This is a lovely, lovely book. Can I say that again? A lovely book. I enjoyed leafing through the pages, with a feast of trees and shrubs and facts. TThis is a lovely, lovely book. Can I say that again? A lovely book. I enjoyed leafing through the pages, with a feast of trees and shrubs and facts. There is only one illustration per tree, and not all have one in my e-ARC. So use a tree guide to identify a new tree. The pages are laid out by Latin names, which keeps the citrus together and birch together, etc. but doesn't follow families of trees otherwise. The interesting part is where facts and folklore are presented together. It may be a fact that hawthorn was considered lucky for brides, and otherwise unlucky to pick, but saying that hawthorn is influenced by such an element or brings good fortune is folklore, and it's left to the reader to distinguish. The ash was the Yggdrasil tree of the Norse. Some trees have the location given, but some do not. I thought an indicator of general origin would be helpful on all. A small icon above each tree indicates if it is toxic, edible (sometimes both) or what other uses are made of it. We also learn if the tree is long-lived. I think it's charming to give the folk beliefs associated with the tree, because these might die out otherwise, and may be the reason the tree still survives.
I read an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review....more
No book on the basics of horse care and riding can cover all the basics, but this one has a good try. I like that emphasis is placed on safety both onNo book on the basics of horse care and riding can cover all the basics, but this one has a good try. I like that emphasis is placed on safety both on the ground and mounted. People of all ages and skills can get hurt by being around or falling off large animals, and almost every photo of a rider shows them with a hard hat (the exception is a Western hat). The author should probably explain at the outset that she is in Australia - agistment is livery just about everywhere else. She also has a variety of small horse called a Galloway, 14.2 - 15.2hh, this is a heritage term where she lives but won't be familiar elsewhere. In other countries a pony is up to and including 14.2hh or 148cm and horses are 14.2 1/2hh or over 148cm. Stating that a pony is under 14.2 will cause confusion. I like that riders are instructed how to groom and tack the horse, also to know the basic points of the horse and hoof. Horse care - no real mention of horse nuts, maybe they are not common in Australia but horse nuts of varying protein and oil levels and molassed mixed feed are main feeds here. No mention of how much water a horse needs each day, when to not give it - if the horse is heated or has just eaten - and why; can cause colic. I would have said more about colic. No mention of bedding and mucking out. Among the lovely horse breeds and colours, we twice get told the Appaloosa is leopard marked with a white coat and dark spots. This is only one possible coat marking, others include dark with a white blanket rump which has spots, dark with white snowflakes, etc. Dressage - two arenas are shown, the basic letters and the large arena with added letters, for positions around the arena. Was there a need for the big one in a book where riders are being told how to mount? It seems advanced and offputting. Some important advice is given on buying a first pony or horse. Among this is 'no vices' but we're not told what that means, so I would have given a paragraph of explanation. We get a lot of tips on riding at some gaits, but not jumping, which will disappoint learners who want to jump. The author clearly knows a lot (and tells us several times she knows a lot) but doesn't quite complete any section, to my mind. But this is her book and she can write it any way she wants. She's included lots of nice colour photos and several of her own horses. The young reader can have a fun time with this book and learn some good principles, but it certainly won't be the only book they should read.
I read an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review....more
I enjoyed this book, which is brightly colourful and presented simply, while conveying a great deal of information. Horse breeds are shown with selectI enjoyed this book, which is brightly colourful and presented simply, while conveying a great deal of information. Horse breeds are shown with selected representatives of light, medium and heavy horses, plus ponies and the Przewalski's Horse. Each horse is shown in a photograph but the background has been removed and a stylised basic drawn scene added. This concentrates our eye on the outline of the horse. Donkeys and asses get a full spread, before we progress to horse care, stable management and the basics of riding.
Beginner riders can concentrate on the mount and ride photos. A young rider will probably enjoy the book for the horse breeds but not find much new in the riding section. For the already competent rider, there won't be enough new information. However, I could look at beautiful horses all day. A diverse set of young riders is shown, and a few of the many equestrian sports are covered.
