To read the Globe's review of the books listed here, click on the title.
THE END OF THE RIVER: Dams, Drought and Déjà Vu on the Rio São Francisco
By Brian Harvey, ECW, 376 pages, $19.95
A brilliant and instructive book, alive with the author’s seditious intelligence, his inner compulsions and restlessness in a way that recalls the writing of Sir Richard Burton, who during the mid-1800s explored the São Francisco River that obsesses Harvey. But mainly it is the story of the depredations – the dams, the redirection, the pollution, the deforestation – that have been visited upon one of South America’s signature rivers, and on its declining and abused fish populations. Charles Wilkins
THE WELL-DRESSED APE: A Natural History of Myself
By Hannah Holmes, Random House Canada, 351 pages, $29.95
As the title suggests, the book is essentially a field guide to Homo sapiens, in which Holmes describes humans with the sort of dispassionate eye usually reserved for squirrels or spiders. This is not only a charming and entertaining book, it’s an important read, too. It’s like examining English as an English speaker, and wondering why we only have one way to say “I” when the Japanese have many. Alison Motluk
GRASS, SKY, SONG: Promise and Peril in the World of Grassland Birds
By Trevor Herriot, HarperCollins/Phyllis Bruce, 273 pages, $32.95
Trevor Herriot weaves personal experience, natural history and bird lore into a sort of book-length prayer for the preservation of the last native grasslands and the birds that call them home. The book is as beautifully rendered as the land it celebrates. The writing, the illustrations and the design all rise to the level of art. Grass, Sky, Song is a mandatory buy for anyone who cares about birds and wild places. Jake MacDonald
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SEA SICK: The Global Ocean in Crisis
By Alanna Mitchell, McClelland & Stewart, 238 pages, $32.99
Alanna Mitchell addresses the degradation of the entire ocean. To do this, she has to discuss individual components of the vast system that covers more than 70 per cent of the planet and makes up 99 per cent of all living space. What makes this book so important is that Mitchell visits the threatened areas, sees with her own eyes the tragic results of human ignorance and irresponsibility, and talks to the scientists who just might be able to suggest solutions. Richard Ellis
MOTHERS AND OTHERS: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding
By Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Belknap/Harvard University Press, 422 pages, $38.95
Sarah Blaffer Hrdy’s much-awaited new book is a mind-expanding, paradigm-shifting, rigorously scientific yet eminently readable treatise. Hrdy believes that the origin of pro-social behaviour in humans is to be found in the way our ancestors raised their offspring. Co-operative breeding, she claims, provided the evolutionary foundation for bigger brains, longer lifespans and language by making the extended childhood and the high caloric resources possible in conditions very unlike those of modern humans. Claudia Casper
THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH: The Evidence for Evolution
By Richard Dawkins, Free Press, 470 pages, $39.99
In making the case for evolution, Richard Dawkins follows the path set about 150 years ago by Charles Darwin through detailed discussion of how humans have changed species through selective breeding and via an illuminating trip through various branches of biological inquiry. No one can write about science as well as Dawkins; again and again, one is left breathless with admiration for the skills of the storyteller. Even the technical material becomes riveting in his hands. Michael Ruse
HOPE FOR ANIMALS AND THEIR WORLD: How Endangered Species are being Rescued from the Brink
By Jane Goodall, Grand Central, 392 pages, $34.99
