let’s make our planet greener!
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…
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…
Ghosh returns to non-fiction with aplomb, giving us an in-depth and remarkable account of how one plant (opium poppy) has contributed to “the current unmaking of our world”.
Publisher: Penguin Allen LaneAuthor: Madhav Gadgil Madhav Gadgil was born in Pune in 1942, just as Salim Ali’s superbly illustrated Book of Indian Birds was published. Influenced by his birdwatcher father, he learnt to recognize birds from their pictures even before he could read. He is an unusual combination of a person fascinated by the diversity of the natural world, of the…
Publisher: Pan Macmillan IndiaAuthor: Arati Kumar-Rao In the boundless Thar, deemed a ‘wasteland’ by the authorities, miners bulldoze sand dunes guarding life-sustaining water. The Gangetic dolphin, once a thriving apex predator, struggles for survival as its riverine habitat is fragmented by dams and roiled by incessant shipping. Deep in the mangrove forests of the Sunderban, tigers prey on desperate crab-catchers.…
Publisher: PenguinAuthor: Rohan Chakravarty Pugmarks and Carbon Footprints is a collection of gag cartoons and comic strips based exclusively on wildlife and nature. Staying true to their theme, the cartoons and comics in the book will speak about wildlife, ecology, interesting trivia about the lives of wild animals, and how the lives of these creatures are entwined with ours. Other than…
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…
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…