Non-Fiction

The World Without Us
By Alan Weisman

Alan Weisman's book is a useful corrective to all those hand-wringing pop stars bleating on about the damage we are doing to the planet. If Man were removed from the equation - by biological disaster, for example - Nature would quickly start to reassert itself. The Earth, says Weisman, is a resilient thing, though it may not self-heal back to the status quo ante. Water levels in the cities would rise and begin to rot structures, plants would colonise cracks in tarmac and concrete and with them numerous animal species would creep back. If you doubt this, he says, look at the Chernobyl region. It's unfit for humans, but it has all but returned to a pristine natural wilderness. Look at the Maya too, a 1,600-year-old civilisation that died and was swallowed up by the jungle. This doesn't mean we should become less green, of course, but it is heartening to know that there's life in the old planet yet.

Virgin, £20
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The Plot Against Pepys
By James and Ben Long

Here is a full-scale treatment of a little-known episode in the life of Samuel Pepys: his arraignment for high treason in 1678. Had he been found guilty the diarist's last entry would have read: 'Today I will be hanged, disembowelled while still alive and decapitated.' Pepys found himself in this predicament because of the anti-Catholic hysteria directed at his patron, the Catholic convert James, Duke of York, and because secret papers from Pepys's role as Admiralty Secretary had been found among the possessions of Colonel John Scott, a chancer in the pay of foreign governments. A cluster of Whig grandees determined to secure the throne against Catholic succession turned on Pepys - and hence James - with Scott (guaranteed immunity) as their star witness. This crisis and Pepys's determined attempts to clear his name are adroitly described by father and son James and Ben Long. They let the drama speak for itself, and Pepys's fortitude too as the diarist found himself cast as the victim in a thriller.

Faber, £17.99
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The Tiger That Isn't
By Michael Blastland and Andrew Dilnot

Messrs Blastland and Dilnot have set themselves the not-inconsiderable task of persuading readers that statistics is not a foreign language. It's all commonsense apparently, and the politicians who use numbers to bamboozle us are easy to unmask. So, when a survey on violence asked respondents if they had ever used force on someone, they included 'family' among the potential victims: as a result 36 per cent of 'assaults' were in fact sibling on sibling pushing and shoving. And why are our roads seemingly becoming safer? Improved driving skills and visibility? No, it's because many of our roads are now so fast that pedestrians and cyclists avoid them altogether - hence fewer fatalities. The authors look at any number of official statistics in this way and deftly unpick claim after claim (ambulance response times, waste recycling targets, fish stocks). It is all very illuminating and comprehensible to even the mathematically-challenged. Unfortunately, it also confirms the old adage about lies, damn lies and statistics.

Profile, £12.99
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Delizia!
By John Dickie

John Dickie, the author of an acclaimed study of the Italian Mafia, has turned his attention to another fabled Italian institution - its food. His book sets out to show that the popular image of leathery locals munching on the finest tomatoes and extra virgin oil in olive groves is a false one. The country's food, reckons Dickie, is urban food and indeed there is no such thing as Italian food - rather a set of distinctive regional cuisines. He takes a chronological tour through the peninsula, including a description of a spectacular meal served to 104 guests by the Duke of Ferrara in 1529 (with boned capon covered in blancmange), and explanations of why Rome is partial to offal, Naples to macaroni and Milan to saffron risotto. Sophia Loren is present too (for her 1974 cookbook In cucina con amore), as well as Mussolini trumpeting - and guzzling - patriotic dishes. Dickie has served up a flavoursome concoction.
Sceptre, £20
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