I read an e-ARC from the publisher and Net Galley. This is an unbiased review. ...more
From a koala peacefully ambling across an overpass in Australia, the author takes us through contrasting roads. He shows us a dirt track through a raiFrom a koala peacefully ambling across an overpass in Australia, the author takes us through contrasting roads. He shows us a dirt track through a rainforest in Borneo; a year later, the tarmac highway with wide cleared roadsides had removed any possibility that a clouded leopard would again stand in the road.
Whether a moose, camel or kangaroo, large animals colliding with vehicles tends to end badly for all concerned. But smaller animals such as the Tasmanian devils collared and monitored in a study are just wiped out when a road is resurfaced; the explanation is the added speed of vehicles.
Overpasses and underpasses are being designed with ecologists, and we are shown some structures in various stages of newness and later use. The photos are excellent. Even a rope ladder up on poles can help animals adapted to use it.
Wildlife crosses roads for many reasons. One is to find food, shelter or safety. Another is to find a mate. Fragmented populations means the isolation of DNA in 'island' groups and the gradual inbreeding that can make a population unviable. Adapting a road, the Hume Freeway, to help gliders cross, and comparing it with a farm track, the scientists learned that while more gliders used the new safe crossing than had attempted the journey previously, the farm track crossing was still greatly more used. They ascribed this to the heavy traffic, including goods vehicles, day and night on the major road. Continued studies were needed. A camera trap appeared to show many underpass crossings by koalas, but these surprisingly turned out to be many crossings by one male koala. Finding which animals used the cross points, and which did not, was essential. Another example given is Banff, as the Trans-Canada Highway is crossed by more fauna corridors than are in most countries. Finally we are told how a culverted river was opened to the sky again, and the life that returned with the water.
I found this a fascinating book which will be read and enjoyed - apart from the casualty numbers, deforestation and other environmental issues - by ecologists, surveyors, land managers and zoologists. People can and should make a difference, where humans have altered the habitat. Also, this work makes roads safer for people, and reduces insurance claims. I don't like the cover, which is boring and has no relation to ecology. An overpass would have been better.
In my e-ARC the Appendix begins on p. 219, listing species in the text, sugar gliders to sun bears. Notes are not given after chapters but start on p. 223. References p. 233 - 240. I read an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review. ...more
This is an excellent book about migrating birds, some of which move from one small region to a similar region in the opposite hemisphere each year, otThis is an excellent book about migrating birds, some of which move from one small region to a similar region in the opposite hemisphere each year, others spending years at sea. We follow the author as he joins birders, scientists and bird advocates globally, whether catching and ringing birds, counting them, or reporting the criminals who trap or shoot weary migrants.
Shooting is only one threat. Others include overuse of pesticide killing falcons which eat the insects - ironic since the more birds die the more pests there are to eat crops. Land reclamation from seafront removes safe feeding and resting grounds, replacing them with factories and highways for many miles in China. Birds need safe spots to break their journeys, especially during stormy weather. If they can't rest and feed, they arrive at breeding grounds underweight and late. Climate warming is also throwing birds out of step with the hatching of insects which feed chicks.
The radar tracking and tiny flight recorders and transmitters now carried by birds, using cellphone masts, or downloadable data, are providing eye-opening records of avian journeys.
I recommend this book to birders, ecologists, students and journalists. Also to anyone who has land upon which birds feed or nest or rest. Similar books would include the older On The Wing about tracking peregrines, Nature Beyond Solitude by John Siebert Farnsworth about bird science studies, The Narrow Edge about the red knot, and Curlew Moon about curlews in Ireland and UK.
I borrowed this book from the RDS Library. This is an unbiased review.
