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  • Published: 20 September 2022
  • ISBN: 9781529114423
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 336
  • RRP: $30.00

Silent Earth

Averting the Insect Apocalypse




An urgent and compelling new book from the bestselling author: his first major work of popular science and environmental activism - part love letter to the insect world, part elegy, part rousing manifesto for change.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

**SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 2022**

We have to learn to live as part of nature, not apart from it. And the first step is to start looking after the insects, the little creatures that make our shared world go round.

Insects are essential for life as we know it - without them, our world will slowly grind to a halt. Drawing on the latest ground-breaking research and a lifetime's study, Dave Goulson reveals the shocking decline of insect populations that has taken place in recent decades and the potentially catastrophic consequences.

Eye-opening and inspiring, Silent Earth is a call to arms for profound change at every level and a passionate argument or us to love, respect and care for our six-legged friends.

'Compelling, penetrating, devastating - Silent Earth is a wake-up call for the world.' Isabella Tree, author of Wilding

'Read this book, then look and wonder' Sunday Times

  • Published: 20 September 2022
  • ISBN: 9781529114423
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 336
  • RRP: $30.00

About the author

Dave Goulson

Dave Goulson studied biology at Oxford University and is now Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Sussex. He has spent the last twenty years studying bumblebees, and has published over 250 scientific articles on their biology. He founded the Bumblebee Conservation Trust in 2006. He is the author of the Sunday Times bestseller, A Sting in the Tale, which was shortlisted for the 2013 Samuel Johnson Prize, A Buzz in the Meadow and Bee Quest.

Also by Dave Goulson

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Praise for Silent Earth

Our collective lack of understanding and shortsightedness has brought us to the brink of ecogical disaster. We have disregarded the warnings for too long and simply cannot afford to ignore Dave Goulson's tremendously timely book.

George McGavin

His magnum opus. Silent Earth is both a heartfelt letter of love to the insect world that has captivated him from childhood, and a rousing call to arms to counter the recent catastrophic decline in insects before it is too late... Magnificent.

Caroline Sanderson, The Bookseller, Book of the Month

Compelling, penetrating, devastating - Silent Earth is a wake-up call for the world. Dave Goulson matches science with eloquence and passion to spotlight the cataclysmic loss of insect life on our planet. Rachel Carson would be proud.

Isabella Tree

Terrific... A thoughtful explanation of how the dramatic decline of insect species and numbers poses a dire threat to all life on earth.

Booklist, Starred Review

Insects are the most vivid expressions of the astounding fact of life in what may be a dead universe. Read this book, then look and wonder.

Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times

It's remarkable that [insect] decline has gone largely unnoticed by non-specialists... Keep dreaming, Dave Goulson. We'll need more dreamers like you.

Ben Cooke, The Times

Studded with engaging descriptions...[and] a plenitude of practical suggestions... This is a crusading but not a preachy book... I was charmed, enthused, dismayed and grieved by Silent Earth.

Richard Davenport-Hines, The Oldie

Thoughtful, frightening and yet hugely enjoyable... This book will make you think differently about our right of dominion over the planet.

Joe Shute, Daily Telegraph

The book's greatest strength is its insistence that change is possible, and that everyone can make it happen in small and large ways. Goulson steps seamlessly between knowledgeable professor and impassioned environmentalist, and you can't help but get on board.

Sierra Magazine

[Silent Earth's] message...is important and should be heeded.

Nigel Andrew, Literary Review

Dave Goulson... writes enchantingly.

Andrew Robinson, Nature

If Silent Earth contains a single incontestable message it is that nature - insects, flowers, plants, trees, birds and mammals, including our species - is a single system... This powerful book tells us that we need to act as if we understand this essential truth.

Mark Cocker, Financial Times

An eloquent and unflinchingly honest book... intelligent and thoughtful - and yes, beautifully written.

Forbes

Enlightening, urgent and funny, Goulson's book is a timely call for action.

New Statesman, *Books of the Year*

[Silent Earth] should be obligatory reading for politicians and those in power... compelling... [Goulson] draws up his case in a very readable and accessible style... an essential and timely book.

John Green, Morning Star

Read this book, then look and wonder

Sunday Times

A powerful book

Mark Cocker, Financial Times

Thoughtful, frightening and yet hugely enjoyable... This book will make you think differently about our right of dominion over the planet

Daily Telegraph

It's remarkable that insect decline has gone largely unnoticed by non-specialists... Keep dreaming, Dave Goulson. We'll need more dreamers like you

The Times

If Silent Earth contains a single incontestable message it is that nature - insects, flowers, plants, trees, birds and mammals, including our species - is a single system... This powerful book tells us that we need to act as if we understand this essential truth

Financial Times

After another frame-wrecking year I can think of no better book to recommend than Dave Goulson's Silent Earth

Times Literary Supplement, *Books of the Year*

Goulson's book deserves to be widely read. It is fact-filled and well balanced in the minefield of environmental politics.

International Journal of Environmental Studies