Water tables are dropping steadily in several major food-producing regions as groundwater is pumped faster than nature replenishes it. The world's farmers are racking up an annual water deficit of 160 billion cubic metres-the amount used to produce 10 per cent of the world's grain. The overpumping of groundwater cannot continue indefinitely. Eventually the wells run dry, or it becomes too expensive to pump from greater depths, says Subir Ghosh

At an age when children bubble with sheer joy of being alive, millions of small girls struggle to survive the burden of poverty, overwork and ill-health in India. Girls who are forced to labour, endure an entire childhood of extremely poor health with their physical and emotional well-being at a constant three-fold risk due to their living conditions, the work they must do and the fact that they are female, writes Subir Ghosh

Tireless explorer of the natural world and wide-ranging traveller, documentary filmmaker and writer David Attenborough has delighted readers and viewers with such productions as Life on Earth and The Living Planet, says Amazon.com

Despite the avalanche of books written about the First World War in recent years, there have been comparatively few books that deliver a comprehensive account of the war and its campaigns from start to finish. The First World War fills the gap superbly. As readers familiar with Keegan's previous books (including The Second World War and Six Armies in Normandy) know, he's a historian of the old school, says Amazon.com

That "Geno" Cernan was commander of Apollo 17, the final manned moon mission, was a fitting conclusion to a flying career that included two previous stints in space (Gemini 9 and Apollo 10). His career spanned the entire Gemini and Apollo programs, from being the first person to spacewalk all the way around the world to the moment when he left man's last footprint on the Moon as commander of Apollo 17, says Amazon.com