Jury Citation for Superpowers on the Shore

Author: Sejal MehtaPublisher: Penguin Viking “Sejal Mehta’s book opens up the rich and fascinating world of intertidal organisms to anyone with the inclination to pause and look at what a receding tide reveals. Day or night, this zone can thrill you with its inhabitants, be it an unexpected octopus on a Mumbai beach or the glowing plankton in the tidal…

Jury Citation for At the Feet of Living Things

Editors: Aparajita Datta, Rohan Arthur, TR Shankar RamanPublisher: HarperCollins India “Conservation is essentially an act of love. A testament to the dedication and passion of a group of scientists to protect the living world around them, At the Feet of Living Things chronicles multiple journeys, varied experiences, and moving self-reflections on what it means to want to conserve biodiversity in a world…

Jury Citation for Birdwatching: A Novel

Author: Stephen AlterPublisher: Aleph Book Company “Stephen Alter’s Birdwatching reads like an unputdownable wartime spy thriller, but it is so much more than that with threads of nature writing, romance and historical fiction woven together dexterously. As the story unfolds, the reader is drawn in, chapter by bewitching chapter, each named after a beautiful bird who features in it, making the…

Living Air featured
Flying High

Reviewed by Zai Whitaker Once in a while a spectacular natural history book comes along, and The Living Air: The Pleasures of Birds and Birdwatching is one of them. Aasheesh Pittie is in that category of ornithologists who are also good writers; who have not only seen the rare Jerdon’s Courser but describe the incident in a way that makes…

Every creature - featured
Science Sans the Story

Except for an essay on the poisoners of the living world, the nightshade plant, the other essays are non-vegetarian, so to speak. By and large, the critters are of a size that wouldn’t require a microscope to see them. They can slither, bite, sting, trumpet, dash, bark and swim. The essays aren’t organized in any particular order. The chapter titles…