Overview

A plastic box with a lightbulb attached may seem like an odd birthday present. But for ecologist Tim Blackburn, a moth trap is a captivating window into the world beyond the roof terrace of his London flat. Whether gaudy or drab, rare or common, each moth ensnared by the trap is a treasure with a story to tell. In The Jewel Box, Blackburn introduces these mysterious visitors, revealing how the moths he catches reflect hidden patterns governing the world around us. With names like the Dingy Footman, Jersey Tiger, Pale Mottled Willow, and Uncertain, and at least 140,000 identified species, moths are fascinating in their own right. But no moth is an island--they are vital links in the web of life. Through the lives of these overlooked insects, Blackburn introduces a landscape of unseen ecological connections. The flapping of a moth's wing may not cause a hurricane, but it is closely tied to the wider world, from the park down the street to climatic shifts across the globe. Through his luminous prose and infectious sense of curiosity, Blackburn teaches us to see--and respect--the intricate web of nature in which we're all caught. The Jewel Box shows us how the contents of one small box can illuminate the workings of all nature.

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"Tim Blackburn is professor of invasion biology at University College London. Previously, he was the director of the Institute of Zoology, the research arm of the Zoological Society of London, where he still has a research affiliation. He has been awarded Honorary Professorships at the Universities of Adelaide, Birmingham, and Oxford, been named an Honorary Research Associate at the Centre of Excellence in Invasion Biology, Stellenbosch, and been an invited plenary speaker at numerous international conferences. His work in the 1990s with Kevin Gaston helped to define the newly emerging field of macroecology-the study of large-scale patterns in the distribution and abundance of species-and he has since gone on to make substantial contributions to the science of biological invasions. His own writing has appeared in the Biologist and the Conversation, and his findings have been covered by (amongst others) PBS, the BBC's Inside Science and Countryfile, the Guardian, Telegraph, and Evening Standard, Metro, the National (UAE), India Times, Republic (India), Suddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), Publimetro (Mexico), Irish Times, and ABC (Australia). Graham Mack is a multi-award-winning voice actor, producer, broadcaster, and programmer. It all started one day in 1991 when he was working as an an air-conditioning engineer in Sydney Australia. He came home from work and said to his wife, ""I've had the radio on in the van today; I reckon I could do that!"" Graham was born in Liverpool and grew up in Great Sankey near Warrington. His family emigrated to New Zealand when he was eighteen. His parents returned to Britain and left him in New Zealand when he was twenty-one. He worked as a pipe fitter on an oil refinery construction site, married a Kiwi (Julie), and studied heating ventilating and air-conditioning. After seven years in New Zealand, three married to Julie, Graham and Julie moved to Sydney, Australia, where he looked after air-conditioning plants in high-rise buildings. He studied commercial radio full-time at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in Sydney and graduated top of the class of '93. After graduation in August that year, he started his first paid on-air radio job at 2PK, Parkes (in the Central West of New South Wales), doing afternoon drive. Then he did breakfast at 5SE in Mount Gambier, South Australia, then nights on 2GO on the NSW Central Coast. He moved back to the UK in 1997 to present the breakfast show on 2CR FM in Bournemouth, then Century North East, BRMB, Century East Midlands, and returned to 2CR FM as program director for three years (2004-2006). Then he spent four years on breakfast at TFM, three years doing an all-speech breakfast show on BBC Wiltshire, five years as the program director and breakfast show host at BOBfm in the home counties, and two years as the PD at Fix Radio in London. He has also presented radio shows on BBC London 94.9, BBC Radio Merseyside, BBC Coventry and Warwickshire, BBC Hereford and Worcester, BBC Radio Oxford, BBC Radio Shropshire, BBC Radio York, BBC Radio Derby, BBC Radio Kent, and 106 Jack FM. Graham has also done a lot of TV work, presenting commercials and corporate videos in Australia and in the UK. He was the subject of a five-part documentary called Changing Places for Carlton Television, appeared on Ready Steady Cook, Monkey Business on Animal Planet, and Big Brother and Big Brother's Little Brother with Russell Brand. He has also worked as a voice-over artist for many commercial clients, including radio and television companies in the UK, USA, and Australia, and has narrated many audiobooks."

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