This is an "environmental" book, but with a difference: Mark Hertsgaard is not so much interested in the survival of specific plants, trees or animals as in gaugeing what homo sapiens is doing to the planet he inhabits, and ultimately to himself. He does not blame global capitalism alone (although its record is a grim one) but also realises that industrialised, socialised societies have their full share of blame - he has personal experience of the present-day Chinese economy. The psychology behind environmental damage is often hard to understand: why, for instance, do people in Paris, a city with an excellent public transport system, persist in driving cars to work or to shop every day through traffic-lined streets? A thoughtful book, which attempts no simplistic solutions or remedies to a huge and rapidly growing world crisis.