Nature’s Last Dance

Environmentalist Natalie Kyriacou finds stories of survival and wonder within the tragedy of wild species extinction. In one, conservationists take on a drug cartel to save a porpoise; in another, scientists fight for a flightless bird that romances rocks. Animals far from conventional challenge 21st-century beauty standards, and financiers bet that whale poo will reach Wall Street. Set against a mass extinction unfolding quickly, the book moves through hunting grounds, jungles and oceans, into communities, trafficking rings and courtrooms, and into fights for survival against the odds. Kyriacou, who has won awards for her environmental work, sets out why nature is worth fighting for.

In The 12 New Books to Spice Up Your Fall, Adam Grant called it a spellbinding read on the extinction crisis and how it can be stopped.