granta used to be a fantastic mix of reportage, memoir, photography, and fiction. In recent years, though, it has become more and… Continue reading Granta 122: Betrayal - Granta 124: Travel
by John Freeman (ed.) Meh! Having recently cancelled my long-standing Granta subscription, I fully expected things to pick up. They haven't. I didn't even bother opening Granta 123: The Best of Young British Novelists 4: yet another edition consumed by fiction. True, the latest edition, Granta 124: Travel, did have a piece by one of… Continue reading Granta 124: Travel - Granta 125: After the War
by Sigrid Rausing (ed.) The end of an era. This was the end of an era for me: my final edition of Granta. I cancelled my subscription of many years some months ago. Since Ian Jack left as editor a few years back, Granta seems to have become increasing obsessed with fiction at the expense… Continue reading Granta 125: After the War - Granta 133
by Sigrid Rausing (ed.) What Have We Done? I gave up my longstanding subscription to Granta a few years ago as it seemed to be publishing more fiction at the expense of non-fiction. But Granta 133 was advertised as including non-fiction articles by acclaimed ‘nature’ writers, Barry Lopez, Kathleen Jamie, and the late Roger Deakin… Continue reading Granta 133 - Granta 80: The Group
Short pieces by various writers based on the theme The Group - Granta 81: Best of Young British Novelists 2003
Short pieces by the names to look out for during the next decade. - Granta 82: Life's Like That
Short pieces by various writers on the theme Life's Like That. - Granta 83: This Overheating World
Short pieces on (mostly) environmental issues. - Granta 84: Over There: How America Sees the Rest of the World
A series of essays about how Americans see the rest of us, plus some essays and fiction with the tables turned. - Granta 85: Hidden Histories
This issue of Granta excavates histories both personal and political: repressed memories, unexplored lives, forgotten wars, secret careers. - Granta 86: Film
A collection of pieces based around the general theme of films and the cinema. - Granta 87: Jubilee
Granta celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary. - Granta 88: Mothers
An edition based around the theme of mothers. - Granta 89: The Factory
The rise and fall of industry. - Granta 90: Country Life: Dispatches from what's left of it
Great collection of writing, loosely themed on the countryside. - Granta 91: Wish You Were Here
Collection of excellent writing on no particular theme. - Granta 92: The View from Africa
Collection of writing mostly about Africa. - Granta 93: God's Own Countries: Are you living in one?
A collection of writing mostly themed around religious belief and its effects. - Granta 94: On the Road Again: Where Travel Writing Went Next
A collection of writing themed around travel. - Granta 95: Loved Ones
A collection of writing themed around relationships. - Granta 96: War Zones
A collection of writing (loosely) themed around war zones. - Granta 97: Best of Young American Novelists 2
Granta's latest selection of promising young American writers. - Granta 98: The Deep End
'People whose experience of life suggests they have something to tell us about survivial.' - Granta 99: What Happened Next
One to go till the big one! - ‘Coda’ by Simon Gray
Vol. 4 of ‘The Smoking Diaries’. - ‘The Year of the Jouncer’ by Simon Gray
Vol. 2 of ‘The Smoking Diaries’. - ‘The Last Cigarette’ by Simon Gray
Vol. 3 of ‘The Smoking Diaries’. - ‘The Smoking Diaries’ by Simon Gray
Vol. 1 of playwright Simon Gray’s amusing and meandering reminiscences. - ‘Northerners‘ by Brian Groom
A history of Northern England from the Ice Age to the present day. - ‘The Art of Creative Nonfiction’ by Lee Gutkind
Writing and selling the literature of reality. - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Amusing novel narrated from the viewpoint of an autistic boy. - ‘A Carnival of Losses’ by Donald Hall
Notes nearing ninety. - ‘Essays After Eighty’ by Donald Hall
A brilliant collection of mostly humorous essays from the late American poet. - ‘84, Charing Cross Road‘ by Helene Hanff
A book-lovers’ classic. - ‘A Year Unfolding’ by Angela Harding
A printmaker’s view. - ‘All Among the Barley’ by Melissa Harrison
Rural idylls weren’t quite as idyllic as they seemed. - ‘Clay’ by Melissa Harrison
A city-nature novel. Clay is an unusual novel in that, while it is set in London, the natural world plays a major part in the story. Indeed, Nature (capital N) could almost be seen as one of the novel's characters. Harrison is excellent at describing the changing seasons, and at how Nature just gets on… Continue reading Book review: ‘Clay’ by Melissa Harrison - ‘At Hawthorn Time’ by Melissa Harrison
An extraordinary modern rural novel. - ‘Rain’ by Melissa Harrison
Four walks in English weather. - ‘The Stubborn Light of Things’ by Melissa Harrison
A nature diary. - ‘Built on Bones’ by Brenna Hassett
15,000 years of urban life and death. - ‘The Northern Question’ by Tom Hazeldine
British politics and the North-South divide. - Catch 22
There was only one catch… - The Book of Barely Imagined Beings
by Caspar Henderson A 21st Century Bestiary. The Book of Barely Imagined Beings is a modern take on the medieval idea of a bestiary of wonderful animals. As anyone interested in the natural world knows, all animals are wonderful in their own way, so Caspar Henderson's choices of which beasts should appear in his book… Continue reading The Book of Barely Imagined Beings - Charles Darwin, Geologist
What Charles Darwin did for geology. - ‘Of Walking in Ice’ by Werner Herzog
A quest to save a friend. - ‘Watling Street’ by John Higgs
Travels through Britain and its ever-present past. - Arguably
by Christopher Hitchens Essays on literature, politics, and religion. Arguably is a fantastic collection of articles by the late Christopher Hitchens, taken from many of the publications he wrote for over the years. The essays are elegant, outspoken, irreverent, and often very funny. I read Arguably on the Kindle. This turned out to be a… Continue reading Arguably - Hitch 22
by Christopher Hitchens A memoir. The late Christopher Hitchens' memoir mainly comprises the memories of a hard-working, hard-thinking, hard-drinking journalist. There is a lot of politics in this book. But there is also plenty of humour, especially when Hitchens is laying into hypocrisy. But keep a dictionary to hand for looking up the occasional difficult… Continue reading Hitch 22 - ‘Albert & the Whale’ by Philip Hoare
An eclectic biography. - Leviathan or, the Whale
