Standing on the shoulders of Nature; we are nothing without our environment, a complex entanglement of creatures, plants and processes, that have given us so much, and yet remain so unexplored. The earth can survive humanity. Can we?

   

Absolutely jam packed with fascinating tidbits, if you have some prior basic knowledge of ecosystems, biology, climate science etc it’s a great book to dip in and out off. If you’re totally clueless of the topics it’s probably going to feel very bitty. Try her Extraordinary Insects book instead, it’s more cohesive and perfect for inspiring awe in the bugs of all kinds.

   

Humanities impact on the environment and ecosystems is extensive, and broadly negative. Plastic bags have been found in the Mariana Trench, a place so inaccessible only 6 people have ever been to the bottom. Shifting baseline syndrome means we often can’t even comprehend the impact we have. In a capitalist world, is seeing the economic value of nature the only way to motivate its protection?

   

This book covers all the depressing, if not new, realities of the Anthropocene - but it also aims to inspire hope and fascination. So here’s some fun facts:

💧hook-moss can rapidly remove arsenic from water

🐝 every spring half a billion hoverflies migrate to the UK, protecting our crops by pollination and hungry larvae eating 10 trillion aphids each summer

🌳 fig trees colonise barren lava flows as first phase ecosystem regenerators

🐁 saliva from the Gila monster has given lab mice super memories in Flowers Of Algernon parallels

🦀 baby-blue horseshoe crab blood detects bacteria that can’t be removed via sterilisation

🐸 real life Jurassic park de-extinction research is looking at frogs that eat their own eggs then vomit up live tadpoles and frogs

🪼 Turritopsis jellyfish are immortal, with the ability to revert specialised cells to stem cells

👅 pangolin’s tongues are rooted in their pelvis, it has no teeth and chews food with its stomach spines 

🌸 vanilla pods account for only 0.33% of vanilla flavouring used globally. Most is synthetic. Vanillin can be sourced as a byproduct from paper mills

🌬️ only 10% glabally breath clean air. The pollution reduction in the first 2 weeks of the 2020 lockdown lead to 7,400 fewer early death alone. 

🌳 London’s 8 million trees offer a £132.7million annual benefit - cooling, air quality etc.

🐜 termites on Brazil have built and still occupy an underground labyrinth larger than the uk and older than the pyramids of Giza. 

🪱 bone worm females keep a harem of teeny tiny males INSIDE her body at l times so she can always find them

🐋 a single sperm whale can send several hindered thousand tonnes of carbon into deep sea storage each year, just be pooping

I enjoyed this book! I learnt some interesting facts - it felt a bit predictable (as are most books about nature at this point) and I wish sometimes less topics were looked at more in depth. But having said this, the author is clearly very knowledgeable, it was easy to read, thought-provoking and fun! (With an important message it’s always good to be reminded of)

A solid book, the author writes well, and she is effective at communicating the science in such a way that the layman can understand easily. She also has some humorous anecdotes. 
It was very informative, I enjoyed the inclusion of biomimicry, really inspired me when I read about the different research happening between fields.

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