TAPESTRIES OF LIFE

'Nature is the entire basis of our wellbeing. Without it to lift us, our civilisation will fall.' Trees clean our air and water, hover flies and bees pollinate our crops, the kingfisher inspired the construction of high-speed trains. Here Sunday Times bestselling author Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson explains how we are all connected with the natural world, a life support system like no other, a network that provides some of the most vital goods and services we receive - food, fresh water, medicine, pollination, pollution control, recreation, spiritual health and much more. Her book touches on the hornless rhino, freshwater pearl mussels - caretakers of the water system - purifying moss, wasps and wine, the megafauna that vanished, meat past and present, the sea, the last healthy part of a sick world, blue honey, blossom, Brazil nuts, the fig tree and the fig wasp, wormwood versus malaria, monster spit that slays diabetes, drugs and antibiotics from bugs, mini jellyfish and the conifer that flavours food and feeds salmon, termites and drought, mangroves as breakwaters, moths with an eye for darkness, green washing and white washing with ornamental lawns and wild gardens and the way forward with lost wilderness and new nature. An uplifting tapestry and well stocked pharmacy, we are the caretakers of our natural world. 344pp, beautiful line art.