by Philip Hoare. A wonderful history of man's relationship with the whale. Philip Hoare's meticulously researched book, which is destined to become a classic, tells you pretty much everything you need to know about man's historical relationship with whales. It's a fascinating read. The book shares the same subtitle, or, The Whale, as Herman Melville's… Continue reading Leviathan or, the Whale - The Sea Inside
by Philip Hoare Whale-obsessed author explores our relationship with the sea. I loved Philip Hoare's big book about whales, Leviathan, so looked forward to reading The Sea Inside, which appeared to be something of a sequel. To be honest, I struggled to get into this book. It jumped around from subject to subject an awful… Continue reading The Sea Inside - ‘Spike Island’ by Philip Hoare
The memory of a military hospital. - The Evolutionists: American Thinkers Confront Charles Darwin, 1860–1920
How Darwinian thinking influenced other disciplines in the USA. - ‘Irreplaceable’ by Julian Hoffman
The fight to save our wild places. - ‘The Small Heart of Things’ by Julian Hoffman
A book that demonstrates the value of paying attention. - The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic generation discovered the beauty and terror of science.
Science between the Banks and Darwin voyages. - Of Moths & Men: Intrigue, Tragedy & the Peppered Moth
The story of how some of Bernard Kettlewell's famous peppered moth experiments contained certain flaws. - The Making of the English Landscape
by W.G. Hoskins Classic study of how the English built their landscape. W.G. Hoskins's The Making of the English Landscape is rightly regarded as a classic. He describes how the English landscape as we see it today was determined by, and is a record of, our long and complex history. It's a fascinating read. If… Continue reading The Making of the English Landscape - ‘Darwin’ by Jonathan Howard
A very short introduction. - ‘Victorians Undone’ by Kathryn Hughes
I was given this book as a birthday present by a friend. I presume it was the chapter entitled Charles Darwin’s Beard that made her think I might like it. What can I say: my friends know the kind of topics that interest me. At first glance, judging the book by its over-salacious subtitle, I… Continue reading Book review: ‘Victorians Undone’ by Kathryn Hughes - The Great Naturalists: From Aristotle to Darwin
A whistle-stop tour of the history of natural history. - The Eye: A Natural History
How animals see and how they perceive. - The Country Formerly Known as Great Britain: Writings 1989–2009
Fantasic collection of recollections. - ‘The Ascent of John Tyndall’ by Roland Jackson
Victorian scientist, mountaineer, and public intellectual. - Sebald's Vision
by Carol Jacobs High-brow analysis of the enigmatic author's oeuvre. This is a very high-brow book. I will eagerly read anything that might assist me in my ongoing efforts to get my head around the unclassifiable wonderfulness of W.G. Sebald's published works. Carol Jacobs certainly knows her onions. She has spotted all manner of running… Continue reading Sebald's Vision - ‘The Fire of Joy’ by Clive James
Roughly eighty poems to get by heart and say aloud. - ‘Poetry Notebook’ by Clive James
Sorting the poetic wheat from chaff. To her great amusement during a recent telephone conversation, I explained to my friend Stense how, having finally managed to start appreciating certain poetry in recent years, I had just bought a collection by a poet whose earlier work I had very much enjoyed, only to find it utterly… Continue reading Book review: ‘Poetry Notebook’ by Clive James - ‘Somewhere Becoming Rain’ by Clive James
Collected writings on Philip Larkin. - Among Muslims
by Kathleen Jamie Meetings at the Frontiers of Pakistan. I only read this book because it happens to be by one of my favourite authors, Kathleen Jamie. I'm very glad I did. It tells of her visit to the frontiers of Pakistan, and of her return visit ten years later. She meets and stays with… Continue reading Among Muslims - ‘Antlers of Water’ edited by Kathleen Jamie
Writing on the nature and environment of Scotland. - ‘The Bonniest Companie’ by Kathleen Jamie
A wonderful collection of poems. - ‘Findings’ by Kathleen Jamie
Nature writing from the other side of the fence. - ‘The Overhaul’ by Kathleen Jamie
A fantastic poetry collection. - ‘Selected Poems’ by Kathleen Jamie
A highly enjoyable poetry collection. - ‘Sightlines’ by Kathleen Jamie
A second volume of superb ‘nature writing’. - ‘Surfacing’ by Kathleen Jamie
A third collection of wonderful essays from my favourite writer. - ‘The Tree House’ by Kathleen Jamie
Poetry grounded squarely in the real world. - The Creative Life in Photography
by Brooks Jensen Thoughts on photography. I've been enjoying Brook Jensen's short podcasts about photography for several years. So, when I heard that he had a book out, taken from articles previously published in his LensWork magazine, I thought I should read it. Jensen sees photography very much as an art form, which its practitioners… Continue reading The Creative Life in Photography - The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments
Ten classic science experiments and the stories behind them. - Coral: A Pessimist in Paradise
Expositions on assorted scientific subject, using coral as the unifying theme. - The Single Helix: A Turn Around the World of Science
Short science essays from the famous geneticist and snail man. - Darwin's Island: The Galapagos in the Garden of England
A modern-day updating of Darwin's less well-known books. - ‘The Trial’ by Franz Kafka
Don't bother. - ‘Border’ by Kapka Kassabova
A journey to the edge of Europe. - ‘Mr Key's Shorter Potted Brief, Brief Lives’ by Mr Frank Key
A medium-sized mass of potted nonsense. - Charles Darwin's Beagle Diary
A complete transcript of Darwin's Beagle Journal. - Fossils, Finches and Fuegians: Charles Darwin's Adventures and Discoveries on the Beagle, 1832-1836
A detailed account of Darwin's Beagle voyage. - ‘Kilvert’s Diary’ by Francis Kilvert
The diary of a Victorian country curate. - ‘On Writing’ by Stephen King
A memoir of the craft - ‘River’ by Esther Kinsky
File under Sebaldian. - ‘Keep Going’ by Austin Kleon
Ten ways to stay creative in good times and bad. - ‘Show Your Work’ by Austin Kleon
10 ways to share your creativity and get discovered. - ‘Steal Like an Artist’ by Austin Kleon
10 things nobody told you about being creative. - To the River: A Journey Beneath the Surface
A literary walk down the Sussex Ouse. - The Languid Goat is Always Thin: The World's Strangest Proverbs
Weird proverbs from around the world. - ‘Philip Larkin: Collected Poems’ edited by Anthony Thwaite
All of Larkin’s poems in one handy volume. - ‘Selected Letters of Philip Larkin’ (Anthony Thwaite, ed.)
