Ecologic, By Brian Clegg

Subtitled "The Truth and Lies of Green Economics", this is a rational, nuanced analysis of green issues, using what Brian Clegg calls "ecologic" (a combination of economics, psychology, risk assessment and clear reasoning) to separate the facts from the myths and the sober fears from the irrational panics.

Green supporters will enjoy his merciless dissection of the feeble arguments used to promote the third runway at Heathrow, but they're likely to recoil in horror from some of his suggestions. Clegg argues that nuclear power, far from being the bogeyman feared by many, could be an essential stepping stone until we have developed cleaner energy sources; that the "organic" label doesn't always mean that a product is green; that the (relatively few) experts who are sceptical about man-made climate change should not be demonised, but that their arguments taken seriously and answered.

It is a provocative book, but Clegg is realistic both about what's necessary and what's achievable.