Just Finished Reading: Islands of Abandonment – Life in the Post-Human Landscape by Cal Flyn (FP: 2021) [330pp] 

What happens when people leave, when they abandon a place never to return? With abandoned industrial sites, ex-war zones, urban retreat, industrial accidents and much else in mind the author of this intriguing and honestly beautifully written book tries her best to answer that question. 

As we’ve seen before with the emergence of volcanic islands it doesn’t take long before seeds arrive, insects drop out of the sky and nature begins a long and sometimes arduous process of reabsorption. Exactly the same process takes place in environments abandoned, for a whole host of reasons, by humans. Industrial sites – once a veritable hive of activity – can close almost overnight after a much sought after substance is exhausted. Leaving behind infrastructure too expensive to remove, to say nothing of potentially toxic waste areas, nature can take its time coming back. Lichens and plants hardened to extreme conditions arrive first and it isn’t long before other plants, insects and animals arrive. Even in highly toxic environments like around the Chernobyl site nature finds a way.  

Somewhat less toxic, at least in the physical, chemical, sense are areas abandoned after or because of conflict. One such is the zone created between Greek and Turkish occupied Cyprus. Sometimes only a few metres apart, in other places the ‘dead’ zone can be a kilometre or more deep. Fenced off and compete with warning signs this has prevented (most) human occupation since the shooting stopped. With broken windows, open doors and collapsing roofs the area is, slowly, taking on a surreal and other worldly appearance. The city of Detroit has this in spades. Known simply as ‘the Blight’ (a Sci-Fi post-apocalypse phrase if I’ve ever heard one) it is caused by rapid depopulation and the inability of local authorities to ‘pull back’ gracefully from earlier urban expansionism. Whole blocks, as well as the odd house or three, have been abandoned to time and the elements to decay on their own, on natures, schedule. 

One of the most interesting places the author visited, and one I need to find out much more about, is the Zone Rouge around the city of Verdun. When the Great War ended, it was decided to leave much of the devastation to its own devices. SO much explosive had been used and the ground was SO contaminated that it was swiftly agreed that the expense of reclamation wasn’t worth the cost whilst other farming areas could, at least theoretically, recover. It took a long time for nature to come back in this zone and there are still some areas – described in a spooky almost horrific manner – where nothing can live, not even the most extreme of the extremophiles. These ‘dead zones’ are truly awe inspiring for all of the wrong reasons. 

As usual, I picked up this volume because it ‘looked interesting’. I was most definitely not disappointed. Not only does the author write in a beautiful manner (I can’t really describe it otherwise), she’s also brave enough to travel to some of these zones – a few of which would definitely give me second or indeed third thoughts! - and report back what she saw. On top of this there’s a lot of discussion of what exactly we’re doing to our planet, our effects on nature and other life forms, our effect on the climate and how it's going to (inevitably) bite us in the ass and much else besides. She has some interesting guides to some of the zones – the ones she doesn’t ‘invade’ on her own (without official permission) - with their own stories of retreat, decay and regrowth. It is, as you might imagine, a fascinating subject especially when we consider both climate-based mass-migration and the abandonment of areas in the future due to population decline. One particular interesting thing was the fact that SO much agricultural land has been abandoned over the last 50 years that regrowth has actually made a significant impact on the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere thereby slowing down Global Warming. I’ll definitely be picking up her previous book – a completely different topic: tracing her family history back to the original colonisation of Australia. Highly recommended and one of the highlights of the year.   

Just Couldn’t Finish Reading: Biomimicry – Innovation Inspired by Nature by Janine M Benyus (FP: 1997) [297pp] 

My first (and hopefully last!) DNF of the Year. This was really quite disappointing as I’d been looking forward to reading this for a while. Biomimicry – using lessons from nature to improve or even design from the ground up better machines or processes – is a great way to short-cut the design process. Afterall, nature has been perfecting its processes for a LONG time. So, I was expecting things on solar cells and stuff (which are actually pictured on the cover) and much else besides. It started out OK and I actually enjoyed (mostly) the first chapter on farming except for the nagging feeling that the ideas being discussed just wouldn’t work in the real world!  

But what really turned me off – or rather made me increasingly reluctant to pick this up and engage further – were two things. Firstly, I felt that the author stayed far too long in the weeds – even if that was quite appropriate in the farming section – rather than discussing the ideas and fundamental underpinning of the viewpoint. Second, I found that the age of the book – which to be honest isn’t that bad in the grand scheme of things – meant that her enthusiasm over a bit of technology was often redundant because it had either been shown to be a bad idea, had been superseded by something else or had been adopted as a standard and so had faded into the background.  

So, after 120 pages, I gave in and the DNF guillotine came down. Back in the day I’d give a book 50 pages before I’d DNF it (although sometimes it was a LOT less than that!). I think 120 pages is giving it a good go, so I’m not feeling guilty in any way, just disappointed. On to bigger and better things...      

