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Mark Winston
1999 210 pages (W520)
An articulate and readable exploration of how humans live amongst other species. Mark Winston exposes some great anomalies: the public outcry heard against environmental pollution, and yet total intolerance to insects in our domestic environment the perceived pestulance of some species, and yet the toxic effects of the chemicals we use to kill them. Over ten chapters Mark Winston provides insight into various themes. One chapter 'Frankenstein plants' neatly explains bioengineering of plants useful reading for anyone who would join the current GM crop debate. Another is devoted to 'Bees and other beneficials', explaining how we have destroyed wild bee populations and, instead of restoring them so they can continue pollination, have substituted an alternative, complex and expensive pollination industry. This text was deservedly short-listed for the BP Natural World Book Prize.
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