BOOKS: Nature

An exploration into our Neolithic past through the history, legends and lore of Cumbria’s prolific array of standing stones.

Humanity’s ability to fashion nature to its own ends is by no means a new phenomenon. Silica-rich rocks have been flint-knapped by Stone Age people, transformed into stained glass in medieval times, and made into silicon chips for computers in the Digital Age. Our trick of turning rocks rich in malachite and chalcopyrite into copper has taken us from Bronze Age Minoan vases to the wiring that powers modern-day machinery. In Extraction to Extinction, David Howe traces our environmental impact through time to unearth how our obsession with endlessly producing and throwing away more and more stuff has pushed the planet to its limit.

As spring arrives, Stephen Moss’s Somerset garden is awash with birdsong: chiffchaffs, wrens, robins and more. Overhead, buzzards soar, ravens tumble and the season gathers pace. This evocative account underlines how a global crisis changed the way we relate to the natural world, giving us hope for the future. And it puts down a marker for a new normal: when, during that brief but unforgettable spring, nature gave us comfort, hope and joy.

“I can’t think of a more important book that’s been written about British wildlife in the past 20 years…” James Fair, naturalist, in Countryfile’s Best Nature Books of 2020

***HIGHLAND BOOK PRIZE SHORTLISED*** In the abiding light of summer, the nature in Jim Crumley’s heartlands of Scotland is burgeoning freely. Seals sing, brown hares bound, dragonflies dance. His silent vigils reveal not only an enchanting account of summer’s exuberant profusion, but the unfolding climate chaos. From declining puffin populations to the demise of entire glaciers, The Nature of Summer explores what is at stake as our seasons are pushed beyond nature’s limits.