The Wild Places – Book Review

The Wild Places

 

By Robert McFarlane (Granta, 2007) RRP – $35.00 www.granta.com

 

 

Robert McFarlane became familiar to many readers with his 2003 award-winning Mountains of the Mind – A History of a Fascination, an exploration into the attraction that mountain environments have on those driven to experience them. McFarlane returns with a new exploration, this time a personal and reflective journey through Britain and its remaining wild places. That there are still wild places in Britain is perhaps the most surprising belief of all, yet McFarlane travels through moors, valleys, islands, rivers, and forests. In doing so he reflects on and considers the nature of wildness and of man’s both appreciative and often exploitative relationship with it. This is a moving, thoughtful and beautifully written collection of journeys that will be appreciated by anyone who enjoys nature writing and good literature.