This is a fascinating look at cities under cities, or under mountains; at vast underground reservoirs and water tunnels; at gas-powered eternal underwThis is a fascinating look at cities under cities, or under mountains; at vast underground reservoirs and water tunnels; at gas-powered eternal underworld flaming pits; at limestone caverns unexplored until recent equipment allowed; at ancient cave paintings; at minings and delvings, escape routes and particle accelerators.
Just enough science of geology and cryology and hydrology is imparted, so you can look up terms if you wish but can take in the sense of the text easily. The brightly coloured photos reveal incredible landscapes, formations and habitations.
We have to be glad that others are brave enough to explore, or inspired enough to create, or educated enough to design and build. This book will provide you with facts to amaze and tourism sites to bookmark. We also learn about climate changing and what it may mean for our future.
I read an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review. ...more
This book does suffer from being dated, as it was published in 2000 when BSE was the main crisis in Britain. Not plastic. Useful content includes the This book does suffer from being dated, as it was published in 2000 when BSE was the main crisis in Britain. Not plastic. Useful content includes the story of Greenpeace taking over an oil platform, Brent Spar, Anders Hansen, 'Claims-making and framing in British newspaper coverage of the 'Brent Spar' controversy' P.54, and a well written piece on making climate change readable. But so, so much could have been included which is not. So much waffle is included which is pointless to anyone except academics.
In a book titled Environmental Risks and the Media, I would have expected to see coverage of how media report whistleblowers in major industries; what the major threats are; whether journalists should go to protest marches prepared for tear gas or violence; and how to assess stories coming from pressure groups or fill in the gaps in the official statements. Which countries are most dangerous for environmental journalists; how deforestation is covered; do firms send journalists overseas to report or hire someone local; whether a spokesperson's statement should be delivered as given or stripped to see who benefits; how news organisations provide balance; how the public can judge whether the news is biased or simply the facts.
For example, in a quoted story about cars over ten years old and exhaust pollution, a motor manufacturer chairman, of Ford UK, is quoted as saying older cars should be scrapped because new cars would be much less polluting. Neither the academic writer nor the journalist asks what the motor manufacturer would have to gain by this, nor produces statistics on exhausts and particulate matter, but leaves it to one member of the public to say that their older car is still running fine. A third person says car sharing schemes would be better. P.35/ 36, Simon Cottle, 'TV news, lay voices, visualisation of risks'.
A highly useful portion shows the spoken content of a news report side by side with the text for a visual image shown at that moment. So left, BBC News, presenter speaks to camera, describes toxic waste spill; right, presenter in studio, still of dead fish, belly up. And so on through the report, with film clips, maps etc. P.39. Simon Cottle, 'TV news, lay voices, visualisation of risks'.
That's one of the more practical chapters. Another chapter dissects the word ecology and wonders why we want to use a word with logy in it. Never occurs to them to compare it with biology, mycology, ornithology, pharmacology, etc. and say that ology means the study of. (And you would not say ecoology or bioology.) No, they're off on a hack about some musing about logos being 'a stand in for ...language, law, logic, even reason or discourse.' Someone is trying to tell us they took Latin or Greek at school. We don't need to know, and the editor should have pulled them up on that. P.237, Joost van Loon, 'Mediating the risks of virtual environments'.
A chapter on protesters against motorways looks at how the people who took to tunnels or trees are covered, not much at the issues they highlighted.
An entire chapter is devoted to women being subjected to ads for sun tan products. Nobody asks if sun tan products contaminate water and pose a danger to aquatic organisms. We don't get a skin cancer statistical chart. But paid ads are worrying, you know, risky, and need a lot of dissecting, especially if they are aimed at women. I think. I don't even glance at ads. I bet many women don't. Chap 9, 145, Justine Coupland and Nikolas Coupland, 'Selling control'.
