Jungle is a bold, ambitious and truly wonderful history of the world that shows the vital importance of tropical forests to life on Earth

A fascinating story and a crucial revision of the momentous importance of tropical forests to human history. Spanning from our very evolution as a species, to the early stages of globalisation and how we fill our kitchen cupboards today, we all owe far more to jungles than we realise

There are many books on the history of trilobites and dinosaurs and other animals, but so few on the history of plants. Here the dynamic young scientist Patrick Roberts tackles the history of the tropics, from the coal swamps of 300 million years ago, through the co-evolutionary dance of dinosaurs and mammals and flowers, to how our own human history has been shaped by vegetation. As environments are changing rapidly around us today, this is a timely, readable and highly relevant history that celebrates the wonder and importance of jungles

Welcome to the 'Jungle' - a breath-taking book showing that tropical forests were key to our evolution, provide fossil fuels for our modern carbon-hungry society and ultimately must be protected and restored if we are to have a future. This insightful and captivating book will ensure you never take our jungles for granted ever again

An enthralling jungle-journey from the origins of life on this planet to the present day, Jungle provides a brilliant new perspective on our interaction with tropical forests, placing them at the centre of human experience - and it delivers a timely warning about our abuse of the environment

Jungle sweeps the reader into the primordial heart of the earth, as if the crucible of life welcomed you to its sanctuary. Its revelations and stories will stir, rearrange and populate your mind for years to come. As a book, it is a joy, pure intellectual chocolate

Finally, a book on rainforests that does justice to their majesty and importance. Patrick Roberts skilfully and lucidly shows why tropical forests matter. He builds the case that people and tropical forests are intimately linked, whether you live in the rainforest or seemingly a world away. Those intricate links are more important than ever today, with ending deforestation playing a key role in solving the twin climate and biodiversity crises we face this century

Enormously ambitious, deeply researched, moves with great skill from ecology and evolution to history and politics

Many European and American books and films imply that tropical forests are incapable of sustainably supporting large human societies. Jungle provides a superbly argued refutation of this long-held view . . . a thrilling reappraisal of our origins and our dependence on tropical forests

A giddying, gleeful whistlestop tour of the 20th century... Ostrom has the enthusiasm and mischievous twinkle of TV historian Lucy Worsley.

A book to savour... an education and a pleasure. I couldn’t recommend it for fragrance lovers more highly.

Witty and elegant... works like an enticing spell.

An intriguing, intoxicating guide to all things perfume.

This is a wonderful book... will appeal to readers of fashion biographies and fashion history and anyone will a love of scent.

[Tindall] has written an absorbing account… This is a work of love and scholarship.

A thoughtful and engaging interpretation of London’s history through metaphors of tunneling and excavation.

Enchanting.

Fascinating… One of her strengths is to discover historical first-person narratives, and this, plus her extensive research, make her book an entertaining and informative read

Engaging… It’s an entertaining book. Crossrail should stock copies on its trains, ready for the inevitable day when signal failure traps thousands of us between Bedlam and a plague pit.

The Journey of Humanity is a good summary of growth theories and is an elegantly written and accessible book

Galor argues that climate policy should not be restricted to cutting carbon but should also involve "pushing hard for gender equality, access to education and the availability of contraceptives, to drive forward the decline in fertility". India will do well to heed that advice

The Journey of Humanity stretches from the emergence of Homo sapiens to the present day, and has a lot to say about the future, too. In just over 240 pages it covers our migration out of Africa, the development of agriculture, the Industrial Revolution and the phenomenal growth of the past two centuries. It takes in population change, the climate crisis and global inequality ... There will be inevitable comparisons with Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens ... If you need an evidence-based antidote to doomscrolling, here it is ... Galor builds his case meticulously, always testing his assumptions against the evidence, and without the sense of agenda-pushing that accompanies other boosterish thinkers - the Steven Pinkers or Francis Fukuyamas of this world

Incredibly wide-ranging and detailed historical and even anthropological examination of the myriad factors that have brought success and failure to nations ... Lively and learned

An optimist's guide to the future ... Oded Galor's 'Sapiens'-like history of civilisation predicts a happy ending for humanity

Enjoyable and intriguing

An antidote to doomscrolling

A great historical fresco

Breathtaking. A new Sapiens

Ambitious and deep ... the product of genuine scholarship