Throughout a lifetime of biological and seabird research, Michael Brooke has been blessed with the opportunity to visit a huge array of islands dotted across all the oceans of world. His is an island list fit to make the armchair traveller green with envy – and potentially seasick. Truly no island has been too far: from St Kilda to Spitsbergen, from Hawaii to the furthest reaches of the Southern Ocean, with all manner of destination in between.

In this deeply knowledgeable and at times humorous book, the author shares the experience of stupendous scenery, amazing wildlife and cutting-edge scientific investigation, all blended with idiosyncratic adventures. We discover a great deal about the peculiar ecology and unique species of islands, looking at everything from plants, mammals, reptiles and birds to human aspects, with a splash of history and anecdote.

The engaging journey will appeal to anyone who wants to learn about islands that they will probably never visit in person. The reader will share the day-to-day grind and exhilaration of undertaking fieldwork in remote situations, reflecting on the curiosity of a mindset that enables equal pleasure to be extracted from, say, Sicilian architecture and the inexpressibly brown landscape of Cape Verde.