Mammoths are just one of the many extinct megafauna which helped form our landscapes. Image: ShutterstockSophie Yeo explores species extinction and environmental loss, highlighting the urgent need for conservation By Bryony Cottam At which point in history did our world cease to be wild? Was it during the Industrial Revolution, a period so transformational that some scientists argue it left a lasting impact on Earth’s geological history? Or did the shift to the tamed and manicured landscapes that surround us today begin much earlier, when humans first picked up tools and began to build fires ..read more

The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry. Image: ShutterstockDelve into the dark side of museum operations as Rachel Spence uncovers the unsettling truth behind artwashing and misdeeds By Mark Rowe Was there ever a halcyon period for museums, a time without controversy when they served a simple, apolitical function of public improvement? Probably not. For as long as any of us can remember, museums have been called out for cutting sponsorship deals with companies whose repute is, says author Rachel Spence, ‘often complicated, to say the least’, or for ..read more

The former Derwent village inside the Ladybower resevoir, Derbyshire. Image: Shutterstock Fiona Stafford explores the history of British landscape and the human impact of recent changes By Katie Burton Academic and author Fiona Stafford sets out to convey the sweeping changes that have impacted the British landscape, while at the same time revealing the startling occurrences where history pokes through, tying us to the past and connecting us to the unbroken passage of time as it relates to our landscape. Travelling to a new location in each chapter, she captures a wide array of shifting spaces ..read more

Photographs, candles and messages in Valletta, demanding justice for the murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Image: Shutterstock Travel writer Ryan Murdock delivers a depressing but thought-provoking story on Malta, one of the most corrupt places in the world By David Eimer The October 2017 murder of crusading journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia exposed Malta as one of the most corrupt countries in Western Europe. Galizia was assassinated because she was the most public and persistent critic of the organised crime and graft that flourished in Malta in the 2010s under the still-ruling Lab ..read more

The ring-necked parakeet is the only naturalised parrot n the UK, and is regarded as one of the 100 most invasive species in Europe. Image: Shutterstock An engaging, occasionally philosophical read on invasive species, inspired by one man and his devotion to studying hedgehogs By Mark Rowe  From cane toads to grey squirrels, mink to parakeets, invasive species are an enormous conservation headache. So huge that the UN Convention on Biological Diversity puts them in the top five significant threats to biodiversity, alongside climate change. There’s another problem: invasive species polaris ..read more

Alastair Humphreys Adventure and author Alastair Humphreys, selects from his library some of his favourite and formative reads. His book Local is out now Living Dangerously (1987) By Ranulph Fiennes I can’t be the only person to have been stirred by these tales of reckless derring-do towards dreaming of adventures of my own. Click here to get your copy via Amazon • As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (1969) By Laurie Lee This poetic, bucolic tale of tramping through Spain showed me that you don’t need to be an aristocratic tough guy to have adventures, and later inspired me to busk badly thr ..read more

Image: Shutterstock Noah Whiteman shines light on the poisons found in every day items and the link between poison and evolution By Bryony Cottam Poisons are an integral part of our everyday lives. We keep them in our spice racks and bathroom cabinets, and we drink them in the morning to wake us up and at night to help us sleep. They may not be toxic to us in the doses usually consumed, but nevertheless, as writer and evolutionary biologist Noah Whiteman reveals in Most Delicious Poison, the chemicals found in ordinary medicines and spices have had a much more significant impact on evolution t ..read more

By-the-wind sailors are tiny colonies of polyps that travel by catching the wind in their sail-like appendage. Image: Shutterstock Louise Kenward draws together the stories of people with disabilities and their love for nature in vital and timely read By Olivia Edward Disabled writer Eli Clare often ‘drops to her hands and her knees’ when she’s out traversing a natural landscape. She relishes being an ‘inchworm humping along the ground’, spots of grey lichen ‘prickling her hands’. Yes, in mud and snow, it ‘can be a messy affair’, she admits – hands get scratched and shoulders get sore – but ‘e ..read more

Robyn Davidson attends the Tracks premiere during the 70th Venice International Film Festival. Image: Matteo Chinellato/ShutterstockWriter Robyn Davidson explores her past, her family, time and memory in insightful and compelling fashion By Elizabeth Wainwright In 1977, at the age of 27, Robyn Davidson crossed 2,700 kilometres of remote Australian desert accompanied by four camels and her dog. She captured the experience in her book Tracks and it marked the beginning of a life of travel, adventure and writing about it all. Now, in Unfinished Woman, Davidson puts her skilled writing and percept ..read more

Fascinating maps, conservation success stories and menacing volcanoes feature in our list of the best books of 2023 From the Laura Trethewey’s engrossing history of ocean exploration, to Maxim Samson’s engaging explanation of the invisible borders that influence our everyday lives, to Tim Marshall’s predictions for the future of space exploration, we reveal our pick of the best books of 2023. Invisible Lines: Boundaries and Belts That Define the World by Maxim Samson The modern world is divided by borders. Some, such as the mountainous frontier between France and Andorra, have remained unchan ..read more