Biology | Earth and Skye

Title: Wilding
Author: Isabella Tree
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Biology, Conservation, Nature, Non-fiction
Dates read: 9th – 26th April 2020
Pace: Slow
Format: Novel
Publisher: Picador
Year: 2018
5th sentence, 74th page: Well on the way to recovery in Europe, they have already been spotteed in the Oostvaardersplassen and are likely soon to be bredding in the reserve.

Forced to accept that intensive farming of the heavy clay soils of their farm at Knepp in West Sussex was driving it close to bankruptcy, in 2000 Isabella Tree and her husband Charlie Burrell tok a spectacular leap of faith and handed their 3,500 acres back to nature. With minimal human intervention, and with herds of free-roaming animals stimulating new habitats, their land is now heaving with life. Rare species such as turtle oves, peregrine falcons and purple emperor butterflies are now breeding at Knepp and biodiversity has rocketed.

The Knepp project has become a leading light for conservation in the UK, demonstrating how letting nature take the driving seat can restore both the land and its wildlife in a dramatically short space of time, reversing the cataclysmic declines that have affected most species elsewhere in Britain over the past five decades. Part gripping memoir, part fascinating account of Britain’s rural ecology, Wilding is, above all, an inspiring story of hope.

I bought this book in a sale because it looked mildly interesting, and I do love anything that discusses issues with the natural environment. What I got was an experience that I NEVER expected. One that just completely blew me away and swept me off my feet. Plus, I was reading it at a time that I was beginning the process of removing myself from the rigours of academia and ecology… something which is mentioned frequently in this book. It helped to seriously crystallise some of my thoughts.

This is a very interesting and somewhat inspiring book. As someone who wants to buy land and then “rewild” it, there were a number of practicalities which were presented in this novel. Yet, it was more than that – the terminology of rewilding, the different projects around the world and the many different issues that were faced were seriously delved into. Yet, instead of being dry, as many writers like this can be, Tree is able to recount her adventures and experiences in an engaging and intriguing manner. One that makes it seriously difficult to put this book down.

One of the biggest boundaries that constantly appeared throughout this novel was that of coming up against bureaucracy. Fighting constantly against a bureaucracy that tends to need specific details for any kind of funding. Which, in and of itself then limits the outcome of the project – by placing restrictions on what we are aiming for, what we are aiming for becomes restricted. It’s a definite issue and fallacy within the conservation community that I tend to find frustrating, and it was interesting to read about it from the other point of view.

This is an amazing book for anybody who is interested in conservation to read. It is engaging, intriguing and incredibly insightful. The amount of information that Tree manages to impart is seriously impressive – especially since she does it in such a approachable and enlightening way.

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Image result for book cover she has her mother's laugh

Title: She Has Her Mother’s Laugh
Author: Carl Zimmer
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Biology, Non-fiction, Science
Dates read: 1st – 13th December 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Non-fictional text, Novel
Publisher: Picador
Year: 2018
5th sentence, 74th page: He wasn’t any fonder of that school either, considering it nothing but “a convenient way to keep the sons of rich Philadelphia Quakers out of mischief.”

Carl Zimmer presents a history of our understanding of heredity in this sweeping, resonating overview of a force that shaped human society–a force set to shape our future even more radically.

She Has Her Mother’s Laugh presents a profoundly original perspective on what we pass along from generation to generation. Charles Darwin played a crucial part in turning heredity into a scientific question, and yet he failed spectacularly to answer it. The birth of genetics in the early 1900s seemed to do precisely that. Gradually, people translated their old notions about heredity into a language of genes. As the technology for studying genes became cheaper, millions of people ordered genetic tests to link themselves to missing parents, to distant ancestors, to ethnic identities. . . .

But, Zimmer writes, “Each of us carries an amalgam of fragments of DNA, stitched together from some of our many ancestors. Each piece has its own ancestry, traveling a different path back through human history. A particular fragment may sometimes be cause for worry, but most of our DNA influences who we are–our appearance, our height, our penchants–in inconceivably subtle ways.” Heredity isn’t just about genes that pass from parent to child. Heredity continues within our own bodies, as a single cell gives rise to trillions of cells that make up our bodies. We say we inherit genes from our ancestors–using a word that once referred to kingdoms and estates–but we inherit other things that matter as much or more to our lives, from microbes to technologies we use to make life more comfortable. We need a new definition of what heredity is and, through Carl Zimmer’s lucid exposition and storytelling, this resounding tour de force delivers it.

Weaving historical and current scientific research, his own experience with his two daughters, and the kind of original reporting expected of one of the world’s best science journalists, Zimmer ultimately unpacks urgent bioethical quandaries arising from new biomedical technologies, but also long-standing presumptions about who we really are and what we can pass on to future generations.

I remember studying genetics and heredity in my first year of Biology at University. It’s not the most engaging of subjects. Actually, it can be downright tedious at times. I was a little bit hesitant at reading this book. I really only got it to try and complete the Pick Your Poison reading challenge. Which meant I was pleasantly surprised when I enjoyed this so much.

This is one of the best approaches to genetic and heredity explanations that I have ever come across. Instead of just reporting the facts (as most classes and textbooks have to do), it’s full of stories. Anecdotal tales of heredity across the ages which are then used to explain how genes are passed on from mother to daughter, father to son, so on and so forth. And it all starts with a personal story, pulling you into Zimmer’s journey from the beginning – because it actually affects him.

This is definitely a book that I’ll reread in the future. It’s one that has so much information in it that you can’t possibly absorb it all the first time. And, unlike some of the non-fiction books I’ve read, I’m actually looking forward to rereading this. After all, it relates directly to my own field of obsession (ecology), and, if I want children in the future… it will affect them too.

She Has Her Mother’s Laugh is not only a great read, it is also incredibly informative. The mix of personal and informative is perfectly balanced and seriously enjoyable. Not the kind of book that I’m likely to forget at any point in the future.

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Earth and Skye

The ramblings of a bibliophile.

Tag Archives: Biology

Wilding by Isabella Tree

She Has Her Mother’s Laugh by Carl Zimmer