91É«ÇéƬ

Paul Chambers’s A Sheltered Life: The unexpected history of the giant tortoise (John Murray, £8.99) will probably prove to be an elegy. Sadly, the giant tortoises mostly disappeared 2 million years ago, surviving only as small populations on the Galapagos and other islands, and are unlikely to last much longer. Very readable and full of engrossing anecdotes.