Best summer books of 2023: Environment
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The Deluge by Stephen Markley (Simon & Schuster)
The world is not awash in captivating climate fiction but this sprawling novel proves it can be done. Set in a United States of the near future, its engrossing characters struggle with political, economic and social crises triggered by galloping climate chaos that feels all too real.
The Earth Transformed: An Untold History by Peter Frankopan (Bloomsbury/Knopf)
Another whopper of a book this year comes from Frankopan, author of the 2015 bestseller, The Silk Roads. This time the Oxford professor has gone for an even more ambitious target: the story of how the natural world has shaped human history, from just after the Big Bang up to today.
Five Times Faster: Rethinking the Science, Economics, and Diplomacy of Climate Change by Simon Sharpe (Cambridge University Press)
To have any hope of keeping global warming to 1.5C, we need to decarbonise the global economy about five times faster this decade than in the past two decades. This smart, insider’s book shows the job will require serious intellectual rewiring of three vital fields — science, economics and diplomacy.
Tell us what you think
What are your favourites from this list — and what books have we missed? Tell us in the comments below
The Orchid Outlaw: On a Mission to Save Britain’s Rarest Flowers by Ben Jacob (John Murray)
This charming and unlikely story comes from a man who is a university lecturer by day, but by night makes daring raids on private land to dig up Britain’s rarest flowers — the orchids that have obsessed him since childhood. The delicate plants are in trouble but this book shows how one man (and his spade) can make a difference.
Beastly: A New History of Animals and Us by Keggie Carew (Canongate/Abrams Press)
Another story of humans and nature is told in this touching book about our paradoxical relationship with animals. We adore them so much that some would befriend anything from a wild boar to a stork. But we also hunt and kill them to the point that we drive whole species to extinction.
Summer Books 2023
All this week, FT writers and critics share their favourites. Some highlights are:
Monday: Environment by Pilita Clark
Tuesday: Economics by Martin Wolf
Wednesday: Fiction by Laura Battle
Thursday: Politics by Gideon Rachman
Friday: Critics’ picks
Saturday: History by Tony Barber
Join our online book group on Facebook at FT Books Café
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