Just Finished Reading: How to Speak Whale – A Voyage into the Future of Animal Communication by Tom Mustill (FP: 2022) [249pp] 

When a seemingly peaceful whale almost kills you, it’s reasonable to ask why. When the author and a friend were kayaking off the Californian coast and encountered a number of whales, they rightly considered it a magical moment. But when one of them breached and landed almost on top of them (caught on camera below), capsizing their boat and almost killing them both it turned, momentarily, into a nightmare. But the author, a wildlife filmmaker, was more intrigued than afraid. Why had the whale acted that way? Was it afraid, annoyed or something else? Did it even know they were there and, most intriguingly, did it make a conscious effort to avoid landing directly on top of them – which would surely have killed them both. So, his journey began to find answers until one scientist made what appeared to be an off-hand comment that directed his investigation in a whole new and fascinating trajectory. When asked if the whale HAD made any effort to avoid them – after it breached and maybe for the first time noticed they were almost directly underneath it – the scientist responded: “Well, it’s not like you can *ask* it”. At which point the author mused: Why not? 

Whales have been known to ‘sing’ for centuries and probably gave rise to myths of mermaids and sirens. But no one, so far, has been able to determine why (we’re actually getting closer to the question of How though...) or if the ‘songs’ ‘mean’ anything. While whale song certainly isn’t just random ‘noise’ it’s far from clear if it's a form of communication, never mind a potentially understandable language that could, again potentially, be used for two-way communication with these elegant beasts. Many have tried, and failed, to understand what, if anything, the whales are ‘saying’ to each other but recent developments in cryptology and AI have opened a possible window to understanding. Together with much better methods of recording both songs and behaviour simultaneously for context clues there is hope that if enough song data can be accumulated it might enable the understanding of any ‘language’ structure which could lead to real communication between our species. Even the thought of such a breakthrough is mindboggling. 

This was a completely fascinating look at the numerous projects across the world trying to understand animal communication – mostly in regard to whales but in other species too. Most surprisingly there are groups out there making real progress and we could, within decades, be directly speaking to these creatures and really communicating with each other. The ramifications and potentials are immense – not only here on Earth but possibly for any future communication with aliens beyond our world. I did wonder if we’re seeing the very beginnings of a true Universal Translator! There is SO much going on between these pages that it's impossible to summarise it all, but needless to say, if you have any interest in whales or even the hint of a possibility of talking to them – plus primates, dogs or even birds – this is most definitely the book for you. Highly recommended.   

Just Finished Reading: Spying on Whales – The Past, Present and Future of the World’s Largest Animals by Nick Pyenson (FP: 2018) [256pp] 

Whales are strange creatures, which is probably one reason why they fascinate us so much. For one thing they’re the largest mammals on the planet – by far – and are, indeed, the largest animals to have ever lived, including the dinosaurs. Another thing that often surprises is that they were once (much smaller!) land mammals before they returned to the world's oceans around 50 million years ago. In the first section of this intriguing and often fascinating work the author, who is a Palaeontologist, looks at how evolution has shaped whales for their environment, including reasons for their gigantic size in several species as well as the development of the baleen system of feeding, echolocation especially in dolphins and, of course, how whales ‘sing’. 

The second section looks at present day whales – those who through luck or for other reasons escaped the cull of the last few centuries and who have started to recover in numbers (some more than others). Much is made of, as you can imagine, the problems of pollution, global warming – and how it impacts things such as food supply, ocean currents and so on. Likewise, the drop in species diversity – caused by so many being taken out of the picture by hunting – is recognised as a problem going forward. 

The last section looks at the future of whales. Although recovery is underway, it's not entirely certain that some species of whales will survive much longer. Two in particular might already be extinct (actually somewhat difficult to prove conclusively) or be close to it. Even those apparently in more favourable circumstances may not be out of the woods yet. Their environment is changing, and quickly, due to our influence. Not only is the chemical nature of the oceans changing – with chemical run-off, plastics and the gradual acidification of sea water – but global warming is threatening both krill populations (a primary food source of the baleen whales) and their breeding grounds. Their survival is not guaranteed. 

As you might imagine, this was a much more scientific book than my previous read and I probably enjoyed it more because of that. I certainly learnt a lot about the life cycle of whales and how they fit into the oceanic ecosystems. I learnt quite a bit about Orcas (killer whales) too, much of which was completely new to me – which I really liked! This is a must read for anyone interested in these mammoths of the sea and will give you both insights and plenty to mull over. Definitely recommended. 

Special mention of the impressive line drawings throughout by Alex Boersma. 

Just Finished Reading: Fathoms – The World in the Whale by Rebecca Giggs (FP: 2020) [326pp] 

It all started with a beached whale. After repeated attempts to return it to the sea it finally died a long way from home crushed under its own weight and cooked by its own internal temperature. The question uppermost on everyone’s mind was: why? What causes a whale, and sometimes multiple whales, to do that? As with any inquiring mind one thing led to another and, finally, to this award nominated book. 

Whale beaching have happened throughout recorded history but appear to be happening more often in the modern age. Various theories abound, as always, including pollution – chemicals such as pesticides, the ubiquitous plastic in all its many forms and, of course, noise – as well as the more exotic idea that whale navigation can be disrupted by subtle changes in the Earth’s magnetic field caused by Solar storms. But despite being a (comparatively recent) ‘charismatic animal’ and one of the icons of the Environmental movement its surprising how little we still know about whales in general and individual species in particular. Until very recently our ‘knowledge’ of cetaceans depended on the less than neutral observations of whalers – both old and modern – and somewhat scientific experiments undertaken by various navies, at large waterparks and aquariums with small numbers of the smaller whales and dolphins. Only in the last few years have larger, harder to find and harder to track, creatures been tagged, filmed and examined in any detail in their natural environments. There is still MUCH to learn. 