Hugely entertaining correspondence from one of Britain’s most popular poets. - Letters to Monica
Philip Larkin's letters to his long-term, long-sufferring girlfriend, Monica Jones. - ‘The Bookseller’s Tale’ by Martin Latham
A book for bibliophiles. - ‘Humanism’ by Stephen Law
A very short introduction. - ‘A Private Spy: the letters of John le Carré, 1945-2020’
A penchant for reading other people’s correspondence is one of my few vices. As a John le Carré fan-boy, I was very much looking forward to this collection, and it didn’t disappoint. Here you will find le Carré (real name: David Cornwell) corresponding with fellow former spies; assuring Sir Alec Guinness he is perfect for… Continue reading Book review: ‘A Private Spy: the letters of John le Carré, 1945-2020’ - ‘Agent Running in the Field’ by John le Carré
Spycraft and badminton in Brexit Britain. - The Constant Gardener
by John le Carré Who killed Tessa Quayle? I don't tend to read much fiction. I enjoy it, but life's just too short to read stuff that isn't true. But I obtained several free unabridged John le Carré audiobooks a couple of years back as part of a promotional offer on the Guardian website, so… Continue reading The Constant Gardener - The Honourable Schoolboy
by John le Carré Subterfuge in Hong Kong. I don't tend to read much fiction. I enjoy it, but life's just too short to read stuff that isn't true. But I obtained several free unabridged John le Carré audiobooks a couple of years back as part of a promotional offer on the Guardian website, so… Continue reading The Honourable Schoolboy - A Perfect Spy
by John le Carré Where's Pym? I don't tend to read much fiction. I enjoy it, but life's just too short to read stuff that isn't true. But I obtained several free unabridged John le Carré audiobooks a couple of years back as part of a promotional offer on the Guardian website, so I used… Continue reading A Perfect Spy - Smiley's People
by John le Carré The conclusion of the magnificent ‘Karla Trilogy’. I don't tend to read much fiction. I enjoy it, but life's just too short to read stuff that isn't true. But I obtained several free unabridged John le Carré audiobooks a couple of years back as part of a promotional offer on the… Continue reading Smiley's People - The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
by John le Carré Classic tale of deception behind the Iron Curtain. I don't tend to read much fiction. I enjoy it, but life's just too short to read stuff that isn't true. But I obtained several free unabridged John le Carré audiobooks a couple of years back as part of a promotional offer on… Continue reading The Spy Who Came in from the Cold - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
by John le Carré There's a mole in the Circus. I don't tend to read much fiction. I enjoy it, but life's just too short to read stuff that isn't true. But I obtained several free unabridged John le Carré audiobooks a couple of years back as part of a promotional offer on the Guardian… Continue reading Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Our Kind of Traitor
by John le Carré A would-be defector from the Russian mob. I don't tend to read much fiction. I enjoy it, but life's just too short to read stuff that isn't true. But I obtained several free unabridged John le Carré audiobooks a couple of years back as part of a promotional offer on the… Continue reading Our Kind of Traitor - Cider with Rosie
by Laurie Lee. Countryside classic. I first read Laurie Lee’s classic memoir of his inter-war-years childhood in a Gloucestershire Cotswold village when I was at school. I re-read it every 15 years or so. It is as gentle and charming as ever. - Four Hedges
by Clare Leighton A beautifully illustrated year in a garden. I'm a big fan of the publisher Little Toller's Nature Classics Library, in which they re-print classic nature writing in a lovely modern format. They really are a joy to handle as well as read. Four Hedges describes a year in the 1930s in the… Continue reading Four Hedges - A Sand County Almanac
by Aldo Leopold American nature classic. It turns out that this classic of American nature writing had somehow completely eluded this nature-writing fanboy. This might well be due to my rather parochial enjoyment of the genre. Perhaps I should branch out across the Pond more often. Well done to Jen for spotting a reference to… Continue reading A Sand County Almanac - Programming PHP
Without this book, this website would be a shadow of its current self. Highly recommended. - Meadowland
