Author:Peter Marren,Richard Mabey
As with Flora and Birds, Bugs is not a biological guide but a richly-illustrated cultural one, seen through the eyes of writers, musicians, artists and naturalists - from the great Tudor naturalist, Thomas Muffet (father of Little Miss Muffet) to Irvine Welsh's talking tapeworm in Filth - as well as contributions by ordinary men and women who are fascinated by creepy-crawlies of all kinds.
The book is structured along a roughly evolving path, from simple cell life-forms - amoeba, worms, crustaceans (proof, say the authors, of 'just how far you can go on very little') - to bugs we all might recognise - spiders, butterflies, bees - and back into the water to meet molluscs and 'almost-fish'... The book works so triumphantly because author Peter Marren has examined bugs in the dusty corners of our houses and gardens as well as traversing mountains, lakes and fields. In addition to the fascinating habits of the bug world, he also includes the eccentric behaviour of the bug obsessives themselves.
But of course, the true heroes of the book are the bugs themselves: the nimble-dicks, clock ladies and coffin-cutters. From the Boring Sponge (its official name!) to the Mermaid's Glove and Penis Worm, via the glamourous Dark Crimson Underwing and Ruby-Tailed Wasp - this rich compendium of bugs is a must not only for naturalists but for anyone who cares about the crawling, buzzing swarms at our feet.
Pearce is no idle Jeremiah...his book signals a shift of tone in the popular debate...The Last Generation makes you feel that we know enough now to conceive of the problems ahead. And anticipating a problem is half way to being able to do something about it.
—— James Flint , The Daily TelegraphThis is the most frightening book that I have ever read...everyone should read this book to find out what is going wrong with the world.
—— John Gribbin , The IndependentOne of Britain's finest science writers. He is a sceptic of the best sort, saying nothing until he has seen the truth of it for himself.
—— Richard Girling , The Sunday TimesA crystal clear wake-up call from one of the finest science writers in the world.
—— Dr Jeremy LeggettApocalyptic in its vision, but never scare-mongering, The Last Generation superbly explains and dramatizes both the causes and the consequences of climate change. One reads it both gripped, and deeply alarmed.
—— Robert MacfarlanePearce's book does a superb job of surveying the evidence which demonstrates that we are changing the world's climate. He gives an engaging, lucid and balanced account, with emphasis on both the certainty that "business as usual will produce basically a different planet" and the uncertainties as to detail, particularly time scales. This is a powerful book about the most important event in human history. Read it.
—— Professor Lord May OM FRS, Oxford UniversityWe are now at war with Gaia and have no chance whatever of winning. Fred Pearce's scholarly and thoughtful book analyzes the battlefield and will guide us in a sensible retreat to the place where we can negotiate a peace.
—— James LovelockThis book is a sober illustration of how little we have actually grasped of the reality of the economic damage and human catastrophe already caused by anthropogenic Climate Change.
In pulling together all the major scientific work from the last 40 years into a coherent and highly readable form, Fred Pearce has sounded the final warning. It is as if we are all on a plane with the auto-pilot set to crash.
Pearce is unashamedly frank in telling it like it is and, even more frighteningly, that it's only going to get worse. This book is a call to action that we dare not ignore.
It is not a book for the faint-hearted, but if you want to read a well-researched book that makes the science accessible and exiting, The Last Generation is an ideal choice.
—— Fiona Archer , www.ecozine.co.ukNo one...is suggesting that this is a relaxing read, but it's certainly a necessary one.
—— The Good Book GuideVery readable...Pearce is excellent at explaining the fantastically complex interrelationships of Earth systems.
—— Steven Poole , The GuardianLess folksy and biographical than Bill Bryson, less zany than a Bluffer's Guide. But many a bang for your buck, washed down with quotations from the greats ... Potter has an engaging style
—— Daily MailWith marvellous clarity, compassion, erudition, humour and open-mindedness, Potter blasts us through the vast vacuum of space
—— Daily TelegraphBrimming with excitement . . . This is a rewarding tale of courage, determination, and the possibilities of science.
—— The StarDawkins emerges like a prize-fighter, knocking out of the ring all objections
—— NatureMost importantly his writing radiates an intense sense of fascination. He is a great explainer, taking complex biological processes and making them accessible
—— IndependentIf you want to understand evolution, I doubt there are many better at explaining it to laymen than Dawkins... A writer who is red in tooth and pen, his opponents don't stand a chance
—— Scottish Sunday HeraldAn accessible, colourful and beautifully detailed look at many scientific wonders - whether it's the great variety of dogs or the sex life of orchids - and a great primer for those coming fresh to the subject
—— Irish TimesRichard Dawkin's new book... gives the fact-rejecters their just deserts
—— Daily TelegraphThe book is full of evidence, some familiar and some new. Its case is presented in a manner succinct, clear and sometimes vivid
—— Daily TelegraphNo other book currently available approaches Dawkin's comprehensive yet accessible treatment of the extraordinarily diverse and massive body of data that drives ineluctably to the same conclusion
—— National Center for Science EducationThe Greatest Show on Earth is a lucid, thorough and often exciting survey of evolution and takes in rats' teeth, dogs, bacteria, the so-called missing link, crustaceans, giraffe anatomy, hummingbirds, chimpanzees, enzymes - you name it. It is informed in nearly every paragraph by Mr. Dawkins's irrepressible enthusiasm
—— Sarah Lyall , New York TimesThe Greatest Show on Earth... is essential reading. I would currently rate it... as the best overall book on the evidence for Evolution
—— Marc E. Miquel , SCOPEThis is a magnificent book of wonderstanding: Richard Dawkins combines an artist's wonder at the virtuosity of nature with a scientist's understanding of how it comes to be
—— Matt Ridley, author of "Nature via Nurture"