Description

‘Superb’ ROBERT MACFARLANE
‘Fascinating’ ISABELLA TREE
‘Inspiring’ CAL FLYN

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR CONSERVATION WRITING
SHORTLISTED FOR SCOTLAND’S NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS FOR NON-FICTION

For nearly four billion years, life on Earth has found new ways to adapt, reproduce and thrive. Now, in the face of climate change, nature is modelling ingenuity as never before.

David Farrier guides us through unexpected and hopeful examples of nature’s genius: whether urban pigeons building nests in the spiked structures meant to deter them or tomcod in the Hudson River that have become immune to highly toxic chemicals, coral used to make a natural and self-healing cement or computer chips derived from mycelium skin. Farrier shows us how nature is offering a blueprint that could help us design sustainable cities, remake our economies, solve our waste problem, rescue animals from the brink of extinction and choose a better future.

Publisher Review

Nature’s Genius is a superb book: subtle, sharp-eyed and fascinating. Here, everyday beings and objects – dogs, buildings, spiders, clocks – are lit anew; thrown into surprising configurations and relationships. Damage and disorder are faced with clear eyes, but hope is also found in unexpected places. A tight, shimmering web of words — ROBERT MACFARLANE A fascinating, boundary-breaking, shape-shifting chimera of a book that shows how we might evolve to solve the problems we have caused our planet. Brilliantly written, surprising, inspiring and, ultimately, hopeful — ISABELLA TREE A book of hope and wonder. I learned something new and thought-provoking, even inspiring, on every page — CAL FLYN A wonderful exploration of nature’s unrivalled ability to adapt to changing environments, and what we might belatedly learn from these interconnected ecosystems that we’re also a part of as we navigate a more perilous Anthropocene. Full of fascinating details and insightful observations about the richly diverse behaviours and interactions of the world’s extraordinary creatures — GAIA VINCE We are negligent: the natural world is vigilant. We spawn ugliness: the wild responds with beauty. Farrier’s exhilarating, splendidly written account of nature’s care for itself and us will help you sleep at night — CHARLES FOSTER A bold vision * * New Scientist * * Persuasive and impassioned . . . Farrier’s achievement is to make change feel not just possible but also exciting * * Literary Review * * Nature’s Genius is far from excessively gloomy. Farrier encourages us to look to nature and her evolutionary histories, and to use what we find there to mitigate the damage we have done and forge a better future for ourselves and the planet * * Times Literary Supplement * * Wise, eloquent and often very moving, Nature’s Genius is a hymn to the power of possibility embedded in both the natural world and ourselves — JAMES BRADLEY Nature’s Genus is a wide-ranging work of energy, sensitivity and subtle intelligence that offers glimpses of genuine possibility and hope — CASPAR HENDERSON