Written by a non-scientist this is often a quite chatty book about a subject the author is clearly passionate about. But this in no way diminished either my interest in or enjoyment of the contents of her book. Not only did she do her research (properly!) but talked to scientists, whale watching guides, environmentalists, and even Japanese whalers! The reader is introduced, using a rather scattershot narrative, to just about every aspect of the whale that you can think of from its ‘use’ in the early Industrial age to the change in attitude of the public – most notably after the wide release of recorded whale ‘song’ - to conservation efforts and beyond. Slowly we are uncovering where whales fit into the oceanic ecology and their place in moving nutrients around the world.  

Of the three books I read recently about whales – yes, two more to come – I'm glad I read this one first because of its lack of laser-like focus on any one particular aspect. Not only did this allow me to refresh any already existing knowledge but it also gave me a broad understanding of topics I’d be diving into somewhat deeper in the other books. If you’re interested in these majestic creatures at all and have wondered about them in any way, then this is definitely the book for you. Deeper dives to come. Recommended. 

[Highest page count of the year so far: 326pp][+7pp]

Just Couldn’t Finish Reading: Wolves and Werewolves by John Pollard (FP: 1964) [178pp] 

ANOTHER DNF!! Thankfully we’re almost at years end, so the fact that I’ve reached my maximum allowed rejections won’t be too much of an issue – I HOPE! Now, I didn’t have any particularly unreasonable expectations for this book, I just expected it to be readable. In that I was disappointed. Despite the author apparently being an Oxford graduate his writing style was terrible. Although I guess that it shows some skill to make a potentially interesting study so tedious and dull. 

The first part of the book – which I failed to complete, ending with page 55 – focused in on numerous wolf related stories and folk tales from throughout Europe going back several hundred years. Although the list of wolf related attacks/interactions was ‘interesting’ in itself, the author failed to weave any kind of narrative to the seemingly endless list which soon became both boring and pointless. Looking into, for example, what the local authorities tried to do about such things – whether they succeeded or not – would've added some depth to the tale. Instead, he seemed to rely on stories clearly copied down without any further thought or analysis. I did actually, after yet another wolf related death, start questioning exactly how SO many wolf attacks were even possible well into modern times. Afterall, the wolf became extinct in England during the reign of Henry VII (1485-1509) and the last wolf was officially killed in Scotland in 1680. Did they last much longer in more areas on Continental Europe? This from Wiki: 

According to documented data, man-eating (not rabid) wolves killed 111 people in Estonia in the years from 1804 to 1853, 108 of them were children, two men and one woman. 

In France, historical records compiled by rural historian Jean-Marc Moriceau indicate that during the period 1362–1918, nearly 7,600 people were killed by wolves, of whom 4,600 were killed by nonrabid wolves. [[That’s on average just over 8 non-rabid wolf related deaths PER YEAR, so not a *huge* amount then.]] 

The most interesting chapter, and the last one I read, was on the fabled ‘Beast of the Gevaudan’ which was credited with around 60 kills in that region over a period of two years. It was either one or (more likely) a pair of wolves responsible which managed to avoid numerous attempts, including the arrival of specialist hunters commissioned by the King himself to end the terror. The interest wasn’t in the sudden improvement of writing (which didn’t happen) but rather the fact that this the base story behind one of – if not the – favourite foreign language movies I’ve seen: Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001), starring Samuel Le Bihan as Knight Grégoire de Fronsac, Vincent Cassel as Jean-François de Morangias, the absolutely gorgeous Émilie Dequenne as Marianne de Morangias, the amazing Mark Dacascos as Mani and  Monica Bellucci as Sylvia. It’s a beautifully filmed and highly entertaining film and should be watched in the original French for its full effect. I highly recommend it. I just don’t recommend this book! Hopefully my other werewolf books will be better. 

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Just Finished Reading: The Weather Detective – Rediscovering Nature’s Secret Signs by Peter Wohlleben (FP: 2012) [161pp] 

We Brits LOVE talking about, thinking about and complaining about the weather. Anyone who has lived here for any length of time can appreciate why: because we have SO much of it. Experiencing all four seasons in a single day hardly deserves a comment, while moving just a few miles in any direction can feel like climatic time travel. Just today I heard a radio announcer say that people are wearing flip-flops in the Southeast and flippers in Scotland where some areas had two weeks' worth of usual October rain in just 8 hours. So, you can probably imagine how much I was looking forward to reading this slim volume – the only problem is that it wasn’t really about the weather. 

Although I wouldn’t classify the title or the blurb as 100% misleading, I think it was the high 80’s. The author did indeed mention the weather (and indeed climate) reasonable often and even, as per the blur/title, showed how observing nature can inform us (or at least indicate) as to what the weather is doing, about to do, or has recent done. But the overwhelming majority of this book is about a different subject entirely – gardening! Now, I’ll be the very first to admit that I am not a natural gardener. My idea of gardening is generally cutting back the growth enough to see my back fence and stopping any of my plants annoying the neighbours – the less said about me dropping a small tree I had just cut down into my rather shocked neighbours' garden the better here! 