by John Lewis-Stempel The private life of an English field. Meadowland is an account of a year in the field's of John Lewis-Stempel's farm in Herefordshire. His family has been rooted in the area for centuries. It is clearly a place he loves very much. Lewis-Stempel comes across as a traditional landed countryman, with a… Continue reading Meadowland - ‘Estuary’ by Rachel Lichtenstein
Out from London to the Sea. In Estuary, Rachel Lichtenstein travels on and about the Thames estuary, meeting people with different connections to the place: writers, artists, singers, sailors, bargemen, mudlarkers, cocklers, historians, naturalists, Sealanders. The book provides an interesting snapshot of a time when traditional ways of life around the estuary are dying out.… Continue reading Book review: ‘Estuary’ by Rachel Lichtenstein - ‘The Instant’ by Amy Liptrot
The follow-up to the best-selling ‘The Outrun’. - ‘The Outrun’ by Amy Liptrot
Recovering from addiction in the far north. - ‘The Dun Cow Rib’ by John Lister-Kaye
A very natural childhood. - Gods of the Morning
by John Lister-Kaye A Bird's Eye View of a Highland Year. John Lister-Kaye's nature writing is as entertaining as always. In this volume, he describes a year at his field centre at Aigas in Scotland, noting how seasonal phenomena have changed over the years—quite possibly due to climate change. An enjoyable read. - Nature's Child: Encounters with Wonders of the Natural World
Delightful book about encouraging a young daughter's love of nature. - ‘Song Of The Rolling Earth’ by John Lister-Kaye
A highland odyssey. - At the Water's Edge: A Personal Quest for Wildness
Famous nature writer's observations from his daily circular walk. - ‘Dream Island’ by R.M. Lockley
Not particularly interesting narratives of sailing back and forth between islands and the mainland I very much enjoyed R.M. Lockley’s Letters From Skokholm. Indeed, it is one of my favourite ‘nature classics’ to be re-published by the wonderful Little Toller Press. I enjoyed Dream Island far less. Whereas Letters From Skokholm was all about bird… Continue reading Book review: ‘Dream Island’ by R.M. Lockley - Letters From Skokholm
Wartime letters to a close friend about the wildlife on a Welsh island. - ‘Arctic Dreams’ by Barry Lopez
Deservedly seen as a classic. - ‘Horizon’ by Barry Lopez
Memoir, place and empathy. - ‘Improbable Destinies’ by Jonathan Losos
How predictable is evolution? - ‘Birdsong in a Time of Silence’ by Steven Lovatt
A celebration of birdsong during a pandemic. - ‘A Rough Ride to the Future’ by James Lovelock
Thought-provoking and infuriating. - Beechcombings: The Narratives of Trees
Non-sentimental nature writing at its best. - A Brush With Nature: 25 Years of Personal Reflections on Nature
The best of Mabey's BBC Wildlife magazine pieces. - The Cabaret of Plants
by Richard Mabey Botany and the imagination. The Cabaret of Plants comprises a series of mostly (but see below) very well-researched essays about all things plant. The essays are arranged according to rough themes (famous trees, the history of botany, the mythology of plants, etc.). As always, Mabey is very readable and informative. Unfortunately, the… Continue reading The Cabaret of Plants - Fencing Paradise: The Uses and Abuses of Plants
A series of essays about man's relationship with plants. - ‘Nature Cure’ by Richard Mabey
Nature writer recovers from depression by reconnecting with nature. - The Book of Nightingales
Short monograph on the role of nightingales in western culture. - The Perfumier and the Stinkhorn: Reflections on Natural Science and Romanticism
Short but enjoyable book, based on a series of radio programmes. - Turned Out Nice Again
by Richard Mabey A little book about the weather. Like its predecessor, The Perfumier and the Stinkhorn, this is a very short book based on a series of 15-minute radio programmes. Like its predecessor, you can read this book in a single sitting. In this case, though, the book is about the British obsession with… Continue reading Turned Out Nice Again - ‘Turning the Boat for Home’ by Richard Mabey
A life writing about nature. - ‘The Unofficial Countryside’ by Richard Mabey
How nature can sometimes thrive in man-made environments. - Weeds: How Vagabond Plants Gatecrashed Civilisation and Changed the Way We Think About Nature
British nature writer wants to cut nature's vagabonds some slack. - Gilbert White: A biography of the author of The Natural History of Selborne.
