3.5/5

A tour of various organisms, their roles and functions in ecosystems and how they often benefit humans. 

- This is a book of snippets. There is an overarching theme of conservation and each chapter has its own sub theme but over all we jump from one short excerpt to another about different creatures and ecosystems. The information is interesting but not necessarily in-depth.

- I enjoyed learning about the many contributions creatures have made to life on this planet. However, I was also saddened by how much humans have changed and destroyed, disadvantaging so many species and ultimately ourselves.

- One concept I found interesting was the moving baseline. Because human memories are short, we think that what we or our immediate ancestors remember is the normal baseline for nature when in reality, that memory was already of a degraded nature.

I enjoyed Sverdrup-Thygeson's insect book more but this would be a good book for someone starting to read about ecology and conservation.