So, did I hate this book? Surprisingly, no I didn’t. For one thing I really liked the author's style. It felt as if I was a young kid who had almost unthinkingly offered to help my Grandpa on his allotment and, as we wandered around the plot, weeding here and digging there, he and his friend's discussed nature, climate change, local animals, birds and insects and, yes, the weather. It was a very ‘chatty’ and honestly lovely to read kind of book – just not on the subject I was hoping for. So, this is definitely not a bad book. If you’re interested in gardening – specifically in Northern Europe – and like hearing advice from people who certainly know what they’re talking about this could definitely be the book for you. It’s a cosy, warm hearted, chatty, pleasant read that will leave you feeling somewhat more informed and just a little bit closer to nature. Recommended – especially for the gardeners out there!    

Translated from the German by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp 

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Just Finished Reading: The Tribe of Tiger – Cats and their Culture by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas (FP: 1994) [234pp]

As my regular readers will know I have a love of all things Feline. OK, maybe not *all* things – litter trays, spraying & cat urine…. NOT nice!! But MOST things feline. Growing up we never had cats because my mother really doesn’t like them. We had just about everything else though, from snakes, fish, a whole host of birds and rabbits as well as various rodents. Just not cats. It was only in my late 20’s that a cat almost literally fell into my lap and I had her (or she had me – it’s hard to tell) for the next 16 years.

As I only ever had a single cat I could observe her behaviour as an individual but I never directly observed (at least not close up) how cats acted around each other – siblings or not – so I never experienced anything that could be called ‘culture’. The author recognised that her use of ‘culture’ in this regard was, at the very least, controversial but stuck to her rather unscientific guns throughout this chatty and often fascinating look at cats – both large and small. Hopping between her day to day experiences with several generations of house/farm cats, her stays in Africa with various local tribes and their contacts with lion populations and her encounters with large cats in North America this was much more than the standard ‘Why your cats does X’ book you often find in pet stores. With a family background in Anthropology, although not being a trained anthropologist herself, she has a number of interesting insights and ideas regarding both territoriality in cats and their social hierarchies – even in unrelated house/farm cat groupings. Using the more domesticated and more familiar house cat as reference the author shows how their behaviours are much more explicable when related to their much larger brethren on the African savanna or in the wild places of North America. Although I no longer have a cat I found this to be both an interesting and often heart-warming read from someone who really knows her subject and whose love of these creatures shines through on every page. Full of personal stories from both Africa and the States this was a delight from beginning to end and often felt like spending time with a favourite Aunt in a cosy room at the end of a long and productive day. Definitely a must read for all cat lovers out there. Recommended.    

Just Finished Reading: The Wolf Within – The Astonishing Evolution of Man’s Best Friend by Bryan Sykes (FP: 2018) [259pp]

I’ve always thought, despite being at heart a cat person, that dogs are something special. I don’t remember our first dog, a German Shepard, but my sister had a dog growing up who was a lot of fun. Not only was he bat-shit crazy at times (and therefore hilariously entertaining at times) he was incredibly loyal both to my sister and her kids and I honestly think he would have died for them if he saw a need to. That kind of loyalty is rare in people but all too common in dogs. So, where do dogs come from and why do they have such a special place in the lives of humans – even cat lovers like me.

It seems obvious on first glance that dogs must be descended from wolves but such a link was only confirmed comparatively recently. Charles Darwin, much interested in dog breeding, thought that we might never know for certain where the ancestors of dogs came from, but that was long before the discovery of DNA and investigations into the canine genome. That, genetics and the compilation of the canine family tree, is the focus of this interesting book. Starting with a rather (admitted by the author) romantic musing of the origins of how man and wolf met and ended up co-operating with each other the author moves onto discussing the sparse but fascinating evidence for the incorporation of the dog into human society to the mutual advantage of both. I particularly liked the speculation around two sets of footprints in the rear of a cave in France. Side by side, in what must have been a darkened part of a cave complex are imprints of a child’s footprints next to those of what is obviously a dog or dog-like creature. Although dating both prints to exactly the same time is difficult if not impossible it appears to be clear that the dog/wolf was not actually hunting the child. It’s easy to imagine a parent watching the child wander off and telling a nearby resting dog to ‘go with’ the child to keep a watchful eye on them. After all it’s what it would do for one of its own pack mate’s cubs.

Wolves and humans have broadly similar social structures and comparable hunting styles so it’s understandable that a wolf/dog would have an easier time of fitting into a ‘pack’ hierarchy than many other creatures. You really couldn’t see this happening with lions for example. Of course once they started being integrated you’d get specialisation – hunting dogs, guard dogs and war dogs. From there the diversity exploded across the world as wherever we went our dogs would go with us. It’s a fascinating story which is at least touched on here, from evolution to breeding and from owner’s relationships with their animals (both pets and working dogs) to the idea of cloning dogs for a kind of immortality. Being the person I am I enjoyed owner stories somewhat less than the studies of canine genetics and evolutionary family trees but there’s something for everyone here. It has certainly given me some interesting insights into my second favourite ‘pet’ and I think any dog owner will find it at least as interesting. Recommended. More on wolves to come!       