Brief biography based on limited documentation—so probably the definitive one! - H is for Hawk
by Helen Macdonald Multi-prize-winning goshawk memoir. When Helen Macdonald's father died unexpectedly, she was utterly devastated. The strange, very personal way she chose to try to deal with her grief was to train a young goshawk. The idea wasn't as random as it sounds: Macdonald has been obsessed with falconry since she was a small… Continue reading H is for Hawk - ‘Ness’ by Robert Macfarlane & Stanley Donwood
A haunting prose-poem (I think). - ‘The Gifts of Reading’ by Robert Macfarlane
The joy of giving books as presents. - Holloway
by Robert Macfarlane, Stanley Donwood & Dan Richards Beautiful, but expensive. Holloway is a very beautiful book. Stunningly illustrated by Stanley Donwood, its first edition ran to only 277 copies, and was produced using traditional printing techniques. This new edition is for the mass market. The book explores the idea of holloways: ancient sunken tracks… Continue reading Holloway - Landmarks
by Robert Macfarlane A celebration of landscape writers and words. Landmarks is really two books in one: a series of essays about nature writers who have influenced Robert Macfarlane, and a proto-dictionary of mainly old, mainly British words used to describe features in the landscape. As someone who reads an awful lot of ‘nature writing’… Continue reading Landmarks - ‘Mountains of the Mind’ by Robert Macfarlane
A history of a fascination. - ‘Underland’ by Robert Macfarlane
A deep time journey. - The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot
by Robert Macfarlane. Third book in a magnificent trilogy about landscape. This book is ‘the third in a loose trilogy about landscape and the human heart’. Its predecessors, Mountains of the Mind and The Wild Places, set unreasonably high standards; The Old Ways lives up to them. Macfarlane describes a number of journeys he made… Continue reading The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot - The Wild Places
by Robert Macfarlane. Author seeks the remaining wild places of Britain and Ireland. This is a fantastic book, and even more enjoyable than the same author's universally praised debut, Mountains of the Mind. Macfarlane is a flowing, confident writer with a talent for the unusual phrase. He was born, we learn, in 1976—damn his eyes!… Continue reading The Wild Places - ‘Hawkfall and Other Stories’ by George Mackay Brown
Orcadian short stories. - Back to the Front
Breathing new life into some old Beefheart classics. - ‘A Book of Silence’ by Sara Maitland
A journey is search of the pleasure and powers of silence. - ‘Ancestral Journeys’ by Jean Manco
The peopling of Europe from the first venturers to the Vikings. - HMS Beagle: Survey Ship Extraordinary
Meticulously detailed ship's plans of HMS Beagle, for anyone thinking of making a model or replica. - ‘Rising Ground’ by Philip Marsden
A search for the spirit of place. - Don McCullin
Magnificent photojournalism. - ‘A Nature Poem for Every Night of the Year’ edited by Jane McMorland Hunter
A poetry anthology. - ‘Draft No. 4’ by John McPhee
Essays on factual writing. - An Encyclopaedia of Myself
by Jonathan Meades Writer and TV presenter's childhood reminiscences. I am a huge fan of Jonathan Meades's intelligent, entertaining, thought-provoking, irreverent, and amusing television programmes, so I really looked forwards to reading this memoir of his childhood in Wiltshire. I wasn't disappointed. As expected, the book was intelligent, entertaining, thought-provoking, irreverent, and amusing: a real… Continue reading An Encyclopaedia of Myself - Museum Without Walls
by Jonathan Meades An book about places Jonathan Meades makes some of the most intelligent, entertaining, thought-provoking, irreverent, and amusing programmes on television. Museum Without Walls is about… Well, why don't I let Meades himself explain? I really enjoyed this book. Highly recommended. - ‘Pedro and Ricky Come Again’ by Jonathan Meades
Selected Writing 1988-2020. - ‘The Secret Life of Books’ by Tom Mole
Why they mean more than words. - ‘First You Write a Sentence’ by Joe Moran
The elements of reading, writing… and life. - The North (And Almost Everything In It)
by Paul Morley (...but mostly Stockport) Paul Morley spends several chapters at the start of this long (584-page) homage to the North of England trying to define what people mean by The North. In Morley's case, The North is Stockport. If Stockport isn't specific enough, The North is primarily the Reddish area of Stockport. This… Continue reading The North (And Almost Everything In It) - ‘Allegorizings‘ by Jan Morris
Eclectic crepuscular essays. - ‘In My Mind’s Eye’ by Jan Morris
A thought diary. - ‘Thinking Again’ by Jan Morris
A second volume of gentle diary-entries-cum-essays. - ‘Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere’ by Jan Morris
Place writing at its finest, and most personal. - Names for the Sea
by Sarah Moss Strangers in Iceland. This book wasn't at all what I expected. It tells of Sarah Moss and her family's one-year transplant to Iceland. I was expecting it to be all about glaciers and volcanoes and the northern lights—all of which feature in this book—but Names for the Sea is far more about… Continue reading Names for the Sea - Wild Hares and Hummingbirds
by Stephen Moss. The Natural History of an English village. In Wild Hares and Hummingbirds, Stephen Moss records, on a month-by-month basis throughout a single year, his encounters with nature on or near his local patch on the Somerset Levels. I enjoyed it very much. Harry Brockway's excellent scraperboard illustrations, which appear at the start… Continue reading Wild Hares and Hummingbirds - ‘The Gallows Pole’ by Benjamin Myers
18th-century Yorkshire meets the Sopranos: intrigue, betrayal, murder, and revenge in the Calder Valley. - The Happy Atheist
by PZ Myers Relentlessly unsubtle wholesome fun. I tend not to read books about atheism, as I consider myself a fully paid-up member who doesn't need converting. But the scientist and blogger PZ Myers is usually pretty good entertainment value, so I ended up enjoying The Happy Atheist far more than I thought I was… Continue reading The Happy Atheist - ‘The Offing’ by Benjamin Myers
Summer friendship in the North Riding. - ‘Under the Rock’ by Benjamin Myers
The poetry of a place. - ‘Speak, Memory’ by Vladimir Nabokov
An autobiography revisited. - ‘Deep Work’ by Cal Newport
Rules for focused success in a distracted world. - Evolution's Captain: The Tragic Fate of Robert FitzRoy, the Man Who Sailed Charles Darwin Around the World
Biography of the captain of HMS Beagle. - ‘Sea Room’ by Adam Nicolson
The story of one man, three islands and half a million puffins. - ‘The Seabird’s Cry’ by Adam Nicolson
The lives of puffins, gannets, and other ocean voyagers. - ‘The Fish Ladder’ by Katharine Norbury
A journey upstream. The Fish Ladder is a strangely compelling book. It starts very slowly. So slowly that you begin to wonder whether it's ever going to go anywhere. Then the pace picks up. It tells two main stories: adoptee Katharine Norbury's attempts to trace and make contact with her birth-mother and family; and her… Continue reading Book review: ‘The Fish Ladder’ by Katharine Norbury - ‘Women on Nature’ by Katherine Norbury (ed.)
