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The Garden Jungle
- Or Gardening to Save the Planet
- Narrated by: Dave Goulson
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Categories: Home & Garden, Gardening & Horticulture
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A naturalist’s passionate dive into the world of bees of all stripes - what she has learned about them, and what we can learn from them. Brigit Strawbridge Howard was shocked the day she realized she knew more about the French Revolution than she did about her native trees. And birds. And wildflowers. And bees. The thought stopped her - quite literally - in her tracks. But that day was also the start of a journey, one filled with silver birches and hairy-footed flower bees, skylarks, and rosebay willow herb, and the joy that comes with deepening one’s relationship with place.
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Thoroughly enjoyed!
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A captivating, fabulous read. Highly recommended.
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Fantastic day by day journey
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Once commonly found in the marshes of Kent, the short-haired bumblebee is now extinct in the UK but still exists in the wilds of New Zealand, descended from a few queen bees shipped over in the 19th century. A Sting in the Tale tells the story of Goulson’s passionate drive to reintroduce it to its native land and contains groundbreaking research into these curious creatures, history’s relationship with the bumblebee, the disastrous effects intensive farming has had on our bee populations and the potential dangers if we are to continue down this path.
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Correction...
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By the Wainwright-Conservation-Prize-winning author of Rebirding Spend a year in an orchard, celebrating its imperilled, overlooked abundance of life. England's ancient orchards, collaborations between people and nature, are sources of hope for the future. Protecting them promises a far richer England for the centuries to come, for wildlife and for us.
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As Brits we pride ourselves as stoic defenders, boasting a record of resistance dating back to 1066. Yet, even a cursory examination of the natural world reveals that while interlopers of the human variety may have been kept at bay, our islands have been invaded, conquered and settled by an endless succession of animals, plants, fungi and other alien lifeforms that apparently belong elsewhere. Indeed it’s often hard to work out what actually is native, and what is foreign.
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Political rant disguised as book about nature
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A journey into the weird, wonderful and truly astonishing lives of the small but mighty creatures who keep the world turning. Out of sight, underfoot, unseen beyond fleeting scuttles or darting flights, insects occupy a hidden world yet are essential to sustaining life on earth. Insects influence our ecosystem like a ripple effect on water. They arrived when life first moved to dry land, they preceded - and survived - the dinosaurs, they outnumber the grains of sand on all the world’s beaches, and they will be here long after us.
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When Charles and Perrine Hervé-Gruyer set out to create their farm in an historic Normandy village, they had no idea just how much their lives would change. Neither one had ever farmed before. Charles had been circumnavigating the globe by sail, operating a floating school that taught students about ecology and indigenous cultures. Perrine had been an international lawyer in Japan. Each had returned to France to start a new life.
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Mammals you never knew existed will enter your world. Birds hidden in treetops will shed their cloak of anonymity. With a single movement of your hand you can make reptiles appear before you. Butterflies you never saw before will bring joy to every sunny day. Creatures of the darkness will enter your consciousness. And as you take on new techniques and a little new equipment, you will discover new creatures and, with them, new areas of yourself that had gone dormant. Once put to use, they wake up and start working again.
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Relaxing and educational
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Feral
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How many of us sometimes feel that we are scratching at the walls of this life, seeking to find our way into a wider space beyond? That our mild, polite existence sometimes seems to crush the breath out of us? Feral is the lyrical and gripping story of George Monbiot's efforts to reengage with nature and discover a new way of living. He shows how, by restoring and rewilding our damaged ecosystems on land and at sea, we can bring wonder back into our lives. Making use of some remarkable scientific discoveries, Feral lays out a new, positive environmentalism.
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Disappointing
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Back to Nature
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Optimistic field notes from the new normal for nature. One thing has become clear this year - we need nature more than ever. And although the natural world has never been more under pressure, there are still reasons to be hopeful. Through personal stories, conservation breakthroughs and fascinating scientific discoveries, Back to Nature captures the essence of how we feel about the wildlife outside our windows.
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Stop the Rot and unleash the wildlings
- By JK on 18-12-20
Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
The Sunday Times best seller.
The Garden Jungle is about the wildlife that lives right under our noses, in our gardens and parks, between the gaps in the pavement and in the soil beneath our feet. Wherever you are right now, the chances are that there are worms, woodlice, centipedes, flies, silverfish, wasps, beetles, mice, shrews and much, much more, quietly living within just a few paces of you.
Dave Goulson gives us an insight into the fascinating and sometimes weird lives of these creatures, taking us burrowing into the compost heap, digging under the lawn and diving into the garden pond. He explains how our lives and ultimately the fate of humankind are inextricably intertwined with that of earwigs, bees, lacewings and hoverflies, unappreciated heroes of the natural world.
