The Golden Mole: and Other Living Treasure: 'A rare and magical book.' Bill Bryson

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In The Golden Mole, Rundell dons her metaphorical hat and coat, taking on the guise of a “circus ringmaster” as she points to each animal and asks us to be astonished, for “there is power in astonishment”. Taking inspiration from the American author and activist bell hooks, Rundell hopes to evoke “love that can have in it fury at harm done”. “When I say that love is the precondition for change, I mean a larger kind of love than the Hollywood romance,” a love “that can have in it an active focus, love that is almost indistinguishable from attention. Love that is a kind of iron-willed cherishing that has in it a kind of steeliness.” A wondrous ode to nature’s astonishing beauty – and an elegy for all the life we are in the midst of A wondrous ode to nature's astonishing beauty – and an elegy for all the life we are in the midst of destroying. This is a book filled with love and hope and whiskers and wings, by turns ravishing and devastating. No one sings the praises of the world quite like Katherine Rundell."

An absolute masterpiece of creative nonfiction and of environmental activism. It brings pure wonder towards an animal kingdom thats worth saving. The way it brings together interesting scientific facts about each endangered animal with historical encounters with them (Kings having their shields at a funeral crested with swifts to symbolise everlasting pursuit, new world sailors staring at seals and mistaking them for lost humans, etc) is just astonishing.

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At the end is an essay on humans, with a plea to try to save these creatures before it's too late. The author has decided to donate half the profits from this book to charities and organisations that are trying to combat climate change. There is a constant joy in the book . . . A sense throughout of delight and wonder, and a reminder that Did you know that a tuna is usually the size of a grizzly bear? The average is 1.8m but the bluefin usually is twice that and weighs around 600kg.

A book as rare and precious as a golden mole. A joyous catalogue of curiosities that builds into a timely reminder that life on planet is worth our wonder." You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many user’s needs. Compare Standard and Premium Digital here. It takes 150 years for a female to be ready to mate and one animal the scientists know about that is still alive today was around in 1606!

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It can run at speeds of more than 40km/h for up to 90s which means it can easily outrun us humans and it can crush skulls with its bum. When it comes to what we should do, however, things get a bit woolly. After a typically vivid account of seahorse courtship and reproduction, Rundell urges us to “remember the seahorse” every morning and “scream with awe and not stop screaming until we fall asleep” or, a bit more practically, to “refuse to eat anything that is taken from the ocean by overexploitative nonselective fishing”. Elsewhere, she makes the rather vague suggestion that we “urgently seek out ways to aid child nutrition” in impoverished countries, so that people there are not forced to hunt endangered creatures. It is a pity that this element of the book is so thin and impractical. Yet Rundell is incapable of writing a dull sentence and it could hardly be bettered as an exuberant celebration of everything from bats, crows and hedgehogs to narwhals and wombatsIn this, as in her expansive treatment of love, Rundell shows that the path towards activism does not have to be born from despair but can result from close attention to the “staggering beauty” of the world. “For what is the finest treasure?” she asks. The answer is, of course, “Life”. Every animal Rundell turns her attention to is in some way endangered because of human activity, be it deforestation, hunting, chemical pollution or habitat destruction, all of which contribute to climate change. Life, our finest treasure, is under threat. Turn off the tap and save the penguins