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Is a River Alive?
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79/99
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About This Book
The renowned nature writer and author of the best-selling author of Underland delivers a revelatory book that transforms how we look at the natural world—and life itself. Hailed as "a naturalist who can unfurl a sentence with the breathless ease of a master angler" (Holly Morris, New York Times), Robert Macfarlane brings his glittering style to a profound work of travel writing, reporting, and natural history. Is a River Alive? is a joyous exploration into an ancient, urgent idea: that rivers are living beings who should be recognized as such in imagination and law. Macfarlane takes readers on three unforgettable journeys teeming with extraordinary people and places: to the miraculous cloud-forests and mountain streams of Ecuador, to the wounded creeks and lagoons of India, and to the spectacular wild rivers of Canada—imperiled by mining, pollution, and dams. Braiding these journeys is the life story of the fragile chalk stream a mile from Macfarlane's house, which flows through his own years and days. Powered by Macfarlane's dazzling prose and lit throughout by other voices, Is a River Alive? will open hearts, challenge perspectives, and remind us that our fate flows with that of rivers—and always has.
Reviews
"Nature writing has been criticized for being overly dry, but Macfarlane's is anything but: He pours down unusual verbs, exhaustingly flaunting his superior attention and word choice ..."
"Not just informative but frequently beautiful, full of luscious lines ..."
"Macfarlane's writing is as beautiful as the rivers and the hope he's describing."
"Macfarlane delivers a lucid, memorable argument in the affirmative."
"Macfarlane skillfully braids his immersive travel writing with illuminating historical background, all told in lithe prose."
"The result is a ravishing and enlightening inquiry shaped by hydropoetics and a deeply considered commitment to rejuvenating, cherishing, and protecting rivers and all of nature."
"The revelations in this passionate book will make that quiet, common experience even more life-giving."
"aligns stylistically with Macfarlane's previous work – overflowing (all water metaphors to be forgiven in advance), as it is, with gorgeous, vivid prose – it is far more political than its predecessors."
"His prose aspires to poetry throughout ..."
"There is so much solemn virtue packed into this book I was grateful for the occasional bits of human comedy."
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