Product Description

The book of the major BBC1 TV series which will be the TV event of 2007. Combining stunning images, with ways you can help to save it for future generations and introduced by Sir David Attenborough. Saving Planet Earth is the BBC's follow-up to the multi award winning, international bestseller Planet Earth. The new 11 part BBC 1 series, plus a three hour special, will show what is happening to the fantastic animals and plants you saw in Planet Earth, why they are threatened (as nearly all of them are) and, perhaps most importantly, what you can do to prevent their destruction. Each chapter will look at one of the major reasons that is causing the disappearance of the earth's natural beauty (fishing, deforestation, pollution etc) and will look at the major ways that they can be stopped. The BBC has also shortlisted charities who are currently actively helping to prevent this destruction and all the money raised during the series will be donated to these charities.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #208900 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Organic life, August 07
"...a beautifully produced book with amazing photographs...joyful, as well as mid-bending and deeply moving..."

Mark Carwardine, BBC Wildlife Magazine, July 07
"...painstaikinly researched and very well written"

About the Author
Tony Juniper is director of Friends of the Earth and has been involved in conservation projects throughout the world.

Customer Reviews

Making a claim or just making the point?
Author Tony Juniper is described in this work as "one of the UK's leading environmentalists" although I had not previously heard of him. His short biopic explains how he works with primary school children on local ventures and has also actively demonstrated against various road building projects and GM crops. He is also a recognised expert on Parrots and co-author of an award-winning work on that particular subject. Such, it would appear, are the qualifications required for his becoming director of Friends of the Earth and vice chairman of Friends of the Earth International.

The problem with this book is that it is in danger of turning people away from this very important subject almost from the very beginning. Commencing with a format reminiscent of David Attenborough's Life on Earth, the first chapter is entitled "living earth," (also note the lack of capital letters) under which we find sections headed; the birth of life, the fabric of life and life under threat (sound familiar?). Under this latter heading there is a photograph of the face of a Tiger across two pages which is spoiled by the book's central crease. The caption reads "poaching and habitat destruction are driving the Sumatran tiger to extinction" (yes a capital "S" was used in Sumatran but not elsewhere). When capitals are deliberately absent in this fashion, I never know whether it is poetic license or a means of hiding the author's ignorance. Whichever applies, it adds another element to the overall destruction of some of the basic principles of our language and confuses those who are never certain whether to use a capital letter or not. Not a book for the school library therefore.

On the very next page we have a photo of a red frog with the caption "the strawberry poison dart frog is one of 1770 of the 5743 known species of amphibian that are currently at risk of becoming extinct." We are only at page 21 of 256 pages and, to my mind, this early inclusion of unattractive creatures means the book is in danger of creating a "who cares" reaction. Do not misunderstand this comment. All creatures, including "the good, the bad and the ugly" are equally important. Nevertheless, Save the Whale, Save the Tiger and Save the Panda are all slogans with which ordinary people can easily identify if only because they see these magnificent creatures in danger of extinction and feel something should be done about that. As a living creature, the Great White Shark is equally splendid - but this is a shark and, being dangerous and nasty, generates far less enthusiasm for its survival. By the time we get to frogs - especially poisonous frogs, all levels of support are very much diminished. In order to demonstrate the importance of these lesser creatures, therefore, the book should have commenced with the big and beautiful before working its way down to those which will always remain less popular whilst, at the same time, demonstrating the inherent value of these minor life forms and their overall contribution.

I also have problems with the overall format. Page 4, for example, is coloured yellow with a white border with the only text being a large "1.". The facing page bears the words "living earth". Chapters 2 and 3 are introduced in similar fashion which, when added to an excessive use of very wide blank margins all through the product, is seen as nothing short of wasted paper. This is at odds with the statement right at the beginning which proclaims "proudly printed on paper from well managed forests." Does that mean it's OK to waste it then?

A short way into this book I was reminded of a Monty Python sketch from many years ago. Imitating a well known British children's television programme called Blue Peter, the team made as if to tell youngsters how to find a cure for cancer by encouraging them to go to medical school, qualify as a doctor and then find a cure for cancer! It was their very simplicity coupled with the actors dressed to imitate the real presenters which made it very funny at the time. Sadly, it says nothing for this particular work that I am left with the indelible impression this author is searching for an equally simplistic solution to saving planet earth.

NM

Making a claim or just making the point?
Author Tony Juniper is described in this work as "one of the UK's leading environmentalists" although I had not previously heard of him. His short biopic explains how he works with primary school children on local ventures and has also actively demonstrated against various road building projects and GM crops. He is also a recognised expert on Parrots and co-author of an award-winning work on that particular subject. Such, it would appear, are the qualifications required for his becoming director of Friends of the Earth and vice chairman of Friends of the Earth International.

The problem with this book is that it is in danger of turning people away from this very important subject almost from the very beginning. Commencing with a format reminiscent of David Attenborough's Life on Earth, the first chapter is entitled "living earth," (also note the lack of capital letters) under which we find sections headed; the birth of life, the fabric of life and life under threat (sound familiar?). Under this latter heading there is a photograph of the face of a Tiger across two pages which is spoiled by the book's central crease. The caption reads "poaching and habitat destruction are driving the Sumatran tiger to extinction" (yes a capital "S" was used in Sumatran but not elsewhere). When capitals are deliberately absent in this fashion, I never know whether it is poetic license or a means of hiding the author's ignorance. Whichever applies, it adds another element to the overall destruction of some of the basic principles of our language and confuses those who are never certain whether to use a capital letter or not. Not a book for the school library therefore.

On the very next page we have a photo of a red frog with the caption "the strawberry poison dart frog is one of 1770 of the 5743 known species of amphibian that are currently at risk of becoming extinct." We are only at page 21 of 256 pages and, to my mind, this early inclusion of unattractive creatures means the book is in danger of creating a "who cares" reaction. Do not misunderstand this comment. All creatures, including "the good, the bad and the ugly" are equally important. Nevertheless, Save the Whale, Save the Tiger and Save the Panda are all slogans with which ordinary people can easily identify if only because they see these magnificent creatures in danger of extinction and feel something should be done about that. As a living creature, the Great White Shark is equally splendid - but this is a shark and, being dangerous and nasty, generates far less enthusiasm for its survival. By the time we get to frogs - especially poisonous frogs, all levels of support are very much diminished. In order to demonstrate the importance of these lesser creatures, therefore, the book should have commenced with the big and beautiful before working its way down to those which will always remain less popular whilst, at the same time, demonstrating the inherent value of these minor life forms and their overall contribution.

I also have problems with the overall format. Page 4, for example, is coloured yellow with a white border with the only text being a large "1.". The facing page bears the words "living earth". Chapters 2 and 3 are introduced in similar fashion which, when added to an excessive use of very wide blank margins all through the product, is seen as nothing short of wasted paper. This is at odds with the statement right at the beginning which proclaims "proudly printed on paper from well managed forests." Does that mean it's OK to waste it then?

A short way into this book I was reminded of a Monty Python sketch from many years ago. Imitating a well known British children's television programme called Blue Peter, the team made as if to tell youngsters how to find a cure for cancer by encouraging them to go to medical school, qualify as a doctor and then find a cure for cancer! It was their very simplicity coupled with the actors dressed to imitate the real presenters which made it very funny at the time. Sadly, it says nothing for this particular work that I am left with the indelible impression this author is searching for an equally simplistic solution to saving planet earth.

NM