In their new book - commonsense in its approach, easy to read, packed with information - Peter Singer and Jim Mason show how market forces inexorably drive farmers toward cruel practices. But their overall message is not bleak. Factory farming is under pressure to justify itself. The day may not be far when we will return to a more ethical treatment of fellow animals, and there are many practical things that ordinary consumers can do to bring that day nearer.

An absolutely indispensable book for anyone who thinks about what they eat. Eating is that rare combination of lively read and thorough research and investigation. It is a masterpiece, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

In this well-researched and deeply troubling book, Peter Singer and Jim Mason paint a devastating portrait of the meat industry that is bound to change the way you eat.

It has changed the way i think about food.

Vital, urgent and disturbing

[McDonough and Braungart's] ideas are bold, imaginative, and deserving of serious attention

Fabulous ... What an incredible account of an amazing century

A wondrous telling of the history of the very English love affair with gardens and growing things

The Brother Gardeners is a delightful book. It brings the story of 18th-century gardening to life in a remarkably vivid way, and sheds new light on the personality clashes and prejudices which lay at the root of the Georgians' passion for plants

The Brother Gardeners were a group of men involved in the 18th-century quest for new plants, at a fascinating period in garden history. Andrea Wulf brings their personalities vividly to life in her thoroughly researched and lively account.

A totally engrossing read

Immaculately written and researched, this book brings to life the dramas and dangers of eighteenth-century plant collecting

[An] engrossing history of botanical obsession in England in the 18th century ... The author has a good eye for interesting detail and a fine sense of literary economy

A 'biography' of the quintessential English garden, taking in Captain Cook, Carl Linnaeus, and the simultaneous rise of the British Empire and flower arranging - a delightful look at horticultural history

As Wulf triumphantly shows, plants and gardens reveal a wider view of the forces that shape society ... An antidote to dry garden history; rarely has the story of English plants been told with such vigour, and such fun

The best book this year is The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession

Andrea Wulf has written a wonderful book, using a clutch of fascinating men to remind us the British Empire was once as much about white pine and Camellia japonica as it was about guns and steel ... enthralling story ... brilliantly readable book