Another chapter looks at threats to women, perceived or real. And how women said they were affected. This chapter is all about men and media reporting making public spaces unsafe for women or making the women feel they have to stay at home. Not about actual risks from the natural environment, not even sunburn. Chap. 11, P.171, C. Kay Weaver, Cynthia Carter and Elizabeth Stanka, 'The female body at risk'. In their worry about the perception versus the reality, that most women encounter violence at home if they do at all, they omit pickpocketing, bag-snatching and other theft, and general unwanted physical contact or personal comment, and male control freakery, and don't say that women should dump impractical footwear that stops them running in any crisis. The remark that media reporting may contain gendered comment about women victims of violence being revealingly dressed or walking alone at night (P.171) is valuable, if only because I think developed world media (we do not hear about other nations' media) have grown up and more female reporters are narrating stories. Victim blaming may be gone from most responsible media. But on P. 181 we get 'Only 'beasts' hurt women. Yet we now know that most violence against women is perpetrated by 'nice guys' not 'beasts'.' No, nice guys do not harm women and even as an ironic comment that has no place in this book. Control freaks harm women. Say it for what it is.
Other chapters look at homelessness, and whether older people are afraid to leave the house. All fine for sociology but I don't see that it genuinely fits in a book about environmental risks, except if you could not find enough writing about the environment. There must be a compilation of statistics about horse riding and risk, or surfing and risk.
The most useful and best written chapter was by Kris M Wilson, P202 'Communicating climate change through the media.' 'Complexity is a serious problem for reporters with little or no science background and for news organisations that rely on general assignment reporters to cover climate change. At most US news organisations, science stories are usually covered by general assignment reporters who are expected to handle a wide range of stories, but who also lack any scientific training. Lacking both training and experience, they are less able to evaluate what they are reporting (Nelkin 1987). Science-trained journalists can be more critical about shoddy research methods and are less likely to take what they are told at face value than their untrained colleagues (Dunwoody 1986b). ' P.208. I agree. But this book is 20 years old and uses comments 13 years older. Can that situation still be true in today's world of computers, internet and smartphones?
The cover image which looks like shiny coal, is described as 'Remains of batteries after incineration' in Japan. I would rather the 1995 action image of Greenpeace at Brent Spar was used (credited to Greenpeace and David Sims, but not the one I know) because it actually looks recognisable at a glance, contains people, and tells a story. Burned batteries do not appear anywhere else in the book and we are not told why they are risky.
I borrowed this book from the DBS Library. This is an unbiased review. ...more
This book contains a splendid selection of large full colour photos of horses, by several different photographers. I particularly like that draught brThis book contains a splendid selection of large full colour photos of horses, by several different photographers. I particularly like that draught breeds are given equal prominence with saddle breeds. The information with each photo is concise and gets across the information well. As the breeder of a Suffolk Punch says of her foal, this breed is rarer than the panda.
Many of the uses to which horses have been and are being put, are described. If there is a lack, I'd say it is that no photos of children on ponies are shown (apart from a special needs mount); we do see some ponies, and I suppose there are plenty of pony books for kids. However, the lack may make the book a little less approachable for children. The editor seems to have focused on a book for adults and looked worldwide.
Horse lovers like me who don't have a horse right now, could probably live in this book. I downloaded an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review. ...more
This is a book showing illustrations of habitats around the world and the creatures that might live in them. We learn a small amount about the environThis is a book showing illustrations of habitats around the world and the creatures that might live in them. We learn a small amount about the environment - desert, woods, rainforest - but mainly we get to meet the animals. These are not photos and they are not always true colour. More like a silhouette with some detail, in blue or grey. I would prefer if the colours were more like life. We are told the status of the animal from not endangered on the left page over to endangered on the right and extinct on the far right. I like that as well as the familiar large animals we get birds, grasshoppers, amphibians.
Some tips for helping to minimise our effect on nature are given on each page. Young kids may have trouble seeing the connection between using less water to brush their teeth and the destruction of a rainforest. Perhaps something more directly related could be provided, like not using tropical woods nor buying imported trapped pets.
