Book Review - Coral: A Pessimist In Paradise

Thomas Carlyle described the first volume of Ruskin's The Stones of Venice as "sermons in stone". In the same spirit Steve Jones's book on coral could be described as "parables in polyps". The coral of the title provides a rather loose link for a series of ruminations on natural history and global change. The pessimistic conclusion is that we humans are doomed, sooner or later - and probably sooner. The death of the coral that is happening now is a herald of what will ultimately happen to us all. The message is neither new nor cheering, but it is very well told...