Richard Mabey Boeken

From sea squirts to slugs to swallowtails—the third, fabulous, and gorgeously illustrated book in Richard Mabey's series, a companion volume to Flora Britannica and Birds BritannicaA comprehensive look at invertebrates that proves it’s the little things that count, this essential and accessible work on bugs is not a biological guide but a richly illustrated cultural one, seen through the eyes of writers, musicians, artists, and naturalists—from the great Tudor naturalist Thomas Muffet, father of Little Miss Muffet, to Irvine Welsh’s talking tapeworm in Filth —as well as contributions by ordinary men and women who are fascinated by creepy crawlies of all kinds. Structured along a roughly evolving path, the book ranges from simple cell life-forms to spiders, butterflies, and bees, and then back into the water to meet mollusks and "almost-fish." In addition to the fascinating habits of the bug world, the eccentric behavior of the bug obsessives themselves is also included. But of course, the true heroes of the book are the bugs themselves—the nimble-dicks, clock ladies, and coffin-cutters. From the Boring Sponge to the Mermaid’s Glove to the Penis Worm, this rich compendium of bugs is a must not only for naturalists but also for anyone who cares about the crawling and buzzing swarms at their feet.

"The Gardener's Labyrinth" was the first popular gardening book to appear in the English language in 1577. Hill broke away from the pattern of formal, purely descriptive studies and pioneered a genre that has remained firmly in the best-seller lists ever since - a practical gardening handbook.

Whether creating a cassoulet which uses English ingredients, making bread from chestnuts or slow-cooking a Peking duck in front of an ancient fan heater, he encourages us to be daring and imaginative in our cooking and our approach to food.

Home Country is a Chiltern memoir, from childhood dens to explorations on the fringes of London.

Fans of Food for Free will be delighted at this new format - ideal for carrying in a rucksack. Over 100 edible plants are featured together with recipes and other interesting culinary information. With details on how to pick, when to pick and regulations on picking. This new format of a best-selling title provides a portable guide for all those who enjoy what the countryside has to offer. Over 100 plants are listed, fully illustrated and described, together with recipes and other fascinating information about their use throughout the ages. The recipes are listed so that you can plan your foray with a feast in mind. This is the ideal book for both nature-lovers and cooks. Particularly with today's emphasis on the freshest and most natural of foods. There is also practical advice on how to pick plus the countryside laws and regulations on picking wild plants.

Britain's most-influential nature writer reflects on a lifetime of close observation and celebrates the positive force of the natural world. From the rediscovery of foraging that led to Food for Free, through his groundbreaking expeditions in the 'edgelands' in the 1970s, to his reflections on the musicality of bird-song, he has consistently explored new ways of thinking about nature and its relation to our lives. In Turning the Boat for Home, he introduces pieces from his rich writing life that reflect on how his ideas evolved. At the heart is a passionate belief that Earth is a commonwealth, of all species. Mabey recalls the fight against the commercial afforestation of the Scottish peatlands and recounts the experience of running a 'community woodland', one of the first in Britain. Plants, the organisms that underpin all life, have been a source of constant fascination. In his encyclopaedic Flora Britannica Mabey explored how deeply they are embedded in our popular culture. But they are also autonomous beings with their own agendas, as experienced in his own 'serendipitous' garden 'in which wild organisms improvise their own landscapes'. From a new viewpoint, 'the slow-moving carapace' of a boat on the Norfolk Broads, Mabey ponders the migration of geese and the home-loving whirligig beetles. His epiphany is that a sense of "neighbourliness" may be the best model for our relationship with the rest of the living world. Throughout there is a commitment to writing and to language, which may be 'our greatest ecological gift'. In a celebration that links the work of the poet John Clare with the political warnings of Rachel Carson, Mabey suggests that 'the answer to the still present threat of a silent spring is for us to sing against the storm.'

Ever since the first human settlements 10,000 years ago, weeds have dogged our footsteps. They are there as the punishment of 'thorns and thistles' in Genesis and, two millennia later, as a symbol of Flanders Field. The author examines how we have tried to define them, explain their persistence, and draw moral lessons from them.

Described as 'Britain's greatest living nature writer', Richard Mabey has revealed his passion for the natural world in eloquent stories for BBC Wildlife Magazine.