100+ voices on place, landscape and the natural world. - ‘How to be Right’ by James O’Brien
…in a world gone wrong. - ‘The Atlantic Ocean’ by Andrew O'Hagan
Essays on Britain and America. As a long-term subscriber of the London Review of Books, I’ve admired Andrew O’Hagan’s long-form essays for many years. He has a knack for picking subjects you’d never think of reading about and making them unexpectedly interesting. Many of the essays in this eclectic collection first appeared in the LRB.… Continue reading Book review: ‘The Atlantic Ocean’ by Andrew O'Hagan - Trawler: A Journey Through the North Atlantic
How to go mad on a boat. - ‘Some Thoughts on the Common Toad’ by George Orwell
Enjoyable essay collection. - ‘The Development of Darwin’s Theory’ by Dov Ospovat
Natural History, Natural Theology, and Natural Selection, 1838–1859. - Dart
by Alice Oswald Poem about a Devon river. To be honest, I don't get poetry. But I kept coming across references to Alice Oswald's book-length poem Dart, then I heard her interviewed on an excellent Guardian podcast, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm glad I did, because Dart is very enjoyable. I… Continue reading Dart - Darwin's Apprentice
by Janet Owen An archaeological biography of John Lubbock John Lubbock is one of those people I've always intended to find out more about, but have never got round to it. Well, now I have. Janet Owen's biography of Lubbock, published 100 years after his death in 1913, concentrates primarily on his archaeological and ethnographic… Continue reading Darwin's Apprentice - The Rough Guide to Evolution: Darwin's big idea that changed the world
A handy guide to all things evolutionary. - ‘Into the Tangled Bank’ by Lev Parikian
In which our author ventures outdoors to consider the British in nature. - ‘The Murdstone Trilogy’ by Mal Peet
Funny, daft and a bit scary (to some). - ‘The Sense of Style’ by Steven Pinker
The thinking person's guide to writing in the 21st century. - How to Win Every Argument
by Madsen Pirie The use and abuse of logic. I heard about this book via the Merseyside Skeptics Society's excellent podcast, Skeptics with a K. The book classifies and describes the different sorts of tricks and logical fallacies people tend to use—either deliberately or inadvertently—in arguments. Pirie's thesis is that, by learning to recognise such… Continue reading How to Win Every Argument - Unspeak™
How language is (ab)used in order to persuade by stealth. - ‘Nobody Wants to Read Your Shit’ by Steven Pressfield
Don't bother. Reading a book entitled and sub-entitled Nobody Wants to Read Your Shit: why that is and what you can do about it, a writer might reasonably expect to pick up one or two tips about how to get people to actually read their shit. But this book offers next to no such advice… Continue reading Book review: ‘Nobody Wants to Read Your Shit’ by Steven Pressfield - ‘The War of Art’ by Steven Pressfield
A useless book. - The Cloudspotter's Guide
Everything you didn't know you wanted to know about clouds. - ‘The Edge of the World’ by Michael Pye
How the North Sea made us who we are. - The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions
David Quammen travels the world, visiting endangered species. - The Flight of the Iguana: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature
Science, journalistic and autobiographical essays. - Monster of God: The Man-Eating Predator in the Jungles of History and the Mind
David Quammen travels the world, visiting the habitats of four man-eaters. - The Reluctant Mr Darwin: An Intimate Portrait of Charles Darwin and the Making of His Theory of Evolution
Handy analysis of Darwin's procrastination over publishing Origin of Species. - How to Write Everything
by David Quantick A fun and funny book. This is a fun (and funny) book. David Quantick has written in most genres, and this is his guide about how you can to. Do you see what I did, there? I wrote something. Q.E.D. - Alfred Russel Wallace: A Life
A very readable biography about the co-discoverer of Natural Selection—the man who nearly scooped Darwin. - ‘Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species’ by Sabina Radeva
Darwin’s theory of evolution by means of natural selection explained for young children. - The Origin of Darwinism
by James Randerson (ed.). Charles Darwin and The Origin of Species I reviewed this new Guardian ebook on the Friends of Charles Darwin website. - ‘Signalling from Mars’ by Hugh Brogan (ed.)
The letters of Arthur Ransome Reading other people’s correspondence is one of my guilty pleasures. As a child, I loved Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons books. As an adult, I finally got to realise my childhood dream of visiting Wild Cat Island. So, when I came across a copy of Ransome’s letters in a favourite… Continue reading Book review: ‘Signalling from Mars’ by Hugh Brogan (ed.) - Swallows & Amazons
by Arthur Ransome Classic children's book telling of war with pirates. I first read Swallows & Amazons when I was at school. I loved it, and went on to read as many other books in the series as I could obtain from the local library. The book tells the tale of a perfect summer holiday… Continue reading Swallows & Amazons - ‘Unofficial Britain’ by Gareth E. Rees
Journeys through unexpected places. - ‘Ancestors’ by Prof. Alice Roberts
The prehistory of Britain in seven burials. - ‘Tamed’ by Alice Roberts
Ten species that changed our world. - ‘The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being’ by Alice Roberts
Evolution and the making of us. - ‘The Enlightenment’ by John Robertson
A very short introduction. - ‘The Enlightenment’ by Ritchie Robertson
The pursuit of happiness, 1680–1790. - ‘Heligoland’ by Jan Rüger
Britain, Germany, and the struggle for the North Sea. - ‘The Eternal Season’ by Stephen Rutt
Ghosts of summers past, present and future. - ‘The Seafarers’ by Stephen Rutt
A journey among birds. - ‘Wintering’ by Stephen Rutt
A season with geese. - ‘Thames Mudlarking’ by Jason Sandy & Nick Stevens
Searching for London’s Lost Treasures. - ‘The End of Epilepsy?’ by Dieter Schmidt & Simon Shorvon
A history of the modern era of epilepsy 1860–2010. - Schott's Original Miscellany
Everything you never really needed to know in one handy volume. - ‘W.G. Sebald’ by Uwe Schütte
The writer and his work. - ‘The Emergence of Memory’ by Lynne Sharon Schwartz (ed.)