Good effort and we need all the help we can get. Parents should check the book fits with the reading age of their children, as there is not a lot of text but it's also not a simple storybook. Ages 7 - 10 should be fine. I downloaded an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review. ...more
I love this book of a jaunt around the world, looking at trees on the way. The author, who grew up wandering Kew Gardens, looks at British Isles treesI love this book of a jaunt around the world, looking at trees on the way. The author, who grew up wandering Kew Gardens, looks at British Isles trees first, with the rowan for Scotland and Arbutus for Ireland. Off to Finland to meet the birch, wandering through cork oak forests and larches across the continent, before encountering the exotic and valuable timbers, spices, barks and resins of the fabled Orient, bloated looking baobabs of Africa, toxic trees of nutrient-poor countries, lightweight timber, timber too heavy to float, trees with knees, trees with giant seeds, trees with animals spreading their seeds, trees that stop disastrous illness, trees used for main masts. And at the end you will still be saying, "But what about...." because only 80 trees are included.
The pages are copiously illustrated, making the book a joy for any tree lover, a feast for the eyes. And not only have we learned about the trees, we learnt about the industry, population or animals that share their lives and fortunes, including pollinators, traders, cooks and aeroplane makers. As the countries are so scattered, and best of new science applied, even longtime tree lovers like me will learn something.
I downloaded an ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review. ...more
The author has drawn from original writing, photos and sketches, as well as archaeology and experimental archaeology, to show us what Australia lookedThe author has drawn from original writing, photos and sketches, as well as archaeology and experimental archaeology, to show us what Australia looked like before white settlers arrived. He tells us, in well-annotated pages, that the Aboriginals had substantial agriculture (not ploughed) and had domesticated strains of wheat, yam and yam daisy, as well as rice in swampy areas. They had major constructions of weirs and fish traps, and some permanent chutes to capture and sort kangaroos; they fed off lily bulbs, nuts, bogong moths and other foods in season, and preserved large stocks of foods, many of which were availed of by hungry white explorers.
Diarists found large or small houses - some houses could shelter forty people but persisted in being described as hovels by diarists, because they were seldom constructed of stone. In some cases they were made of whalebone but mostly sticks and sod. Villages right across Australia held up to 500 people at times.
What put an end to the 'landscaped grounds' as English men called them, were the imported livestock, particularly sheep which ate the tasty native plants to the root, killing them, and compacted the soil with hard hoofs. After this the continent became desertified. The stock owners at times co-operated with the first land owners, other times shot them, burned villages, destroyed structures. At no time, says the author, were Aboriginals given credit for advanced techniques and good stewardship, because an attitude of superiority was required for exploitation.
I found the book fascinating and would like to see the native grains and yams grown again substantially - a very few have been found, and the seeds have been used to bake bread which is popular with artisan bakers. Similarly the author recommends returning to farming kangaroos and emus. He mentions abalone, a shellfish, which was denigrated as 'mutton fish' fit for the Aboriginals by early settlers - until the Japanese wanted to buy it.
Clearly a good many aspects could be addressed to make substantial improvements, not least an increase in respect for Aboriginal inheritance and wisdom.
Acknowledgements, credits, index, P231 - 278. While many women are credited during the book, the bibliography lists names by first initial only so I was unable to say how many women were credited. I borrowed this book from the Royal Dublin Society Library. This is an unbiased review. ...more
I found this book packed with facts and right up to date, but I could often have done with some illustrations, both graphs and photos. A green city, aI found this book packed with facts and right up to date, but I could often have done with some illustrations, both graphs and photos. A green city, a green vertical forest building twenty storeys high - what would that look like? I've seen some on the internet, but maybe not those which the author had in mind, and others won't have seen any.
Looking at climate change, pollution of many kinds, and biodiversity loss, the author takes us back and forth, through prehistory and history, from one continent to another, from Cape Town to Milan.
