Faith and Struggle on Smokey Mountain by Benigno P Beltran (Alban Books, £18.99). The author, a Filipino priest of the Society of the Divine Word, spent 30 years ministering to the scavengers who live on “Smokey Mountain”, a huge garbage dump on the outskirts of Manila. His book, subtitled Hope for a Planet in Peril, appeals for greater understanding of this huge underclass of 25,000 inhabitants, as well learning to imitate their simplicity of life – the scavengers are born recyclers, long before this word became fashionable. Beltran includes his own spiritual insights into what his ministry has taught him.