Interviews with, and essays about, the late W.G. Sebald. - ‘Ghosts on the Shore’ by Paul Scraton
Travels along Germany’s Baltic coast. - ‘Across the Land and the Water’ by W.G. Sebald
Selected poems, 1964–2001. - ‘After Nature’ by W.G. Sebald
Three long-form poems, best read as prose. - ‘Austerlitz’ by W.G. Sebald
A haunting novel. - ‘Campo Santo’ by W.G. Sebald
File under Sebaldian. - On the Natural History of Destruction
by W.G. Sebald. An extended essay on the ‘scandalous deficiency’ of texts about the Allied bombing of Germany. This is an astonishing book. I put off reading it for ages, due to the specialist nature of its thesis: the paucity of German texts about the Allied bombing of Germany in the Second World War. But… Continue reading On the Natural History of Destruction - ‘The Emigrants’ by W.G. Sebald
File under Sebaldian. - ‘A Place in the Country’ by W.G. Sebald
Essays on five writers and a painter who influenced Sebald’s work. - ‘The Rings of Saturn’ by W.G. Sebald
Unclassifiable masterpiece. - ‘Vertigo’ by W.G. Sebald
File under Sebaldian. - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Laugh-out-loud autobiographical humour. - ‘The Living Mountain’ by Nan Shepherd
1940s masterpiece of nature writing. - ‘Reality Hunger’ by David Shields
A manifesto. - Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5 Billion-Year History of the Human Body
How our evolutionary history is written into our bodies. - ‘How to Write a Lot’ by Paul J. Silvia
A practical guide to productive academic writing. - Darwin Slept Here: Discovery, adventure, and swimming iguana's in Charles Darwin's South America
Young travel writer follows in the footsteps of Darwin. - Black Apples of Gower
by Iain Sinclair Stone-footing in memory fields. An entertaining book, which is best explained by the author… - Edge of the Orison
by Iain Sinclair In the Traces of John Clare's ‘Journey out of Essex’. As with his London Orbital, I found Iain Sinclair's Edge of the Orison hard-going at times, but, if you let the words in the more difficult passages simply wash over you, it's an equally enjoyable read. In this book, Sinclair is accompanied… Continue reading Edge of the Orison - ‘London Orbital’ by Iain Sinclair
Walking around the M25. - The Little Book of Slugs
Various wacky folk remedies for the evil that is slug. Personally, I'll stick with the slug slinging. - ‘Devotion’ by Patti Smith
Why she writes. Devotion is a short book in three parts: Part one describes Smith going about her writing process. To someone like me who tends to plan things out and write top-down, her writing technique seems spontaneous, haphazard, and bizarre. But as anyone who has read her previous book, M-Train will know, it’s a… Continue reading Book review: ‘Devotion’ by Patti Smith - ‘Just Kids’ by Patti Smith
Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe and their lives together. - ‘M Train’ by Patti Smith
A fascinating exercise in ‘writing about nothing’. - ‘Renegade’ by Mark E. Smith
The lives and tales of Mark E. Smith. - ‘Year of the Monkey’ by Patti Smith
Further quirky memoirs. - ‘The Faraway Nearby’ by Rebecca Solnit
A curiously compelling mix of memoir and anti-memoir. - ‘A Field Guide to Getting Lost’ by Rebecca Solnit
Getting lost as a way to finding yourself. - ‘Orwell’s Roses‘ by Rebecca Solnit
Pleasure, truth, and roses. - ‘Wanderlust’ by Rebecca Solnit
A history of walking. - ‘On Photography’ by Susan Sontag
Wonderful insights marred by pretentious language. I first encountered the late Susan Sontag on the much-missed, long-defunct late-night BBC 2 Arts programme The Late Show. Sontag was being interviewed by a clearly besotted Michael Ignatieff. She came across as a fascinating and charming intellectual with plenty of interesting stuff to say. Ever since, as a… Continue reading Book review: ‘On Photography’ by Susan Sontag - The Complete Maus
The author's father's holocaust experiences, narrated in cartoons. - Strands
by Jean Sprackland A Year of Discoveries on the Beach. In Strands (great title!), the poet Jean Sprackland writes about the things she finds during a final year of walks on her local beach, Ainsdale Sands, in North West England before moving down to London: Victorian shipwrecks, beached whales, prehistoric footprints, Cunard liner teacups. My… Continue reading Strands - The Confusion: Volume 2 of the Baroque Cycle
Part two of the historical page-turner. - Quicksilver: Volume 1 of the Baroque Cycle
Historical page-turner. - ‘Darwin and the Barnacle’ by Rebecca Stott
Charles Darwin’s eight-year barnacle odyssey. - The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: or the Murder at Road Hill House
The tale of a notorious Victorian child-murder. (Not to be confused with fiction!) - ‘60 Degrees North’ by Malachy Tallack
Around the world in search of home. - Return to Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village in the 21st Century
Sequel to a classic 1969 study of an English village. - ‘A Child’s Christmas in Wales’ by Dylan Thomas
A Christmas classic, wonderfully illustrated by Peter Bailey. - ‘In Pursuit of Spring’ by Edward Thomas
Cycling across southern England in early 1913. - ‘Darwin’s Most Wonderful Plants’ by Ken Thompson
Darwin’s botany today. - HMS Beagle: The ship that changed the course of history
A biography of one of the most important ships in history. - The Green Road Through the Trees
by Hugh Thomson A Walk Through England. Näively judging this book by its cover (and title), I assumed it would be about walking through woods, waxing lyrical about trees, and so forth. Although trees do crop up in The Green Road Through the Trees, they are mainly incidental. This is a book about following the… Continue reading The Green Road Through the Trees - On Silbury Hill
