This is a splendid book and will do much good to counteract the comfortable hypocrisy of urban and suburban greens who pretend to 'save the earth' while carrying on business as usual. Fred Pearce goes out and sees the world as well as thinking and writing about it; he is one of the few that understand the Earth as it really is and we must listen to him.

Pearce shows us how our greed, and our wilful blindness, are ruining the world in faraway places . . . An excellent book.

Sometimes frightening, always enlightening, it will teach you more about other people's lives than you ever thought possible.

Beguiling . . . honest and revealing . . . optimistic . . . A big book for big problems.

Follow in his global footprints as you read this compelling, thoughtful, provocative and utterly fascinating book.

[Pearce] makes a strong case that the well-meaning Joe Publics of the world really do need someone to tell it like it is, in language they can understand and with the vital statistics intelligible to all. Essential reading.

A terrific story of competitive bickering, intrigue, damaged reputations and unacknowledged contributions- It is also wonderfully written- an ideal primer

Marvellous and comprehensive

There are few better introductions than this

A wonderful book- [which] bears favourable comparison with Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man.

James Watson-is one of the greatest living biologists- [His] new book is an important event, for he is a scintillating writer

James Watson has been an eyewitness to each revolution in molecular biology, from the double helix to the genome. He sees further and clearer than anybody else in the field. Give this fabulously good book to anybody who wants to understand what all the excitement is about

Gabriel Weston's story succeeds better than any I have known...more riveting and thought-provoking than any fiction

Glinting like a tray of instruments, her prose is satisfyingly precise

A curiously thrilling read, written with an elegance heightened by its clarity and economy

A valuable and unflinching account, since it so clearly tells the truth

This book is mesmerising

Her description of the struggle to remain individual and hence moral is her real achievement. This, to me, is what female writing has to do, and she does it with style and humour and beauty

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.