Author:Mark Kurlansky
Will most of the major fisheries of the world be exhausted by 2048, as has been claimed? Have the number of large fish in the ocean decreased by 90 per cent over the past 50 years, as has been asserted by a respected scientist? Are 60 per cent of the fish species studied by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation either fully exploited or depleted, as one of their reports attests? Fishing at sea, an ancient trade and a way of life that has defined coastal towns throughout history, may be coming to an end. The culture and traditions of coastal Britain and of seagoing nations everywhere are now threatened with extinction.
In his most important book yet, Mark Kurlansky - the celebrated author of Cod, Salt and The Big Oyster - explores the fate of our oceans and the decline of our most ancient coastal enterprise. The Last Fish Tale sends up a timely distress flare but one which brilliantly illuminates a colourful, exuberant and poignant landscape, from Newlyn in Cornwall to Gloucester in Massachusetts - a fishing village first settled by Englishmen in the early 1600s. The result is a cultural, economic, environmental and culinary bouillabaisse - the most compelling fish tale of our time.
This app/book version of Hawking's famous laymen book is just an amazing piece of learning. This makes much more accessible and understandable the complex and awesome topics dealt by Hawking as he explains how our universe works. I am just in awe at how creative he is to produce one of a kind e-book like this. The pace, illustrations and connections of topics within the book are so helpful and so appropriate for the new generation used to tweets and small bites of information. You can flip over some topics when you have some time, learn some amazing fact, and come back later which no rush or worry about how fast you are progressing through the book. Hope other books on complex topics are translated to this format. And I love the updates of the latest science since the publication of the original book. We have learned so much in the last decade that I agree with Hawking, it is an honour to live in this times.
—— RibozymeMaster of the Universe... One scientist's courageous voyage to the frontiers of the Cosmos
—— NewsweekThis book marries a child's wonder to a genius's intellect. We journey into Hawking's universe, while marvelling at his mind
—— The Sunday TimesHe can explain the complexities of cosmological physics with an engaging combination of clarity and wit... His is a brain of extraordinary power
—— ObserverTo follow such a fine mind as it exposes such great problems is an exciting experience
—— The Sunday TimesOne of the most brilliant scientific minds since Einstein
—— Daily ExpressWe are now at war with Gaia and have no chance whatever of winning. Fred Pearce's scholarly and thoughtful book analyzes the battlefield and will guide us in a sensible retreat to the place where we can negotiate a peace.
—— James LovelockThis book is a sober illustration of how little we have actually grasped of the reality of the economic damage and human catastrophe already caused by anthropogenic Climate Change.
In pulling together all the major scientific work from the last 40 years into a coherent and highly readable form, Fred Pearce has sounded the final warning. It is as if we are all on a plane with the auto-pilot set to crash.
Pearce is unashamedly frank in telling it like it is and, even more frighteningly, that it's only going to get worse. This book is a call to action that we dare not ignore.
It is not a book for the faint-hearted, but if you want to read a well-researched book that makes the science accessible and exiting, The Last Generation is an ideal choice.
—— Fiona Archer , www.ecozine.co.ukNo one...is suggesting that this is a relaxing read, but it's certainly a necessary one.
—— The Good Book GuideVery readable...Pearce is excellent at explaining the fantastically complex interrelationships of Earth systems.
—— Steven Poole , The GuardianLess folksy and biographical than Bill Bryson, less zany than a Bluffer's Guide. But many a bang for your buck, washed down with quotations from the greats ... Potter has an engaging style
—— Daily MailWith marvellous clarity, compassion, erudition, humour and open-mindedness, Potter blasts us through the vast vacuum of space
—— Daily TelegraphBrimming with excitement . . . This is a rewarding tale of courage, determination, and the possibilities of science.
—— The StarDawkins emerges like a prize-fighter, knocking out of the ring all objections
—— NatureMost importantly his writing radiates an intense sense of fascination. He is a great explainer, taking complex biological processes and making them accessible
—— IndependentIf you want to understand evolution, I doubt there are many better at explaining it to laymen than Dawkins... A writer who is red in tooth and pen, his opponents don't stand a chance
—— Scottish Sunday HeraldAn accessible, colourful and beautifully detailed look at many scientific wonders - whether it's the great variety of dogs or the sex life of orchids - and a great primer for those coming fresh to the subject
—— Irish TimesRichard Dawkin's new book... gives the fact-rejecters their just deserts
—— Daily TelegraphThe book is full of evidence, some familiar and some new. Its case is presented in a manner succinct, clear and sometimes vivid
—— Daily TelegraphNo other book currently available approaches Dawkin's comprehensive yet accessible treatment of the extraordinarily diverse and massive body of data that drives ineluctably to the same conclusion
—— National Center for Science EducationThe Greatest Show on Earth is a lucid, thorough and often exciting survey of evolution and takes in rats' teeth, dogs, bacteria, the so-called missing link, crustaceans, giraffe anatomy, hummingbirds, chimpanzees, enzymes - you name it. It is informed in nearly every paragraph by Mr. Dawkins's irrepressible enthusiasm
—— Sarah Lyall , New York TimesThe Greatest Show on Earth... is essential reading. I would currently rate it... as the best overall book on the evidence for Evolution
—— Marc E. Miquel , SCOPEThis is a magnificent book of wonderstanding: Richard Dawkins combines an artist's wonder at the virtuosity of nature with a scientist's understanding of how it comes to be
—— Matt Ridley, author of "Nature via Nurture"