by Adam Thorpe Monograph about an enigmatic hill. A pet gripe of mine is the appalling production quality of most British hardback books, printed on little better than yellowing blotting paper. I have no complaints on that front about this book. In fact, its beautiful production was one of the reasons I bought it. On… Continue reading On Silbury Hill - The Hobbit
by J.R.R. Tolkien There and back again I hadn't read The Hobbit for 30 years. With the film version on its way, I thought it was about time I refamiliarised myself with the plot, so I could tut knowingly and mutter “That doesn't happen in the book!” under my breath throughout the movie. The Hobbit… Continue reading The Hobbit - The Children of Húrin
by J.R.R. Tolkien Tolkien's longest unfinished tale (now finished). Having been a huge Tolkien fan in my youth, I decided to give the newly published Children of Húrin a try, being already familiar with the story from an incomplete version that had previously been published in Tolkien's Unfinished Tales. This new version has been made… Continue reading The Children of Húrin - The Silmarillion
The whole of Tolkien's mythology, massively condensed into a single volume. - Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
Why its important to get you're punctuation, right! - The Lunar Men: The Friends who Made the Future, 1730–1810
A collective biography of a remarkable group of friends. - ‘Unnatural Selection’ by Katrina van Grouw
Art meets science in this stunningly illustrated book. - Darwin in Cambridge
A useful booklet about Darwin's Cambridge connections. - ‘Dispelling the Darkness’ by John van Wyhe
Voyage in the Malay Archipelago and the discovery of evolution by Wallace and Darwin. - True North: In praise of England's better half
The Guardian's Nothern Editor explains why things aren't quite so grim up north. - The English Village
by Martin Wainwright. An enjoyable short history of what made England England. I enjoyed this brief history of the English village. I was particularly pleased by how much emphasis Martin Wainwright—a Guardian writer and Northerner blogger—places on northern English village life, which tends to get overlooked by the southern media. I was also delighted to… Continue reading The English Village - Darwin's Mentor: John Stevens Henslow 1796-1861
The biography of John Stephens Henslow, Charles Darwin's tutor at university, and an all-round, thoroughly good chap. - Fingersmith
Well plotted but slightly over-long novel: Victorian lesbians, pickpockets and pornographers—but not as racy as it sounds. - ‘The Natural History of Selborne’ by Gilbert White
A nature writing classic. - ‘The Diversity of Life’ by Edward O. Wilson
On our most valuable but least appreciated resource. - The Elizabethans
by A.N. Wilson. Tales from the reign of Good Queen Bess. Having enjoyed Wilson's earlier book about the reign of a later queen, The Victorians, I was looking forward to finding out a bit more about the reign of the first Queen Elizabeth. The Elizabethans is a pretty good book. There was a bit too… Continue reading The Elizabethans - The Victorians
Pretty much all you could ever want to know about the Victorians, although there isn't enough science and engineering. - ‘The Jeeves Omnibus, vol. 1’ by P.G. Wodehouse
What-ho! - ‘The Jeeves Omnibus, vol. 2’ by P.G. Wodehouse
Oh, I say! - ‘The Jeeves Omnibus, vol. 3’ by P.G. Wodehouse
Pip pip! - ‘Human Evolution’ by Bernard Wood
A very short introduction. - ‘The Ice Age’ by Jamie Woodward
A very short introduction. - ‘Congenial Spirits’ by Virginia Woolf
The selected letters of Virginia Woolf. - Mrs Dalloway
by Virginia Woolf Stream-of-consciousness classic. I first read Mrs Dalloway in 1990. It inspired me to parody. Even so, it left a lasting impression, so I thought it was about time I re-read it. I'm glad I did. It is a remarkable novel, describing a single day in the criss-crossed lives of a number of… Continue reading Mrs Dalloway - ‘To the Lighthouse’ by Virginia Woolf
Streams of consciousness in the Hebrides. - ‘The Invention of Science’ by David Wootton
A new history of the Scientific Revolution. - The ‘Wormingford’ series by Ronald Blythe
A magnificent ten-volume series of weekly diary-entries-cum-essays. - ‘Kindred’ by Rebecca Wragg Sykes
An introduction to our formerly maligned cousins. - ‘The Sea View Has Me Again’ by Patrick Wright
Uwe Johnson in Sheerness (1974–1984). - The Invention of Nature
The adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, the lost hero of science. - ‘Animal Behaviour’ by Tristram D. Wyatt
A very short introduction. - The Shining Levels
by John Wyatt Living in the Lakeland woods. The Shining Levels is the late John Wyatt's account of a year spent living in a Lakeland forest as a forestry worker. To be honest, I enjoyed it less than many of the other classics of nature writing published by Little Toller books. Even though it was… Continue reading The Shining Levels - ‘Ghost Town’ by Jeff Young
A Liverpool shadowplay. - Darwin's Mysterious Illness: A medical puzzle unsolved for 150 years
13-page booklet examining the possible causes for Darwin's illness. - Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea: from Darwin to DNA
An excellent introduction to evolution. - Parasite Rex: Inside the bizarre world of nature's most dangerous creatures.
The weird and wonderful ways in which parasites make a living. - ‘Writing to Learn’ by William Zinsser
The best way to find out if you understand something is to write about it. - ‘On Writing Well’ by William Zinsser
The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction. - ‘Sexual Selection’ by Marlene Zuk & Leigh W. Simmons
A very short introduction.