After Mark Cocker’s glorious book, you will never look at a blackberry bush the same way again.

A nature journal full of beautiful, delicate observation

A beautifully-written account of one man’s passion for the natural world

If your eye has ever been caught by a moth, owl, jay or ash tree, Claxton has something new to tell about it, about Britain, and about life – which is an infinite compilation of exquisite detail.

To be astonished by nature, look no further than Claxton.

Cocker’s profound knowledge, uncanny ability to observe and heartliftingly exact prose make Claxton one of those books that transforms the way you see your own home parish.

The book is spectacular… Brilliant natural-history writing.

At once charming and unsentimental, these short pieces educate and delight.

Cocker is a sharp-eyed, knowledgeable and accessible writer… Makes one look again at the world outdoors with renewed awe and wonder.

[Cocker] is enraptured, passionate and down-to-earth, and never stops wanting to learn and delve deeper into his ordinary, extraordinary English countryside.

Cocker is a sharp-eyed, knowledgeable and accessible writer. The way in which he celebrates the rhythms of a year makes one look again at the world outdoors with renewed awe and wonder.

[Cocker] observes with patience, acuity and in prose so exquisite it borders on poetry… You feel as though you’re by the side of the most expert guide you could hope for, being taught to marvel at wonders of nature.

Cocker is a quietly eloquent guide.

He writes both robustly and exquisitely, seeing into things through the prism of language with great craft and a sense of seamless ease.

A heartfelt plea to treasure and protect the diversity and richness of our indigenous wildlife.

It’s a celebration of wonder that lies in our everyday experiences, with magical and concise, but inspiring writing!

[Cocker’s] writing is characterised by close observation and a tangible sense of the progression through the seasons.

His year-long cycle of daily writings from a single valley in Norfolk proves the infinite variety to be found in a confined space.

Cocker has produced a nature journal full of beautiful, delicate observation, intense drama and new understanding… Claxton is a book full of tastes, sounds and smells as well as sights.

An immensely satisfying and calming read, this can be savoured and enjoyed.

A cycle of jewelled, profoundly knowledgeable essays by one of our three finest contemporary nature writers.

Cocker poses straight questions about our relationship with the natural world and whose job it is to protect is. This skilfully written, lyrically observer book will make you feel it’s a worthwhile job.

If you want an antidote to the season, as one year turns coldly into the next, this book is perfect.

I defy anyone not to be moved by some of his more remarkable encounters with an amazing cast of creatures and his profound love for his landscape.

A lyrical writer, Cocker lucidly conveys his knowledge and love of nature’s details that most of us fail to observe.

Reading this book is a great enjoyment in itself, but also helps elucidate why the world outside is so very important to our inner selves.

A thought provoking read.

Cocker writes with such infectious enthusiasm that blackberry picking becomes a thrilling pursuit

Sparklingly tight prose … a delight to read

Like the best nature books, Cocker’s will infect readers with enthusiasm for going out and noticing things

It’s as satisfyingly poetic as it is poetically satisfying.

For its sheer originality and intellectual stimulation, I was captivated by Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens

That fellow connected an awful lot of dots in that work. I thought the book would be a dense read, a slog, with a struggle for my brain on every page. I had a highlighter ready to mark the more pavement-thick paragraphs I’d have to go back and re-ponder. Instead, I flew through it like it was a nonfiction The Thorn Birds. Does that mean I’m getting smarter?

Ambitious and invigorating

Harari’s book is important reading for serious-minded, self-reflective sapiens

Brilliantly done and endlessly fascinating

Vast and intricate... Engaging and informative

A thrilling account of humankind’s extraordinary history

The book is maddeningly opinionated and insanely ambitious. It is also compulsively readable and impossibly learned. It is one of the best accounts by a Homo sapiens of the unlikely story of our violent, accomplished species

An enthusiastic and confident narrative that is relentlessly interesting from the first word to the last

The most exciting book I’ve read this year

One of the most talked about non-fiction bestsellers of the year... Harari is one of the very few thinkers around who’s really looking at what’s happening now. Sapiens is his attempt to tell the story of the past to understand the present: the great technological advances that we are all living through now

Eloquent and provocative

A headclutchingly provocative account of our species from the Stone Age to the present... Stunningly ambitious and compellingly written. They call it macro-history. They’re right.

Fascinating

Unforgettably vivid language. I urge everyone to read it

Contains a remarkable piece of information on almost every page and reminds us that we should be grateful to be human.

Thought-provoking

I would recommend Sapiens to anyone who’s interested in the history and future of our species.

Read with an open mind and you might look at life in a whole new way.

A fantastic book about how homo sapiens came to conquer the world

A dark and thrilling epic.

I have continued to be driven bonkers by my current obsession: Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, an extraordinary tome that charts the plight of the planet’s most destructive species since the dawn of time: us. Every paragraph gives you pause for thought, as it catalogues how nuts human beings really are… It may be the best book I’ve ever read; it’s certainly fascinating.

This doesn’t make you feel clever; it makes you feel included. It’s written so brilliantly… He’s written about the human family as a family.

It's one of the best books I’ve read recently and gives an excellent overview of how our species has developed and helps us understand why and who we are today.

A sweeping account of the history of our species, written in vivid prose.

It rattles along, firing glitter-coated bullets of wisdom as it goes. If Carlsberg made professors, they’d have fashioned them thus. You’ll never have quite as much fun while learning so much.

Reading this wonderful book feels like looking at life down the bigger end of the telescope. Its scope – which incorporates the history of our species and the question of what the future may have in store – is so magisterial, one has an increasingly godlike feeling while reading it.

An absolute trove that everyone who wants to understand everything from human evolution to diet, religions and limited liability companies should read.

Opening up a controversial topic with spirit and thoroughness, Sapiens will challenge your preconceptions, provoke discussion and, most importantly, push you to think for yourself… Bold and provocative.

A brilliant, interdisciplinary account of the past and future of our species… Some of Harari’s most interesting points are the ways in which the fundamental, unchanging traits that make us human (emotions, desires) relate to the modern world. Essential reading for any liberal arts degree.

In the unlikely event you haven’t already read it and…fancy learning some cool new stuff in a fun way, I wholeheartedly recommend it to you.

It’s so intense that you have to read a bit then have a rest. It has brilliant passages, such as where he argues humans became enslaved by agriculture. Vivid and invigorating.

Every now and then a book comes along that tilts your perspective on the world. This internationally best-selling phenomenon is one of them.