As I am an urban tree surgeon I am in all in favour of planting city trees, for the reasons outlined here. But seldom mentioned are the nuisances caused by tree roots buckling footpaths, cracking walls and fracturing pipes; the dangers of limbs dropping, aphids eating the community garden, branches shading and damaging homes and overhead wires, fissured trees splitting, poisonous seeds being eaten. Trees are a major boon to any urban or suburban space but need informed management. Planting trees which are appropriate for the location is the first step.
Many kinds of environmental information are presented in concise form, such as the dire concept that we use about one and a half planet's worth of resources every year. We're also told of agreements, promises, positive steps. The focus is mainly on city dwellers and how much goods and power they require, how much water they need, how much waste they produce. Megacities are on the increase. Also shown are some interesting economic facts, like the giant firm Daewoo which at one time generated a tenth of the Korean economy, collapsing in 1999. The concept of 'too big to be allowed to fail' was tested but when Daewoo failed, the economy actually flourished, says the author, because all the smaller firms got the investment that would have been wasted down a black hole of debt. This fact is not too far on the page from the birth of agriculture, and this mixes later with Iceland trying to get rid of all need for imported fuel, and African nations installing more solar power than USA. Then we are told 'we' are running out of sand.
So I do think that a clearer structure and more illustration would have improved this book. We could also do with more personal stories and quotes, as mostly it's very abstract. But the content will be extremely useful to climate change protestors, besides being up to date, so I am giving five stars. Note P132 - 138 in my e-ARC. I downloaded an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review. ...more
I think the photo of a jaguar looks more like a leopard. Otherwise, this is a well put-together, varied and interesting collection of drastic events tI think the photo of a jaguar looks more like a leopard. Otherwise, this is a well put-together, varied and interesting collection of drastic events that might happen and how to survive them until you reach help. Get separated from a rafting party? Plane crash or car breakdown, somewhere like a desert or mountain? Boat capsize at sea? If you can remember the lessons from this concise and illustrated book, you have a much better chance of survival. I like that we get stories of how real people survived similar incidents in real life.
You will also be prepared for one of those office team-building exercises! While the book has a tone suitable for young adult readers, anyone can benefit. I read an e-ARC from Net Galley and Fresh Fiction. This is an unbiased review. ...more
The tautology of describing a character as "Naïve ingénue Lucy", and mixing up Joyce's 'Ulysses' with his 'Finnegans Wake' - it's the latter which is The tautology of describing a character as "Naïve ingénue Lucy", and mixing up Joyce's 'Ulysses' with his 'Finnegans Wake' - it's the latter which is considered the most unreadable book in literature - as well as the confusion between interred and interned, mean that this book could probably have benefited from an editor.
The concept is alluring; pick 25 of the cities or other places represented in world literature and describe how we can return to the scenes of the books. Paris of Victor Hugo was a stinking, crowded, dark city; the modernisation swept away many streets and created those wide boulevards, too big to barricade. But some of the locations can still be found. Similarly, Florence of A Room With A View is still a warm, scented, cultured contrast with an English city, while Naples still has the mafia and backdrop of Vesuvius experienced in M'Amica Geniale or My Brilliant Friend. The Spanish mountains of For Whom The Bell Tolls are still available for walkers. Yes, we can go and visit, even time travel. Dickens' London, Austen's Bath. Mahfouz's Cairo, Gordimer's Soweto, Hosseini's Kabul, Twain's Mississippi.
We get a little of the life of each author, and where they are buried, in case we'd like to visit the tomb / grave. Some authors later became controversial. Quite a few are Nobel laureates, or Booker winners, or similar. This may have been a standard used for selection. Because of this, you could also take the book as a guide to a list of literature to read and cross off, in order to be well-read and well travelled. I haven't read all the books. And confession time: I had presumed that The Catcher in The Rye was about a farming community. Rye fields. Apparently it's set in New York City. I had never heard anything about this book that made me interested in reading it. After this summary, I definitely am not interested, and I still don't know where the rye comes in. I did read Harper Lee's book aged 12, and I was fascinated to find how much of the action I could retrace today.
