| THE HOT TOPIC
|
| Monday, 09 February 2009 09:50 |
|
 Despite the last few hold-outs, insisting that climate change is all a myth or some sort of vast conspiracy, most everyone else realises that it is a real phenomenon and poses some very serious questions and challenges. Quibble, if you must, with Al Gore on this or that statistic, or some or other nuance, but don’t bother arguing with the mountain of actual evidence gathered from a vast array of scientific sources.
|
|
| UNBOWED: One Woman’s Story
|
| Monday, 02 February 2009 09:50 |
|
 Wangari Maathai won the Nobel Peace prize in 2004. She was born in the fertile central highlands of Kenya at the height of British colonisation. She describes growing up in a land abundant with green plants, trees and clean drinking water because of the regular and plentiful rain. There was enough food, wood for building, cooking and keeping warm and a sense of well-being permeated the land and the people.
|
|
| WHEN NATURE TURNS NASTY
|
| Tuesday, 27 January 2009 09:50 |
|
 As you might expect from Reader’s Digest, this one falls right between an encyclopedia and a coffee-table book.There are some great pictures and excellent graphics, and given that the material is about Mother Nature in her most extravagantly powerful moments, there’s plenty of punch in the images. But there’s also a good amount of information and certainly more than the casual browser might need.
|
|
| THE ZERO-CARBON CAR
|
| Monday, 19 January 2009 09:50 |
|
|  The days of low vehicular density, cheap fossil fuel and unrestricted carbon emissions are gone – forever. Now is the era of ever-decreasing carbon emission vehicles.
This book – more a manual really – aims to give a host of practical and how-to options (after painting the rather bleak picture of the carbon emissions outlook) for the serious DIY types who are not content to wait for the major manufacturers in Detroit or wherever to wake up to the fact that their cars (for the most part) are not only major contributors to the world’s carbon overload problem, but that they are already outdated before they leave the showroom floor.
|
|
| EARTHSONG & HEAVEN AND EARTH
|
| Friday, 19 December 2008 09:50 |
|
 Phaidon specialise in photographic, coffee-table type books which will knock your socks off. In their latest tour de force they have released two similar editions, with a minimum of copy and very high quality photographs. The photographs, whether taken through an electron microscope, a telescope or from space are almost all unique, and some of the work will leave you with a feeling of awe.
|
|
| GOING, GOING, GONE?
|
| Friday, 12 December 2008 09:50 |
|
 For the animal lovers among us, this book is a kick in the gut. We all know that animals are dying out in eco-systems just about everywhere and that tens of species are probably becoming extinct daily. But when you see the tiger on the cover and then the first three highly endangered animals listed are the African elephant, the African lion and the African wild dog, you really begin to get the picture of how serious things have become for the rest of the creatures with which we share this planet. Perhaps Kruger Park will one day be the place people go to see where these, and many other animals, used to be found.
|
|
| GREEN ROOMS
|
| Sunday, 30 November 2008 12:50 |
|
 This book is a great idea – though, from a South African point of view, rather disappointing in its execution. It offers ‘over 100 eco-friendly and ethical escapes around the world’.
|
|
| FIXING CLIMATE
|
| Sunday, 30 November 2008 12:50 |
|
 Wallace Broecker is the ‘maverick’ scientist who first warned of global warming way back in 1975. Naturally, he was then written off as a kook – or worse. Now he’s seen as a visionary.
|
|
|
|
|
Page 2 of 2 |