Just Finished Reading: Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (FP: 1962)

They say that sense is never common but maybe in this case it really should have been. Even in the abstract, without bringing in expert opinion, it should be obvious that poison kills things. Powerful poison kills things quicker and probably has other equally nasty effects too. What poison doesn’t do, again obvious when you give it a moment’s thought, is discriminate. Poison will kill anything, will kill everything, which comes into contact with it long enough or in enough concentration. If you spray an area with insecticide it will generally kill a great number of insects in the affected zone – and not just the pests you wanted to kill especially when we’re essentially talking about 1950’s technology here. At the time of writing the knowledge of genetics we take for granted today would seem like magic. The idea of tailoring chemical or biological agents to attack a certain aspect of a certain insect would seem fantastical. So we can’t really blame either the developers or users of chemicals such as DDT for not using them in a more subtle manner. Such a thing was barely thought of and, at the time, far beyond anyone’s capability. The only way these chemicals COULD be used was indiscriminately. Which in itself is no excuse. To use these deadly chemicals, and more deadly chemical cocktails, in the way they did was at the very least irresponsible and, with the benefit of hindsight borderline criminal.

Of course when these miracles of science were used for the first time the results appeared stunning. One spraying and the insect pests melted away as if in a dream. It was really a miracle for all to see. The companies selling the chemicals and the agencies approving their use – often with only minimal testing if that sometimes – pointed at the results and proudly proclaimed the end of famine, the end of the plague that had assailed mankind since his earliest days, the end of insect pests. It was a shining future that few could criticise despite worrying rumours coming from the farms and woodland so recently cleared of pestilential insect life. Days, or sometimes hours, after an area had been sprayed reports of dead birds came in along with equally worrying reports of other wildlife dead or clearly in distress. Lakes and rivers delivered up hundreds of dead fish sometimes miles away from the original spraying. Livestock from cattle to chickens took sick, sometimes died or spontaneously aborted their young. Residents of nearby towns reported strange symptoms to their doctors – shortness of breath, skin rashes, headaches, nausea and muscle spasms. Something was clearly wrong but what? The chemical companies denied that it could possibly be their products as they had been declared safe by government agencies. The killed insects, indeed they killed pests, and were completely harmless to other life. The sudden mass dying must have another explanation. Experiments by universities, reports by doctors and post-mortem examinations yielded much valuable information but no change in policy or spraying regime. The growing number of people raising concerns were cranks, ill-informed, anti-progress, wreckers and, just possibly, communists attempting to undermine the US Food Industry. But the author of this book – billed (rightly) as one of the most influential books of the 20th century – was none of these things which is why so much effort was expended trying to suppress its very publication. Thankfully it failed.

Written as an early example of popular science aimed at the general reading population this is a harrowing look at greed, short sightedness, obstruction and a callow refusal to accept any criticism of a programme that was not only costing millions of dollars to implement – for a very limited return – but causing countless millions of damage to the larger environment. It was not long before DDT had been found in the body fat of penguins who had never been directly exposed to it. Traceable quantities of the same chemical was even being detected in unborn children whose mothers had been eating contaminated food. Worse the new-born infant had its DDT levels increased through the medium of its mother’s milk. It was everywhere and potentially doing harm wherever it was found. It is no surprise that this book was in the vanguard of works directly responsible for the founding of the Environment Movement for the 1960’s onwards. Reading it even today with our knowledge of environment issues heightened by years of campaigns it is still a shocking piece of reporting. I can imagine how much more shocking it was more than 50 years ago. Be warned though, even after all this time this is not a light read and it will give you some sleepless nights as you inevitably wonder about the amount of DDT or other man-made chemicals sequestered in your fat deposits as well as that handy bottle of insecticide under the kitchen sink containing what exactly? Even today this book still has the power to change habits and change lifestyles. A very important book and a must read for anyone interested in the environment we must all co-exist with. (S)

Just Finished Reading: Where do Camels Belong? – The Story and Science of Invasive Species by Ken Thompson (FP: 2014)

The word you need to focus on in this rather unusual title is: Belong. Not live, not evolved, not extinct but belong – because that’s an important question and an even bigger red herring. Because seen from a long enough perspective camels ‘belong’ in North America. Makes total sense, yes? Or maybe not. That’s one of the points this intriguing and challenging book makes. If you say that a species belongs somewhere (and by extension that others do not belong) what, exactly do you mean by that and, more importantly, what are you going to do about it?

So-called invasive species are a problem all over the world, whether its rabbits in Australia, exotic plants in North American waterways or foreign insects in the English countryside. Of course the irony of trying to control such ‘invasions’ is that most of the invaders have been brought in by humans – either deliberately or by accident. From animals brought in as food stocks, to plants brought in because they looked pretty to birds brought in and released because someone wanted to hear every birdsong mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays (I kid you not!) humans have, over the centuries seriously messed with the worlds ecology. As international trade and travel increase it should come as no surprise that creatures who thrive in human environments spread across the globe. At the same time those we regard as pests and inconvenient (or especially tasty) plummet in numbers as soon as humans arrive on the scene.

