The Garden Jungle

Oct 17, 2024 12:29 AM

Author:Dave Goulson

The Garden Jungle

**SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**

The Garden Jungle is a wonderful introduction to the hundreds of small creatures with whom we

live cheek-by-jowl and of the myriad ways that we can encourage them to thrive.

The Garden Jungle is about the wildlife that lives right under our noses, in our gardens and parks, between the gaps in the pavement, and in the soil beneath our feet. Wherever you are right now, the chances are that there are worms, woodlice, centipedes, flies, silverfish, wasps, beetles, mice, shrews and much, much more, quietly living within just a few paces of you.

Dave Goulson gives us an insight into the fascinating and sometimes weird lives of these creatures, taking us burrowing into the compost heap, digging under the lawn and diving into the garden pond. He explains how our lives and ultimately the fate of humankind are inextricably intertwined with that of earwigs, bees, lacewings and hoverflies, unappreciated heroes of the natural world.

The Garden Jungle is at times an immensely serious book, exploring the environmental harm inadvertently done by gardeners who buy intensively reared plants in disposable plastic pots, sprayed with pesticides and grown in peat cut from the ground. Goulson argues that gardens could become places where we can reconnect with nature and rediscover where food comes from.

For anyone who has a garden, and cares about our planet, this book is essential reading.

Reviews

[Goulson] is master of intriguing details of a world beyond our ken… The Garden Jungle is an eye-opening book… [and Goulson’s] enthusiasm is infectious. This is a man you’d just love to visit your garden and show you its invisible wonders, teach you how to nurture them.

—— Melanie Reid , The Times

This book will teach you a great deal about the creatures who live right outside your door and are waiting for you to get to know them. It is a constant revelation.

—— John Carey , Sunday Times

Like a top-notch wildlife documentary, The Garden Jungle draws us in with fascinating details of the natural world and, at the same time, delivers a wake-up call… I doubt that many will finish reading this important book without making a few changes to their gardening or way of life.

—— Jamie Cable , Church Times

An upbeat book about the wonders of the ecosystem in every garden.

—— The Times, *Summer reads of 2019*

Woodlice, earthworms, earwigs: a seething Serengeti lurks in many a back garden. Apiologist Dave Goulson’s wonderful book encourages such richness by delivering solid science on garden wilding... Goulson demonstrates that the domestic nature reserve is the first step towards saving the planet.

—— Barbara Kiser , Nature

Well-informed…persuasive… [and] a call to arms…Garden Jungle may be back-garden in scale, but the wider context is agricultural and horticultural practices worldwide… Twelve diverse chapters highlight what is happening and how we can contribute to positive change.

—— Hannah Gardner , Gardens Illustrated

Packed with remarkable details…the book shows how anyone lucky enough to have a garden or an allotment can transform it into a refuge for threatened flora and fauna… this is an excellent guide to green gardening.

—— PD Smith , Guardian

An exquisite, compelling and quietly evangelical book about how gardeners can play their part in saving the planet… We need writers such as Goulson and this is a book that should be read by every gardener in the country.

—— Alex Preston , Observer

Goulson is the kind of humorous, knowledgeable and bubblingly enthusiastic teacher anyone would want… He brilliantly communicates his delight at the biological miracles right under our noses in our own back gardens… The Garden Jungle is funny, combative and full of…ideas.

—— Christopher Hart , Daily Mail

You put the book down and change your habits… an essential in every garden bookshop.

—— Brigitte Norland , Resurgence & Ecology

An insight into the fascinating world of the wildlife that lives right under our noses.

—— Woman's Weekly Living Series

[The Garden Jungle] brings the broader picture into focus…[and] compels the reader to care about every last creepy-crawly.

—— Jane Perrone , Financial Times, *Books of the Year*

This book offers hope… the author’s humour and enthusiasm make for an inspiring read… a clear call to action…we are encouraged to get involved in saving the planet, starting outside our own back doors.

—— Nic Wilson , The Garden

Goulson is a warrior. Through this medium, he has the ability to influence and change the course our whole society takes, from individuals to politicians, economists and industrialists.

—— Annabel Downs , Garden Design Journal

Dave Goulson is an expert on everything that grows, buzzes, crawls or flies, and we would do well to take his advice when gardening.

—— Sorted

[A] fascinating book

—— Jenny Mollison , Scotsman

Gripping . . . Kate Brown's relentless, tenacious reporting shows that Chernobyl isn't the past at all. Nothing, she makes clear, can stop its radiation from seeping through all attempts to bury the truth, for a long time to come. This deftly written, impassioned, courageous book should make the world think twice about what's at stake when we unleash nuclear reactions.

—— Alan Weisman, author, The World Without Us and Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth?

This engagingly written book reads like a cold war thriller and uncovers the devastating effects of one of the world's worst nuclear disasters.

—— Alison MacFarlane, Director, Institute for International Science and Technology Policy, George Washington University

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