Our disastrous “stewardship” of the planet is nowhere more vividly apparent than in the European fixation on the riches of the Amazon, a sorry tale of exploitation and extinction – as outlined by Sandra Knapp in her review of a “wonderful” book about how “this most diverse and fascinating of river basins” has been depleted, but with lessons as to how it might be saved. For the cod populations in parts of the Atlantic it is already too late. Richard Shelton sounds both a warning and a note of hope in his review of a book that focuses on the fishermen of Gloucester, Mass. What most of us (i.e. those of us not qualified to write about natural history for the TLS) understand about the diversity and survival of life on earth comes from Charles Darwin, and the publication of his On the Origin of Species 150 years ago will be widely commemorated in 2009. But, says Gowan Dawson, Darwin was only one among many Victorian naturalists (and gifted amateurs) who contributed to widespread acceptance of the amazing, dangerous idea of evolution – and far from the bestselling one at that. This month sees a new edition of another work of 1859 that, from slow beginnings (not one copy sold) went on to achieve astonishing popularity: The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, Englished and arranged by Edward FitzGerald, a gentleman who, according to Daniel Karlin in Commentary, abhorred “the ‘puffery’ of commercial authorship”. No queasiness about money held William Shakespeare back, and not much else did either. John Guy finds that Jonathan Bate, a name familiar to TLS readers, to lovers of poetry and to the ecologically minded, has written an “enthralling” new kind of biography, “the most eloquent evocation of Shakespeare one is ever likely to encounter”. Richard Davenport-Hines looks at the rather different life of Warren Buffett, whose love of money excludes any interest in anything else whatsoever. We think he needs our paper, and intend to send him one – free of charge.

Alan Jenkins

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