Much of this, as you might imagine, is based on simple prejudice. Animals and plants we like thrive whilst those we do not like – very much like a plant in the wrong place is labelled a weed – tend not to. The labels of ‘indigenous’ and ‘alien’ help to direct the emotions (and little else) in the fight to ‘maintain ecosystems’ as if such a thing was even possible. Looking back a thousand years or a thousand generations much of the planets fauna and flora would either be unrecognisable or recognisably in the ‘wrong place’. Nature, and the natural environment, does not and never has stood still. Ecosystems are dynamic and response to invasions – natural or otherwise – and adapt over time. Several long term studies have shown that initially highly effective invasions often begin to stumble after their initial incursions become, after many generations, just another element in an increasingly complex ecological system. Taking the long view, rather than snapshots, puts alien invasions increasingly into perspective and takes the heat out of any ill thought out response to discovering aliens living amongst us.

Drawing on examples from across the globe this highly informative, often amusing and challenging book looks at ecologies, species distribution, and the threat of invasion in (at least to me) very new ways. I suppose that I intellectually knew that ecosystems change over time and that new species sometimes extend beyond their normal range for a number of reasons but I never really put it all together in my head before now. I will certainly be reading future newspaper articles and scare stories with a great deal more scepticism in future after finishing this slim volume. It has, like many of my favourite books, made me look at my unfounded assumptions about the subject and forced me to think again. I do love it when that happens. If you have an interest in such things or ever wondered where particular animals came from – never mind actually belong – this is the book for you. But be warned you may never think about either indigenous or invasive species the same way again.      

Just Finished Reading: Life on the Edge – The Coming Age of Quantum Biology by Jim Al-Khalili and Johnjoe McFadden (FP: 2014)

Of course this book had ‘hard to ignore’ written all over it as it amalgamates two of my favourite science subjects – Evolutionary Biology and Quantum Mechanics. I mean, what’s not to like? Plus the fact that I’ve seen the BBC series based on the book so I already had a pretty good idea that it would push my buttons. I was not disappointed.

The authors started off with a deceptively easy question (well, kind of easy!). How do birds, and specifically the European Robin, navigate across large distances with such incredible accuracy? The best theory seems to be that they use some kind of compass in conjunction with the Earth’s magnetic field but no one really knew exactly how and the theory had lots of holes in it. Some birds seemed to have ferrous metal elements in their beaks (but not all) and seemed to be adversely affected by nearby magnetic fields (but not all). It was all very confusing until they started asking the right type of question: Exactly what type of compass are we talking about here? The one everyone is familiar with from Boy Scouts or the more subtle Inclination compass that can’t tell direction so neatly but can tell you if you are approaching or moving away from the Pole. It turned out to be the Inclination type housed (rather oddly) in a pigment in the eye. Birds apparently ‘see’ magnetic fields…. Maybe. As researchers spread their net they found it in chickens too (who don’t migrate), and butterflies, and fish and… well, you get the picture. Once they knew what to look for they found it just about everywhere doing similar jobs in a whole host of creatures. But the really weird thing was how it actually worked. You see the Earth’s magnetic field was long considered to be far too weak to affect biological systems. But not, it would seem, at the sub-atomic (AKA Quantum) level. Here we seemed to have evidence of warm, wet, messy biology apparently operating with the direct assistance of the Quantum world.

Of course once this sort of crazy idea was out in the open others (after the usual initial scepticism) tried to find other examples of Quantum Biology and it wasn’t long before they found it and began to lay the foundations of a whole new branch of science – and incidentally apparently answering (or at the very least offering up answers to) some biological problems that had to date eluded most biologists in the field: Migration, Photosynthesis, Smell, Respiration, How Gene’s work and why Mutations happen, Where Consciousness comes from, How life first emerged from lifelessness and much else besides. Once it was accepted and then shown that Quantum processes could actually take place at biological temperatures and do real-world work with real-world effects the evidence began piling up that the whole gamut of Quantum weirdness – spooky action at a distance, tunnelling, superposition – the kind of things that sends sensible people mad (and often reduces me to giggles) is happening right now in the cells of plants, flies, mice and you. The implications of this is profound, from the production of better drugs, to life extension, biological Quantum computers, artificial life creation and things we haven’t even thought of yet.

As the authors repeatedly point out this is a very young field of science which is producing ground breaking results almost on a weekly basis. Their enthusiasm for the subject is infectious and I think I finally really understand the famous double-slit experiment in all its wonderful strangeness thanks to a chapter that kept me reading well past my bedtime on a school night. If you have any interest in either Evolution or Quantum Mechanics or just want to know how the world really works then you just have to read this book. It does help if you have some knowledge and understanding of the basics but the explanations of exactly what’s going on here are extremely good. I thought I had a handle on things beforehand. I definitely have a much better grip now. Fascinating and mind bending. Highly recommended.

Just Finished Reading: The Vital Question – Why is Life the Way it is? By Nick Lane (FP: 2015)

It’s a good question, a fundamental question. Why is life exactly the way it is? Could it have been any different? Does our knowledge of life on Earth give us any clues about other life in the Universe are there indeed universal laws of life?

