Progress in Physical Geography, 22(4) 1998

"Far too much of what is published at present in the field of biological diversity is worthy, erudite and often extraordinarily dull and tedious. This book is one of those academic rarities - being both scholarly and extremely stimulating as well as eminently readable in spite of its length ...This is a genuine attempt to find out what makes the whole process work...
The final chapter of this book continues the unexpected theme developed in the preceding chapters - namely that 'there is no inherent conflict between the preservation of biological diversity and the economic improvement of the human condition'. Huston also points out that there are, in addition to the well established economic value of many components of biological diversity, many non-economic values which should be considered since they may well influence peoples' views on the whole idea of the preservation of biodiversity on a local and global scale. ...
I liked this book on sight and had purchased and used it for several months before I received a copy for review. I would whole-heartedly recommend it to anyone with an interest in biological diversity and commend the author and the publisher on a major contribution to a developing and important topic."

Paddy Coker, University of Greenwich