The Garden Jungle is at times an immensely serious book, exploring the environmental harm inadvertently done by gardeners who buy intensively reared plants in disposable plastic pots, sprayed with pesticides and grown in peat cut from the ground. Goulson argues that gardens could become places where we can reconnect with nature and rediscover where food comes from. With just a few small changes, our gardens could become a vast network of tiny nature reserves, where humans and wildlife can thrive together in harmony rather than conflict.
For anyone who has a garden and cares about our planet, this book is essential listening.
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What listeners say about The Garden Jungle
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Gareth Robberts
- 27-02-20
Non factual and depressing
I felt the quality of the audio was bad as everytime he pronounces an "s" it whistles. I found a lot of what he said to be his opinion and what he felt and not factual. He even went as far to guess that maybe obesity and ADHD could be caused by pesticides while admitting that there was no evidence to back this up. So much emphasis was put on bashing pesticides. He went on to talk how badly the RHS is. Yet when I studied my RHS qualification a lot more time was spent learning cultural controls as opposed to spraying. It would have been nice if this was mentioned. He says that you can openly encounter council employees spraying and possibly come into contact with the pesticides and herbicides. When I did my PA1 and PA6 we were specifically taught to ensure that public did not have access to the areas that you are spraying. You also do not spray in high wind so there is no chance of drift. It feels like he does not have a lot of knowledge about what he is talking and a lot of the book is just how he feels and what he guesses. There is very little information about the wild animals and how best to care for them. Instead it's just about the decline of insects and how badly the environment is doing. I would not recommend to anyone
9 people found this helpful
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- Joseph
- 28-06-20
Enjoyable and informative
Enjoyable and informative without being too heavy. The recipes used to segue into each topic sound tremendous, and it's great to hear gardening and ecological advice from someone so knowledgeable. I'm probably being harsh not giving this the full 5 stars, but it isn't quite as good as Sting In The Tail for me, and I felt like I was being persuaded into an opinion sometimes around invasive species
4 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 14-06-20
Fantastic
rarely learned as much or was so inspired... and very well spoken which is unusual for an author read book
4 people found this helpful
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- Emma H.
- 28-06-20
Eye opening and thought provoking
Very interesting and easy to listen to. I like Dave's humour and honesty. I hope many more people read this book and take action to help our precious wildlife. I certainly will be!
3 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-06-20
a true bible for gardening
loved it, fascinating, informative, educational and at time shocking. a book to revisit again and again. truly inspiring
3 people found this helpful
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- C. M. Lymm
- 16-05-20
A must read, this should change your attitude.
An easy to listen to publication that will change your mind on gardens today's world
3 people found this helpful
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- Yikes!
- 12-02-20
SAVE THE WORLD. LISTEN TO THIS BOOK.
Excellent information. Essential reading for everyone in the UK, USA, Europe... Okay, everyone everywhere. Read it or listen to it, because it will help you make decisions that will individually make a small difference, and collectively make a huge one.
3 people found this helpful
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- Mrs M E Burstow
- 15-02-20
Fascinating Listening
A really good book, which got me thinking. I loved the recipes, especially Surrey Apple and Hkney pudding.
2 people found this helpful
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- Amanda Earthwren Gazidis
- 20-07-20
Such an inspiring book!
This was a very interesting book that was delivered well by the Author Dave Goulson. As an Allotment gardener myself I found his tips and all the information fascinating and informative! Highly recommended as a thoroughly researched book and superbly read too! If you are into gardening and nature, this is the book for you! Made me think of conservation and ecology too and the importance issues of our time. Big thanks for this! So inspirational...
1 person found this helpful
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- Rob B
- 19-07-20
Fantastic book
loved this book. It's rare that books narrated by their author work but this one is fab. Great content and really makes you think about the effect of modern gardening and farming.
1 person found this helpful
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- Wesley
- 02-04-20
A must read for anyone with a garden
Dave Goulson's stories are always a pleasure to read. Informative, hopeful and quite funny sometimes. Even when his message is very grim (for example on pesticides) he doesn't make you just angry or sad, but really motivates you to do better. Last year I planted 20.000 - 30.000 square metres of wild flowers after reading his book The Sting in the Tale and I have been busy the rest of the year. This book has a similar impact on me and I hope on others too. Because it's not very difficult to garden to save the planet. Also each recipe at the start of each chapter can be made by the worst cooks. With the Garden Jungle, Goulson makes it easy and fun to reconnect with nature. Or improve your skills and knowledge when you've never disconnected.
1 person found this helpful