By Michael J. Benton The Seventy Great Mysteries of the Natural World: Unlocking the Secrets of Our Planet

This book could be the ideal gift from someone who has come to appreciate the wonder and complexity of life on Earth and would like to help others (child, niece, grandchild, acquaintance) through a crash course in how life works, the place of Homo sapiens in it and the scale of what must be done for humanity to create a biosensitive response to remedy the damage we doing to nature's systems.It's not a preachy book, just seventy brief, well-illustrated chapters (all written by experts like Carl Zimmer, Richard Fortey, Paul and Anne Ehrlich), which explain dynamic planetary processes, historical and contemporary. It's up to the reader to work out and then decide how they will change their behaviour in a biosensitive direction, but few will not be moved to act with more thoughtful consideration after reading - or even dipping into - this book.It is a credit to Benton's visionary editing and I imagine he is rightly proud of the book he has produced. He has done a superb job in marshalling the contributions so that they are all disciplined, consistent and well-written and hence accessible to concerned interested persons. He has produced a book which stands tall in the face of the internet: I doubt if anyone could search the web and find material that was as current, and explained so clearly and succinctly by international authorities. And Thames and Hudson have, as usual, produced a beautiful book on high quality paper, well-bound and to very high design standards.The main negative for this book is that the many high quality illustrations are little more than 'eye candy'. Even technical diagrams contain terms and refer to processes not explained in the text. There is no evidence that the authors had any say in their selection and, from a practical point of view, they are a waste of space. The editor let his guard down here - but he is not alone: most illustrated reference books from large publishing houses suffer the same weakness.Here's a selection of the seventy mysteries: (1) How did the Earth form? (2) The origins of life, (9) Why do mammals rule the world? (20) Where does oil come from? (21) the evidence for evolution, (22) How did the eye evolve? (23) Why do so many people not accept evolution? (25) Selfish gene theory, (48) How do dogs see the world? (51) Instinct and learning in animal behaviour, (61) Global warming, (64) Greenhouse gases and Earth's natural rhythms, (65) Predicting future human population levels, (69) Humanity's ecological footprint, (70) Human behaviour and saving the planet.Having bought this book for my teenage nephew and dipped into it while it was briefly in my hands, I am committed to buying a copy for my niece, another for my son - and one for myself as well. The editor and contributors have given us a gift; and I'll be doing the same.Disclosure: Having written such a grateful and appreciative review, I should make it clear I have no connection with anyone associated with this book, but share with them all an appreciation of life on Earth and the imperative for understanding it so humanity in the future will be able to enjoy it as much as we can today - but without the sense of foreboding many of us feel early in the 21st century.