To attempt to answer these questions we need to go way, way, way back in time to the very earliest, and simplest, life forms – bacteria (or actually the ancestors of what we recognise as bacteria these days). After around 2 billion years where they dominated the world they gave rise to cells that we are all familiar with – with a nucleus, recognisable call walls, DNA and much else besides. How did this happen? By the fusing together of two distinct types of single cell creatures to produce the first true Eukaryotic cell. This apparent one-time event produced the raw material for evolution to produce everything from Amoeba to Blue whales and us over the next 2 ½ billion years. The driving force behind all this was energy. Early bacteria, in a largely oxygen free atmosphere at the time, had a limited pool of energy to call on. The new calls on the block had much more at their disposal utilising the productive capacity of what later became mitochondria. Being energy rich they could afford to grow larger, more complex with sub-sections of the cell undertaking individual pieces of work, they could grow faster, reproduce more often and in more interesting ways (introducing both the idea of sex and death to the Earth), carry more genes allowing evolution to have more grist to its mill which increased the overall ‘speed’ of the evolutionary process. Once off and running there was no stopping them. The rest is, a very long and convoluted, history.

It’s good to get back to some proper scientific reading. It’s been a while – and it showed as I struggled with some of the earlier parts of this very interesting work. Whilst being no stranger to Biology or Evolution itself I admit to being on much less confident ground with Chemistry. It’s not something I studied in school to any great length so some of the author’s arguments and detailed descriptions ended up being close to going over my head. Some parts I probably skimmed more than I should have, others I had to read several times to understand what he was getting at. But don't let that kind of thing put you off. Although College grade Chemistry and Biology would come in handy it’s not 100% necessary to get the meat of the argument onto your mental plate in a reasonably cooked condition. I was much happier when he discussed what was happening in cells at a quantum level (very important) so all that reading of Quantum Mechanics over the past few years came to my rescue here! But again don’t let that put you off. If you get the gist of his argument that will be enough to serve you well later on when he delves into cell function and how mistakes in cell replication point to what happens in normal heathy cells. The meat of the book (to keep using a very un-vegetarian analogy) is dedicated to that healthy cell, how it works, why it looks and operates the way it does – right across all complex life on Earth – and why it probably couldn’t be any other way.

Which brings up his views on life elsewhere. We both agree that life in the Universe will be common for the simple reason that its building blocks are everywhere in abundance and there has been more than sufficient time for it to emerge wherever conditions allow. We agreed to disagree on his second contention – that complex multicellular life is rare. Simple bacteria like creatures existed on Earth for 2 billion years before the Eukaryotic Revolution which took another 2 ½ billion years to produce intelligence. This was, the author maintains, a once in a life time event. It would be entirely possible, he maintains, for bacteria to dominate the planet right up to its extinction when our Sun finally burns out. This is the apparent fate of most life on most worlds (which would explain the lack of signals or spaceships. Bacteria has little use for either star drives or radio telescopes). I remain to be convinced of this. Maybe it’s just hope but I’d expect complexity to emerge eventually given time. The advantages are seemingly obvious.

This was, as I’ve said, a difficult read (at least for me!) but a worthwhile one. My brief and simple precis has done little justice to the detailed argument and analysis that unfolds throughout its 305 pages. If you ever wanted to understand why life is the way it is I’d have to say that there are probably many worse places than this. Recommended to anyone with an enquiring mind.

Just Finished Reading: Cat by Katherine M Rogers (FP: 2006)

It’s nice to have a change of pace from time to time. After reading a collection of sometimes rather heavy political discourse a book about the cultural history and significance of cats is just what the vet ordered.

Cat have been around for a very long time but it wasn’t (apparently) until they wandered into the houses and fields of Ancient Egyptians and proved their worth as mouse catchers that they started on their road to semi-domestication. It wasn’t long before the Egyptians saw in their cats what we see today – their independence of or, if you want to look at it that way, indifference to the human world. Their seeming aloofness, as if they understood far more than normal creatures, intrigued their owners and they started attributing abilities – often of a supernatural nature – that have been associated with felines ever since. It comes as no surprise to any cat owner (and I use the word owner in its most general sense) that the Egyptians eventually came to worship these often otherworldly creatures and treated their deaths with the same reverence as they did with human death. As they spread from Egypt to Greece and then to Rome they became increasingly popular but paradoxically less revered. By the time of the Fall of Rome and throughout the Middle Ages cats became the pets of the poor, the underprivileged and the outsider. Again it comes as no surprise that they became linked with the supernatural dark forces that seemed to trouble the world so much. Cats often became fair game in any hunt for the causes of disease, death or unexpected events – ironically the killing of cats in the time of plague probably helped the Black Death to spread much faster than it might otherwise have done.

It is only in relatively modern times that cats have regained their revered status – although not in all sections of society as some hold them responsible for the wholesale slaughter of wild rodents and birds. Cats as purely pets – rather than mouse/rat catchers – only really came back into fashion with the great migration to urban centres. Cats eventually equalled and then arguably exceeded dogs in their inherent appeal though dogs remained the favourite companion of men whilst, generally at least, women preferred cats. There are now millions of house cats happily living their still semi-domesticated lives in residences across the globe. Unlike the normally loyal and faithful dog they seem to have retained more of their natural wild nature as largely nocturnal hunters. Their solitary predatory nature still defines them after thousands of years within human settlements. Maybe one day they’ll become fully domesticated though, I would argue, they would no longer be truly cat like at that point.

