Flying Fox And Drifting Sand: The Adventures Of A Biologist In Australia
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: 2nd impr.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Fair
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Tanning and foxing , price clipped
Markings: No markings
A landmark work of natural history and environmental observation, Flying Fox and Drifting Sand chronicles Francis Ratcliffe's remarkable journeys across Australia in the 1930s, undertaken on behalf of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Ratcliffe was dispatched first to investigate the devastating impact of flying foxes on Queensland's fruit industry, and then to uncover the causes of catastrophic soil erosion and sand drift plaguing the pastoral lands of inland Australia. Written with the keen eye of a scientist and the vivid prose of a seasoned traveler, the narrative presents a portrait of a vast, ancient continent grappling with the consequences of European settlement and land misuse. The tone is both authoritative and deeply personal, blending rigorous ecological argument with candid, often humorous accounts of life in the Australian bush. Decades ahead of its time, the work stands as a prescient warning about environmental degradation and remains essential reading for anyone interested in Australian ecology, history, and the relationship between humanity and the natural world.
Author: Francis Ratcliffe
Format: Hardback
Published: 1938, Chatto and Windus
Genre: Natural history
Edition: 2nd impr.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Fair
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Tanning and foxing , price clipped
Markings: No markings
A landmark work of natural history and environmental observation, Flying Fox and Drifting Sand chronicles Francis Ratcliffe's remarkable journeys across Australia in the 1930s, undertaken on behalf of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Ratcliffe was dispatched first to investigate the devastating impact of flying foxes on Queensland's fruit industry, and then to uncover the causes of catastrophic soil erosion and sand drift plaguing the pastoral lands of inland Australia. Written with the keen eye of a scientist and the vivid prose of a seasoned traveler, the narrative presents a portrait of a vast, ancient continent grappling with the consequences of European settlement and land misuse. The tone is both authoritative and deeply personal, blending rigorous ecological argument with candid, often humorous accounts of life in the Australian bush. Decades ahead of its time, the work stands as a prescient warning about environmental degradation and remains essential reading for anyone interested in Australian ecology, history, and the relationship between humanity and the natural world.