'Our climate crisis is a choice': Christiana Figueres on why we can change...
In 2009, the UN climate summit in Copenhagen ended in failure when governments around the world failed to reach an agreement on how to tackle the climate crisis. Then along came Christiana Figueres,...
View ArticleGiving the Devil His Due by Michael Shermer a defence of free speech
Shermer is a particular kind of “scientific” truthteller, who aims to cut through the bullshit. How useful are these short reflections?Pick up a book, any book. Is it dedicated to “my friends...
View ArticleLosing Eden: Why Our Minds Need the Wild by Lucy Jones; Wanderland by Jini...
Two books examining the importance of nature on our wellbeing feel all the more vital under lockdownWhen the first daffodils were blooming two months ago, the apocalyptic prologue to Lucy Jones’s...
View ArticleMedicine: A Graphic History by Jean-Noël Fabiani and Philippe Bercovici – review
These tales of diseases and cures by a French surgeon and his cartoonist sidekick will have you in stitchesIt has already been widely observed that in recent weeks quite a lot of people have apparently...
View ArticleAround the World in 80 Trees by Jonathan Drori review – a wonderful tour
From baobabs to London planes, the unique characteristics of the Earth’s trees and their role in human livesThere’s a whole world in every tree, says Jonathan Drori. Travelling eastwards from his...
View ArticleThe end of coronavirus: what plague literature tells us about our future
From Thucydides to Camus, there are plenty of hopeful reminders that there’s nothing unprecedented about the coronavirus lockdown - and that pandemics do endShortly before the London lockdown, at an...
View ArticleNatural by Alan Levinovitz review – the seductive myth of nature's goodness
From ‘clean eating’ to the countryside to Goop, ‘natural’ is assumed to be good and is almost a new religion, argues this book. But is the author focusing on the right question?The world was under...
View ArticleThe Well Gardened Mind by Sue Stuart-Smith review – unwinding with nature
A life-affirming study of the pleasures of tending a plot or garden, and soothing your mind Sue Stuart-Smith, a psychiatrist and psychotherapist, has a unique view of gardening: “I have come to...
View ArticleThe Celestial Hunter by Roberto Calasso review – the sacrificial society
Informed by myth, this damning exploration of man’s detachment from the animal world is the ninth in a staggeringly learned seriesAdam and Eve left the Garden of Eden wearing animal skins to hide the...
View ArticleThe best books and audiobooks of 2020 so far
Hilary Mantel’s trilogy was finished at last, Blake Gopnik exposed Warhol’s private life and Richard E Grant brought new life to Iris Murdoch. Here are our highlights of the year to dateContinue...
View Article‘I want to find the beauty in everything': Dara McAnulty's Diary of a Young...
The 16-year-old nature writer recalls a night filled with bats and moths in this extract from his debut bookInterview with Dara McAnulty: ‘Being out in nature, everything just works’Wednesday 1...
View ArticleNatural talent: the 16 year-old writer taking the world by storm
Dara McAnulty is being hailed by the likes of Robert Macfarlane and Chris Packham as a bright new voice. He talks about life with autism and finding peace in the wilds of Northern IrelandRead an...
View ArticleWater Ways by Jasper Winn review – a gentle journey along Britain's canals
A year-long exploration of canal life takes in history, camaraderie and composting loosBritain has some 2,000 miles of canal – most of us live within five miles of one. Jasper Winn was appointed as the...
View ArticleOrwell prize for fiction shortlist replays 2019 Booker prize contest
Booker winner Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other will vie with Lucy Ellmann’s Ducks, Newburyport for political writing awardThe clash between Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other and Lucy...
View ArticleRobin Wall Kimmerer: 'People can’t understand the world as a gift unless...
Her book Braiding Sweetgrass has been a surprise bestseller. The nature writer talks about her fight for plant rights, and why she hopes the pandemic will increase human compassion for the natural...
View ArticleChart toppers: the best books to help you understand numbers
From the classic How to Lie With Statistics to the highly relevant The Rules of Contagion ... mathematician Hannah Fry picks books to help demystify Covid-19 dataIt’s hard to imagine a moment in...
View ArticleDavid Attenborough to publish 'witness statement' on climate crisis
Broadcaster and historian says A Life on Our Planet book will record ‘dreadful damage wrought by mankind’ and propose solutionsDavid Attenborough is to publish his “vision for the future” of Earth this...
View Article'Why did white men get to have all the fun?': the long road to diverse travel...
As a young Asian female travel writer, Jini Reddy entered a genre that was mostly white and male. But new and emerging voices give her hope for a different futureI was born in London, to Indian parents...
View ArticleIn brief: Walking the Great North Line; All Our Broken Idols; The Farm – review
A marvellous tour of British landmarks, an archaeological mystery and a dystopian satire about a ‘gestation retreat’ Orion, £20, pp320Continue reading...
View ArticleFrom sorcerers to samurai: best books to transport you to other worlds
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa takes us back to medieval Japan, Robert Macfarlane journeys deep underground … author Tade Thompson shares his favouritesIt may not be the apocalypse we anticipated, but even in a...
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