John Lewis-Stempel is that rare thing, a prolific author who seems to be able to write both fast and intelligently on wide a variety of subjects. Meadowland, The Running Hare, The Secret Life Of The Owl and numerous other titles have been best-sellers. The Wood is his latest and records in diary-form a year in the life of a Herefordshire wood he managed in a deliberately old-fashioned way: coppicing the trees, letting cattle and pigs roam freely. The author comes to know the landscape and its wildlife intimately – finding sanctuary in it himself, in something of the way the wild creatures do.