Radical Prince - the Practical Vision of the Prince of Wales, by David Lorimer (Floris Books, £20)

LET'S face it, the planet is in a mess and large-scale farming is just not making any sense any more.

Europe is producing far too much food, but rather than sharing our wealth with less developed countries we destroy these precious commodities.

Hedgerows and wildlife have been destroyed to accommodate huge machinery in vast fields, meaning we have to add chemicals - the long-term effects of which are not known - instead of nature creating its own balancing act.

So, if we choose to learn and develop from tried and trusted more natural methods are we mad?

This book entitled Radical Prince is somewhat misnamed as far as I am concerned, for there is very little that is radical about returning to the laws of nature which have been implemented across the world since history was first notated.

What the Prince of Wales has done in this book is to illuminate, for the first time, his philosophy of life dealing with the main aspects of agriculture, ecology, health, religion, architecture, education and business.

Lorimar is programme director of the Scientific and Medical Network, a body dedicated to open-minded exploration of the boundaries of science and he has taken it upon himself to actually write down the wide-ranging views of the prince.

And this is not New Age hippy-trippy rubbish but a wise and well thought-out holistic approach to living sensibly and responsibly.

And, what's more, this is not just some hyped-up book-filling nonsense to sell copies, Charles has been practising all these philosophies for years, with his views on architecture, religions, health and, of course, in business with The Prince's Foundation.

There are just too many ideas to list here, but overall this is an eminently sensible book packed full of laudable philosophies. It's well worth a read if you want a real insight into the often maligned Prince Charles.

Jackie Harris