Books about Our Environment (and other cool nature books)

Levison Wood has spent a lifetime exploring wild places and witnessing environmental challenges and conservation efforts around the world. Now, he’s delving into the incredible world of forests. In this global investigation, The Great Tree Story explores the profound influence forests have had on our planet and civilisation. Each chapter digs into a different aspect of this relationship, from the evolutionary history of trees and their cultural significance in ancient civilisations, to the impacts of agriculture, colonisation, and the industrial revolution on forest ecosystems. The book highlights the wisdom of indigenous communities in forest stewardship, examines the environmental movement’s efforts to protect forests, and analyses the causes and consequences of deforestation and environmental degradation.

Forests are integral components of the global ecosystem. They serve as complex habitats for flora and fauna, supporting a delicate web of interdependence that we have only scratched the surface of understanding. Every organism, from the towering trees to the smallest insects, plays a crucial role in maintaining the biodiversity that sustains our planet. The intricate relationships woven within forests are not to be underestimated, for they are the threads that hold our world together.

In this compelling weaving of fascinating anecdotes and in-depth research, Wood contemplates the future of forests, emphasising the importance of collective action and individual responsibility in preserving these vital ecosystems.

The epic history of world order, revealing how the decline of the West may be a good thing for its future.

Since the dawn of the twenty-first century, the West has been in crisis. Social unrest, political polarization, and the rise of other great powers – especially China – threaten to unravel today”s Western-led world order. Many fear this would lead to global chaos. But this is a Western illusion.

Surveying five thousand years of global history, political scientist Amitav Acharya reveals that world order existed long before the rise of the West. Moving from ancient Sumer, India, Greece, and Mesoamerica, through medieval caliphates and Eurasian empires into the present, Acharya shows that humanitarian values, economic interdependence, and rules of inter-state conduct emerged across the globe over millennia. History suggests order will endure even as the West retreats. Instead of fearing the future, the West should learn from history and cooperate with the Rest to forge a more equitable order.