BURNING TABLE MOUNTAIN, an environmental history of fire on the Cape peninsula

315pp., illus., map, paperback, Cape Town, 2015

First published in the UK in 2014.

 Dr Simon Pooley on the interactions between humans and wildfire in fynbos on Cape Town's Table Mountain and the surrounding peninsula - from the practices of Khoikhoi herders to the management of the January 2000 fires.

"In this meticulously researched and lucidly written book, Simon Pooley exposes the reader to the myriad contradictions and conflicts that arise when northern Europeans colonise a fire-prone ecosystem. Throw into the mix introduced invasive trees, a biota of exceptional diversity and a populace riddled with inequality, arrogance, ingenuity and passion and what you have is the setting for a riveting tale." Professor Richard Cowling, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University 

Simon Pooley is a Junior Research Fellow in Conservation Science at Imperial College, London.