Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid

'An original, wide-ranging and carefully researched book ... contains important lessons for humanity.' Mark Cocker, The SpectatorA fascinating insight into climate change biology around the globe, as well as in our own backyards.Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid is the first major book by a biologist to focus on the fascinating story of how the natural world is adjusting, adapting, and sometimes measurably evolving in response to climate change. Lyrical and thought-provoking, this book broadens the climate focus from humans to the wider lattice of life.Bestselling nature writer Thor Hanson - author of Buzz (a Radio 4 'Book of the Week') - shows us how Caribbean lizards have grown larger toe pads to grip trees more tightly during frequent hurricanes; and how the 'plasticity' of squid has allowed them to change their body size and breeding habits to cope with altered sea temperatures.Plants and animals have a great deal to teach us about the nature of what comes next, because for many of them, and also for many of us, that world is already here.

An original, wide-ranging and carefully researched book ... contains important lessons for humanity., [A] fascinating exploration of climate change, exploring the adaptation of species in different habitats. Hanson is a biologist whose passion and expertise are writ large here, as he combines personal observations . . . with the latest scientific research in a lively, engaging and optimistic assessment of the planet's future., Hanson supplies abundant reason to marvel at nature's ingenuity, but also to fear for it in the face of the drastic changes we are generating., While humans wrestle with net zero targets and greenwashing, other species have had to adapt to the impacts of climate change, as American biologist, Thor Hanson, reveals in this carefully researched book. His accounts of how squid have responded to warmer waters, and lizards to fierce storms, are both poignant and sobering., Nature-lovers ... will marvel at the incredible ingenuity of creatures across the globe.

Thor Hanson is a biologist whose previous books include The Impenetrable Forest, Feathers (longlisted for the Samuel Johnson prize), The Triumph of Seeds, Buzz, and Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid. He has appeared on BBC Radio 4 and contributed to publications including BBC Wildlife and the Huffington Post. He lives on an island in the Pacific Northwest, USA.