The account I enjoyed most in this book is how scholars puzzled out clues from Don Quixote to recreate the journeys of the book across La Mancha, where today we can see museums, plazas with statues of characters and a preserved farmhouse. The illustrations are simplistic and, as described at the back of the book, bright and bold. The idea is to capture the essence of each locale rather than to reproduce faithfully. I could not see all of them in my e-ARC but I enjoyed the pictures I did see.
I downloaded an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review....more
How very cheerful. If you know anyone who is a perpetual moaner or who loves gloomy books, maybe you could gift them a copy. Airborne diseases followeHow very cheerful. If you know anyone who is a perpetual moaner or who loves gloomy books, maybe you could gift them a copy. Airborne diseases followed by water borne, then those transmitted by animals or insects and humans, make up the contents. A few pages on each illness - influenza, cholera, polio, HIV - are followed by a colour-coded map of the world showing where or when each illness occurred. Then there is often another map for the most recent outbreak, or the state of play in 2016. Efforts to combat each disease are discussed, from quarantining to vaccination. Of course we see the famous map of cholera spread in London. From this we expand to see the progress of diseases around the world, with medieval or modern travel. Don't forget the illustrations of the day of what a patient looked like.
To be clear, we don't get rabies and the common cold; just pandemics and killer epidemics. The Spanish Influenza, plague, leprosy, typhoid. Zika, Ebola. I'm getting the shivers just reading about them. Those starting to study medicine, or with an interest in geopolitical history, will find this book fascinating. Personally I'm glad I live in this century, and not in a country which still has polio or TB. This is a well produced book with useful information.
I downloaded an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review. ...more
This is a lively bright atlas type drawn book, for young readers, with each continent shown and countries marked. Major landmarks are identified and sThis is a lively bright atlas type drawn book, for young readers, with each continent shown and countries marked. Major landmarks are identified and some are visited on separate pages in full colour. These go from Uluru to the Taj Mahal to skyscrapers so do not relate to the seven wonders of the ancient or modern world. However they are all inspiring and famous, and would spark a history or geography project. We could argue about our preferred landmarks which are not depicted - Britain is represented by Stonehenge - which is not a bad idea in itself.
I don't think adventures is entirely apt. Hiking and sightseeing is on all the pages with the odd look at surfing, climbing, snow sports etc in suitable locations but no story adventure occurs. Still, we do get the impression that tourists are enjoying themselves by being in the physical location of Yellowstone, say, rather than looking at it on a screen. Families and classrooms will find this fun and useful as a jumping off point.
I was let down by just one misprint; Libya is spelt Lybia. I actually Googled this to see if it was an accepted alternate spelling but no. I'm telling the publisher and this may get corrected when the book is sold. I downloaded an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review. ...more
Forewords by HRH Prince Charles and Jane Goodall. I enjoyed the many black and white photos.
This book deals with the life of forester and conservationForewords by HRH Prince Charles and Jane Goodall. I enjoyed the many black and white photos.
This book deals with the life of forester and conservationist Richard St Barbe Baker, born in England, as he travelled, learned and applied his knowledge. Those who are early successful in the field they love, tend to have a family background in the business. Equestrians have a family of horse dealers. Baker was planting trees from his toddler years, before WW1. He travelled to Canada for adventure and this began his habit of meeting the Indigenous people of a land and learning their customs and respect for nature. He was a lifelong vegetarian. Deciding to get a Cambridge degree in forestry, Baker sold his goods and returned to England, in nice time to be told there was a war on. He joined up and was put in charge of horse resupply. The book says he put 18,000 horses on board ships. He was also in many dire straits and gained injuries. After the war Baker got his degree and was sent to Africa where, he gradually realised, he was supervising the destruction of the forests and removal of timber from indigenous lands. Applying lessons he had learned in Canada he encouraged the locals to start planting trees and tree nurseries, calling them Men of the Trees. Thus began an estimable career. Highlights include riding the length of New Zealand to deliver a lecture tour to schools, aged 74; championing a Redwood National Park in California to protect the trees from loggers; establishing that bamboo was a fine substitute for tree wood for many purposes, and renewable; meeting dignitaries all over the world. With his Cambridge status he was able to gain access to all kinds of important people, which another person would not.
