Eden on the edge

Clay, cicadas, waves, owls . . . Peter Friederici has a fine eye for strangeness and beauty. In The Suburban Wild he wanders Chicago’s North Shore, where nature, against all odds, froths and breeds at forgotten edges of the urban sprawl. Friederici takes remnants of this beat-up Eden and shows us how they connect. The result? Wonderfully lyrical biology in the Walden tradition. Published by University of Georgia Press, £17.50, ISBN 0820321346.