The author lavishes her attention on probably my favourite creature on the planet. With a host of drawings and paintings from across the world this is a delightful little book and should give any cat lover hours of pleasure. This is turning out to be a fascinating series of books (having read ‘Wolf’ a while back) looking at the cultural side of animals that we probably take for granted or completely ignore. Definitely more of this series to come. Recommended.

Just Finished Reading: Endless Forms Most Beautiful – The New Science of Evo Devo and the Making of the Animal Kingdom by Sean B Carroll (FP: 2005)

The last time I studied biology in general or genetics in particular in any depth was around 35 years ago. Since then I’ve read the odd book or two on the subject so whilst not exactly out of the loop on the subject I’m not as familiar as I once was (or arguably still should be) with the ins and outs of the workings of DNA. In consequence I honestly struggled with the first half of this book. It wasn’t that it was badly written or poorly explained – it certainly wasn’t that – it was just that some of my mental processors had rusted up in the intervening decades of relative inactivity. Despite the amount of effort it took to keep up with the intricacies of DNA in action and the assimilation of new discoveries about how exactly wings, legs, eyes and eye-spots come into existence and change form and function over time I did manage to keep up – though sometimes only just – with this fascinating story. Facts inevitably came thick and fast, experiments reeled off and detailed photographs explained to show how the same gene(s) that gave rise to the eyes of a fly gave rise to the very different eyes in mice and men. All in all there was quite a lot to absorb even after you got over the wow factor and, sometimes, the yuk factor.

I was far happier with the second section of the book – or should I say more at ease – where the author applied everything he brought up in the first section. Here he moved on from the ‘pure’ genetics of Evo Devo (Evolutionary Development Biology) to its application(s) out in the real world. Here he looked at the questions that had baffled previous generations of biologists and showed how the new approach could offer solutions – problems like the Zebra stripes, the development of the eye (not ‘re-invented’ on multiple occasions as previously thought), the development of flight in insects and birds and the development of the human brain plus much else besides. I can’t possibly précis the amount of information held in this book nor will I attempt to do so. I can only suggest that you sit down in a quiet room with a good strong cup of coffee and some of your favourite biscuits and have at it. It will probably be hard going unless you’re a lot closer to your College biology class than I am. But it’s definitely worth the effort to get to know what’s been going on in the world of evolutionary genetics in the last few years. The myths that Darwinian evolution is falling apart, has hit an impenetrable impasse or has simply run out of steam are blown apart. Real solid progress is outlined on practically every page. The implications are sometimes quite staggering. Not only are we moving into an era where we have a much greater knowledge of how Evolution actually works on a day-to-day basis we are not that far away from being able to manipulate this process at a cellular level. Once we know for certain exactly what needs to happen to produce a butterflies wings or a fish fin we are in a position where we can truly design living beings. Not only will we be able to design bacteria to produce any chemical in any quantity we wish we can bring back extinct creatures and create new ones that have only previously existed in the human imagination. The power of this technology is incredible. We are, it appears, not too far away from creating life from scratch. It’s all very exciting and more than a little disturbing!

I have more evolutionary biology books in the pipeline which will, I hope and expect, both deepen and widen my knowledge of this ever fascinating subject which informs both where we came from and, probably, where we are going. Along with Quantum Mechanics the subject has long had a hold on me which refuses to let go. Long may it continue. 

Just Finished Reading: Wolf by Garry Marvin (FP: 2012)

Personally I think wolves are amazing creatures deserving of our admiration and respect. Apparently, as with much else it seems, I am in the minority holding this opinion and have been for the greater part of human history. This amazing little book – a mere 181 lavishly illustrated pages – covers that history of humanities relationship with the wolf. Until recently it was almost without exception an adversarial one – usually with the wolf at the wrong end of a gun.

Wolves have long been viewed as much more than mere carnivorous competitors especially after the introduction of domesticated livestock. Wolves were viewed as being especially vicious, killing for the sake of killing and enjoying themselves in the process. They became associated with the dark forest and with nature at its most savage, most cruel and most cunning. They became a personification of the chaos of the natural world in opposition to the supposed order of the human world and became an identified danger to that order and so were hunted down wherever they were found. Long after they became extinct in most of Europe their presence lingered in myth and in the idea of the werewolf – that terrifying creature who only appeared to be human until the true beast was released to wreak havoc in otherwise peaceful communities.

Times change and with them the perception of the wolf – now seen, at least in some quarters, as an indication of a healthy ecosystem. Wolves, what few remain, are protected (although not without opposition) and as often as not revered rather than reviled becoming the icon and poster child of elements of various environmental groups. Wolves are now seen to have much more positive attributes – loyalty to the in group, loving parents, clever, resourceful – than ever before. Wolves now appear positively in advertising, movies and in military organisations. The world has turned and with it the fortune of wolves.

This, and much else besides, is covered in this fascinating volume within a whole series of books looking at the cultural side of creatures that many of us take for granted or simply ignore. If the rest of this expanding series is of this high quality (I have one more to read before I start buying them wholesale) then I am in for a serious treat. Highly recommended.