Book Review

by Paul Ganderton

Polunin N & Curme LM. 1997. World Who is Who and Does What in Environment and Conservation. Earthscan. pp viii + 592. ISBN 1 85383 377 0. £50.00.

It's often the case that professionals in one field are reasonably well known to each other. However, with the growth of so many branches of conservation and environmentalism this is becoming a major task. Add to this the fact that a subject "grows" in student's eyes if they can relate work to an actual person and the value of this volume can be seen readily. Basically it is a "Who's Who" of key personnel in the field of environment and conservation. A range of data are collected including the person's background, achievements, publications and contact details. Appendices then cross reference this by country and specialty. Although a few attempts have been made before this is the first major text to provide such a wealth of useful information. For the professional it provides a range of possible contacts. For the student it provides starting places for research ideas (i.e. follow the publications of a few specialists in the field to get a background perspective on the subject. Only the inclusion of small photographs would improve the value of the text (similar to that attempted a few years ago for geography). An excellent reference text that deserves a wide readership.