Notes and index begin on P277 and go to 299, but the index pages are blank in my e-ARC. Thus I am unable to say how many sources quoted were female. Most of the quotes used in the body of the book were from the subject's own papers. I downloaded an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review.
This is an entertaining and enlightening look at our globalised world. Maybe you would like to know where bananas come from, or football players. WhicThis is an entertaining and enlightening look at our globalised world. Maybe you would like to know where bananas come from, or football players. Which nations consume the most tea? (Ireland and Britain are shown grossly disproportionate through our love of tea drinking.) Where do satellites cover? Which nations are most visited by tourists, and which cities? Which cities carry out the most high finance? (London about tops the list in those two.) Where are soybeans or palm oil mostly grown, and where consumed? The visuals are colourful and easily understandable, with a page or two of text on each topic.
The book could be good for creating posters for a project, or providing easily used detail for a class or college study. I downloaded a copy from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review. ...more
This exploration of explorations of an exploring people is full of fascinations, friendships and frightening distances. Also birds - as guides, as fooThis exploration of explorations of an exploring people is full of fascinations, friendships and frightening distances. Also birds - as guides, as food, as giants made extinct.
The author tells us she is married to a Polynesian gentleman who is one of a people who inhabit remote islands across the Pacific, which today are in a nine hours' flight on a side, triangle.
To explore a people who didn't have a written history, and lost much oral history when diseases struck, is to give an account of how other nations came across them, reacted to them, befriended them and learned about them. From Spaniards and Dutch, to Captain Cook's many voyages, to Thor Heyerdahl, spans centuries of puzzlement. For how did the Polynesians get where they were, where did they come from, and were they all related?
Linguistics proved a relationship, the animals carried, pigs, dogs, chickens and rats, added firmly to the links. In the modern times, after radiocarbon dating, fishhooks and pottery were added, the animals came in useful again; their bones could safely be DNA tested from modern and buried sites, rather than disturbing too many human graves.
I enjoyed the account and the photos. Some of the passages were new to me and others more familiar but the whole is well assembled and tries to show what people on both sides believed at the time. Notes P319 - 354 in my e-ARC. I counted 11 names which I could be sure were female. I downloaded a ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review.
Anyone interested in reading fictional accounts of seafaring Polynesian-like communities may enjoy 'The Roof of Voyaging' by Garry Kilworth, 'Misfits And Heroes - Past The Last Island' by Kathleen Rollins, 'Daughter of the Reef' by Clare Coleman and 'Where the Waters Turn Black' by Patrick Benedict....more
This is a hard-bitten, hard riding memoir, in which a horseman works his way around outback Australia through this series of stories. Reginald Ottley This is a hard-bitten, hard riding memoir, in which a horseman works his way around outback Australia through this series of stories. Reginald Ottley breaks horses, captures wild brumbies, rounds up and brands cattle, rounds up wild camels and does more hard work under a blazing sun than anyone sensible would do. There isn't time to be sentimental about animals but he unceasingly praises his mounts (only one of which gets a name). I don't really recommend this book for young readers under 12 as it is not intended for children.
The author's first fictionalised young adult story 'Boy Alone' was retitled 'By the Sandhills of Yamboorah' and 'The Roan Colt' retitled 'The Roan Colt at Yamboorah'. The third book which I have yet to find is 'Rain Comes to Yamboorah'. He has also written several other books in various settings, but mainly on Aussie stations. Anyone interested in this way of life would also like 'Beating About The Bush' and sequels by Len Beadell, who led the major road construction teams. This is an unbiased review. ...more
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