Reviews

Tim Low is the author of Bush Tucker and Wild Food Plants of Australia (both HarperCollins). In Feral Future he talks of the exotic species - plant, animal, virus, marine organism, bird, reptile, fungus and invertebrate - that have been let loose, intentionally or otherwise, to become pests in our environment. Low details the horrifying damage that has occurred and will continue to occur as a result of introducing these species into Australia, especially given the economic imperatives of international trade and travel. The classic book in this area is Eric Rolls' They All Ran Wild, but it concentrated on the early introductions, mostly of animals, and mostly deliberate. Nowadays, the introductions are most likely to be by chance, the quarantine system being hopelessly under-funded and increasingly sidelined, though there are also the loopier permaculturalists and the mad scientists assuring us that there is no risk. For example, Low tells us of hymenachne, a no-risk pasture plant released by a government department as recently as 1988, that now appears on the list of Australia's 20 worst weeds. And it's not just one-way traffic. Australia also exports pests - possums to New Zealand, red-back spiders to Japan, paperbark trees to Florida - with the same destructive consequences. A deeply disturbing book. Ross Reading is the owner of Green's Bookshop. C. 1999 Thorpe-Bowker and contributors