Couverture de Is a River Alive?

Is a River Alive?

 Aperçu

Bénéficiez gratuitement de Standard pendant 30 jours

5,99 €/mois après la période d’essai. Annulation possible à tout moment
Essayez pour 0,00 €
Plus d'options d'achat
Acheter pour 17,99 €

Acheter pour 17,99 €

À propos de ce contenu audio

Brought to you by Penguin.

From celebrated writer Robert Macfarlane comes this brilliant, perspective-shifting new book – which answers a resounding yes to the question of its title.

At its heart is a single, transformative idea: that rivers are not mere matter for human use, but living beings – who should be recognized as such in both imagination and law. Is a River Alive? takes the reader on an exhilarating exploration of the past, present and futures of this ancient, urgent concept.

The book flows first to northern Ecuador, where a miraculous cloud-forest and its rivers are threatened by goldmining.

Then, to the wounded rivers, creeks and lagoons of southern India, where a desperate battle to save the lives of these waterbodies is under way.

And finally, to north-eastern Quebec, where a spectacular wild river – the Mutehekau or Magpie – is being defended from death by damming in a river-rights campaign.

At once Macfarlane’s most personal and most political book to date, Is a River Alive? will open hearts, spark debates and lead us to the revelation that our fate flows with that of rivers – and always has.

© Robert Macfarlane 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

 Nature et écologie Plein-air et nature Politique et gouvernement Politique publique Science

Commentaires

Everyone who has ever found something to love in a river should find something to love in this book. It is a masterpiece
One of the big publishing events (if not the biggest) of 2025 – a new book by Robert Macfarlane . . . Personal as well as political, it’s almost as certain to shift readerly perspectives as it is to be a bestseller
The book is a delight . . . So stirring, so surprising, so acute
Is a River Alive? is a powerful synthesis of literature, activism and ethics, reshaping the way we perceive the natural world (Alex Preston)
Whether fiction or non-fiction, all great books make you look at the world anew – and Macfarlane’s has changed the way I think about the natural world. In it, he explores the idea that rivers are not objects or resources but living beings, and by the end, that idea feels self-evident . . . A lyrical, persuasive invitation to look again at how we treat the systems that sustain us – and one of the year’s most necessary books
The narrative pull is strong in this book. I kept wanting to go back to it. Macfarlane has yet again demonstrated his genius as an author in creating a book that is alive, that has personality, that talked to me. I was sad when it ended. It has flowed into my daily thoughts ever since, much like a river continues to flow into the sea
Beautiful, wild and wildly provocative
Macfarlane confronts the realities of the living, beating heart of the riverine world . . . With crystalline clarity and force, Macfarlane confronts the gross failure of our existing laws to protect rivers from harm . . . Such ideas are brought to life by the quality of the writing, the evocation of mood and place, the raw smells and energies that accompany Macfarlane, whether on a gentle walk into a Cambridge wood, or hurtling with mortal speed down a Canadian rapid
Impassioned and invigorating . . . Macfarlane is erudite and eclectic, and, though charismatic, doesn’t press his presence upon you. His books are adventurous, often involving truly remarkable companions; and at the sentence level no one could accuse him of painting by numbers . . .
Macfarlane is England’s best nature writer, and once again his prose sings, its rhythm mirroring the subject matter. It’s liquid (or riverine) – surging, eddying and magnificently alive
Aucun commentaire pour le moment