nature book which was recently reviewed by the New York Times.

"Every Creeping Thing'', by writer Richard Conriff, is billed as a collection of "true tales of faintly repulsive wildlife'' which studies the fear and love relationships between animals and people who live closely with them, said reviewer Ann Finkbeiner, a freelance science writer and college lecturer.

Mr. Conriff's message is urgent, notes Ms Finkbeiner. "We are in danger of turning what's left of the planet into a petting zoo'' and "the world is full of life forms that are too strange, too beautiful, too powerfully disturbing to let merely vanish.'' One of the stories is about Government Conservation Officer Dr. Wingate and his single-handed reconstruction of Nonsuch Island.

After 350 years of settlement, said Ms Finkbeiner, the island was a desert of rats, goats and the skeletal remains of an old forest.

Over 40 years, Dr. Wingate got rid of the rats and goats, restored the forest and undergrowth and reintroduced herons and land crabs.

"His reason is personal,'' writes Ms Finkbeiner, "he wants a petrel called the cahow -- native to Nonsuch, thought to be extinct since 1620, but now found in small numbers -- to come back to live.

"If he restores their home, maybe they'll come back and live.'' In a humorous twist, Dr. Wingate is mentioned for a second time in the book.

Ms Finkbeiner said: "The man preparing the home for the cahow loved nature so much that, as a child, he once took a jar of spiders to bed with him, and his mother found him asleep, covered with webs.''