Recycling

Cookery writers would call this series a 'neat little reduction' of the publishers' 1989 'Conserving our World'. Main ingredients - arrangement, pictures and message - remain the same, so, although lots of words have evaporated, this is still a well organised book about the type of waste we create, the problems it causes and how we are trying to resolve them.

Most important, the flavour of the book is still the same, and this must be because it still has the same author. So many 'easy reading editions' are the products of insensitive filleting by the dead hands of 'reading experts' - ending up spineless, gutless and tasteless, but this is an entirely superior product. Shorn of excess verbiage, facts and messages stand out more clearly and are easier to take up than in the original - effectively widening the age and ability range of a valuable contribution. And what a pleasure to see that the bibliography has been updated.