Druin Burch has written a detailed and deeply felt biography of this colourful figure... Digging Up the Dead is not simply the biography of a great surgeon, but a brilliant portrait of surgical life before the coming of anaesthesia, anitisepsis, antibiotics, and professional regulations

A physician himself, Burch brings a special insight into episodes whose significance would doubtless be lost or bungled in the hands of another writer... His detailed analyses of early nineteenth-century medical procedures for treating complicated conditions...are masterful, deft and humane

Vivid account of 18th-century surgeon Astley Cooper's life... Burch, also a doctor, mixes his narrative with recollections from his own practice, which serve to enhance this lively biography...All in all a jolly good read

An ambitious and convincing attempt to bring back to life the man who was responsible for so many less respectable acts of resurrection

[An] evocative biography... Burch (clearly smitten) dares the reader to empathise with "this vain, egotistical, nepotistic and rather wonderful" man, with considerable success

Besides being disgustingly entertaining ... these shocking stories are valuable history. As a doctor himself, Burch evokes the tensions between brutality and beautiful science by informing the historical narrative with his own memoirs

A mine of information...a fascinating book about art and science that is packed with anecdotes

Bright Earth proves that many of the world's greatest artists owe a great debt to the questing colourmen behind them

A memoir ... that robes the peculiarly strong and almost inexpressible relationship between people and mute creatures - a love that at times goes beyond reason, yet can also represent the most profound attachment ... Doty, who is also a poet, writes with intelligence and lyricism.

Illuminating, perceptive and profound meditation on life, death and the adoration of dogs.... Doty is rightly regarded as one of America's finest living poets - recipient of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the T.S.Eliot Prize. He brings that sensibility to bear on the very weight of a dog's head in your hand, the way they know you are leaving and show it in their eyes, the nuances of their wags. He unashamedly regales us with the silliest details (the way the animals sprawl on the bed between him and his partner) to demonstrate his own inarguable humanity.... You finish this memoir like a retriever after a stick, with no choice but to start over again.

[A] moving book.

A major new exposé . . . This is not yet another doomsday read about the perils of flying, or debating the pros and cons of carbon off-setting, it's an honest account of the huge impact we have on the destinations we frequent . . . Rather than throwing reams of statistics at us, Hickman paints a more graphic picture of the impact our travelling makes by telling the story through the eyes of locals he meets on his way round the globe. His discoveries of what lies behind the glossy veneer of a resort hotel make for sober reading.

A fascinating and harrowing read. I doubt anyone has spelt out the inherent dangers of tourism so clearly before. The publication of this could well prove to be a 'tipping point'.

Leo Hickman's enthralling book should be read by politicians, students and, most of all, by every would-be tourist.

This is a really excellent critique of the travel industry . . . If you are interested in the tourist industry this book is highly recommended, being easy to read, while being very thorough and searching in the questions it asks.

Excellent and thoroughly compelling . . . The Final Call deserves to be read by those of us lucky enough to be able to fly on a regular basis . . . Hickman's book is a sobering, thoughtful and intelligent reminder that it is a privilege we need to be forcefully reminded not to take for granted.

Thoughtful and thought-provoking.

Well written and engaging without being too gloomy and prescriptive, this book makes for uncomfortable, yet necessary, reading for anyone who enjoys travel.

This much appreciated book should be a must-read for everyone who likes to travel, and should be translated into the languages of the world's tourism champions. It should also be a must-read for politicians and decision makers in development agencies to finally understand that tourism has lost the 'virginity' of a harmless leisure sector to develop into a dangerous global driving force which needs to be regulated and restricted.