FOR the price of a cup of coffee and a newspaper, you can lay a landmine, no
skills required. Apart from bullets, mines are the cheapest weapons around. But
these dragon鈥檚 teeth endure long after the original conflict ends. The clear-up
costs hundreds of thousands of times more than that cup of coffee. In spite of
technological advances, it generally boils down to people and dogs risking their
lives. In The Devil鈥檚 Garden (Pimlico, 拢12.50), Lydia Monin and
Andrew Gallimore say that poodles are the best dogs for sniffing out mines, but
鈥渟ome former military men find poodles a little embarrassing, and prefer a more
macho dog鈥︹�� The only hopeful note is the surprising news that an ancient
concept鈥攃hivalry鈥攎ay save us. The de-mining campaigns show pictures
of those who have been killed and maimed. Campaigners suggest that this sight
has shamed arms buyers. Stockpiles of landmines are beginning to shrink.
War doesn鈥檛 seem to be on the way out, however: it鈥檚 a global habit. In
Angola, described as 鈥渢he worst place in the world to be a child鈥� because so
many die before reaching the age of six, war has destroyed what would otherwise
be a blooming and booming economy. The State of the World 2002 (World
Watch Institute, 拢12.95) points out the enormous natural resources, from
diamonds to oil, and shows that the civil war has just mopped up all this money
to buy weapons鈥攊ncluding lots of landmines. Most Angolans are forced to
live in 鈥渕isery and terror鈥�. This book should be required reading for
policy-makers going to this year鈥檚 world summit in Johannesburg. The gap between
rich and poor is getting wider. Environmental destruction is speeding up.
Foreboding and frustration, anger and sorrow are evoked by these two books.
If you want to discover how and why emotions rule us, try Dylan Evans鈥檚
Emotion (Oxford University Press, 拢7.99). Reviewed on 10 February last
year, James Kingsland described it as 鈥渁 charming primer on the up-and-coming
science of emotions鈥�. It also explains how emotions help us to survive in a
hostile world.
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