The countryside, country life: general interest Books

Book SynopsisAsh before Oak is a novel in the form of a fictional journal written by a solitary man on a secluded Somerset estate. Ostensibly a nature diary, chronicling the narrator’s interest in the local flora and fauna and the passing of the seasons, Ash before Oak is also the story of a breakdown told slantwise, and of the narrator’s subsequent recovery through his reengagement with the world around him. Written in prose that is as precise as it is beautiful, winner of the 2018 Fitzcarraldo Editions Novel Prize, Jeremy Cooper’s first novel in over a decade is a stunning investigation of the fragility, beauty and strangeness of life.Trade Review‘Very moving, beautiful and so thoughtful too – a wonderful evocation of animals and birds, sky and Somerset.’ — Kate Mosse, author of Labyrinth‘... what Cooper offers, very boldly and successfully, is a broad narrative arc of collapse and tentative recovery, in which a struggle for meaning and purpose in life assumes a desperate intensity.... Because of the narrator's inability to describe his anguish, what's mostly written here is not his pain, but his clinging to life: the beauty caught and traced, with great skill, in trying to overcome suffering. In its journal form, Ash before Oak salvages detritus, the unremarkable mess, banality and repetition of the everyday, just as the narrator works on restoring his dilapidated buildings in Somerset. And in a larger way, too, with admirable wisdom and precision, it salvages, from agonizing, ruinous thoughts and experiences, something transcendent, of lasting value.’ — Jerome Boyd Maunsell, Times Literary Supplement‘Low-key and understated, this beautiful book ... is a civilised and melancholy document that slowly progresses towards a sense of enduring, going onwards, and even new life. It feels like a healing experience.’ — Phil Baker, The Sunday Times‘A disarming and gorgeously rendered portrait of interiority ... The novel’s genius lies in what goes unsaid, and in the gaps between entries – what the narrator keeps from readers is the most haunting plot of all. This meandering novel is one of quiet beauty, and brief flashes of joy among seasons of despair. A study in how writing can give lives meaning, and in how it can fail to be enough to keep one afloat, this is a rare, delicate book, teeming with the stuff of real life.’ — Publishers Weekly, starred review‘Mr. Cooper’s depiction of depression is powerful—and very challenging—in its artlessness. We do not follow a clean arc from near-death to recovery. Instead we find ourselves in the midst of a marathon, something grueling and repetitive and, though filled with hopeful pleasures, always dogged by despair.’ — Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal

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Book SynopsisDartmoor is one of the few wilderness areas remaining in the UK beautiful, mysterious and sometimes dangerous. From its rich, moss-covered ancient woodlands and rushing rivers to its sparse high moorland and bleak prison, Dartmoor has inspired artists, poets and musicians for centuries. Since prehistoric times, man has lived and worked on Dartmoor, leaving behind mysterious stone circles, monuments and the remains of ancient settlements. From tin mining and quarrying to an ice factory and gun powder mills, man has endeavoured to make a living from Dartmoor, leaving his footprint in the wilderness. This book contains a fascinating mixture of informative facts and mysterious tales. Here you will discover the wildlife, the history, the geography, the legends, the industry, the harshness and the inspiring wonder of one of England's most popular National Parks. This book illustrates why people are pulled back time and again to Dartmoor, which remains a wilderness untamed.

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Book SynopsisFrom the deserts of Death Valley in California to the vistas of Mount Desert Island in Maine—and so many parks in between and beyond—this is the only book you need to plan and commemorate your trip.Planning a vacation is time consuming and often overwhelming. And, while you’re left with lots of memories, they tend to blend together and get fuzzy in detail over time. National Parks Sticker & Logbook is here to tackle both challenges, as the one-stop resource for planning your trip and recording your adventures.Divided into nine sections of the United States, from the Northeast to the Southwest, this guided workbook makes it easy to map out your journey. In these pages, you’ll find out where you can visit parks such as:  The newest (New River Gorge) The oldest (Yellowstone) The smallest (Gateway Arch) The largest (Wrangell-St. Elias) The lowest (Death

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Book SynopsisA book on writers and their relationship to the countryside by one of our greatest living critics.Trade Review'Imbued with his usual eloquence and foresight ... his criticism attains an artistic quality of its own' Financial Times. * Financial Times *'A new collection of essays by Karl Miller is a cause for jubilation' Independent. * Independent *'Wide-ranging, brilliantly erudite and eccentric' Margaret Drabble, Observer. * Observer *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements. Foreword: Andrew O'Hagan. 'Didn't they ramble', a poem by Seamus Heaney. Country Writers. From the Lone Shieling. McGahern's Hard Sayings. The Passion of Alice Laidlaw. Edward and Florence. What Happened to Seamus Heaney. Yorkshire Lad. Hot for Boswell. Cockburn's Letters. McNeillie's Dream. Glass's Life of Gray. Carnival Scotland. Lord Dacre Hammers the Scots. Epilimnion Re-Used. Gulleying About. Baltimore's Honeys. Afterword. Notes. Index.

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Book SynopsisThe quintessential Englishwoman Clarissa Dickson Wright, one of the Two Fat Ladies and author of Spilling the Beans,takes us on a personal journey through the country of her birth.From Cornwall to Cumbria, Norfolk to Northumbria she brings her extraordinary knowledge, huge passion, forthright opinions and inimitable wit to the distinctive history and regional character of every corner of England.In her cornucopia of local knowledge she reveals, for example, how Boudicca was the original Essex girl, that Lincolnshire has a coriander crop second only in size to India''s, and just why a Cornish pasty should never contain carrots.As much an entertaining narrative as it is a travel companion, Clarissa''s England will amuse, enlighten, surprise and delight all those who read it.Trade ReviewAn appetising, adventurous ramble around the country that's a book for any traveller, or simply an entertaining armchair companion * The Good Book Guide 2013 *Her engaging county-by-county ramble is seasoned with memories, snatches of poetry and salty opinion... The book's idiosyncratic historical detours are reminiscent of 1066 and All That * i *

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Book SynopsisStationery that captures the spirit of adventure and the immense beauty of the great outdoors!These cards feature stunning woodcut-style illustrations depicting a range of natural landscapes, from luscious woodland forests, stunning mountain waterfalls, and gorgeous wildflower fields to golden cactus-filled deserts and dreamy beaches with swaying palm trees. • Use your correspondence to share your love of Earth''s beauty! Whether you like hiking, camping, fishing, RVing, or traveling to national parks, these cards will remind you of your favorite outdoor pastimes. • These cards work for all occasions—or you can use them as unique wall art!• A great add-on gift or self-purchase for writers, artists, and outdoor enthusiasts• 20 flat cards (10 designs repeating twice), 20 envelopes, full-color illustrations throughout Travis Pietsch is an illustrator and designer living in Orlando, FL. He has produced work for Facebook,

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsIntroduction - i: Introduction Chapter - 1: Great expectations Chapter - 2: Paternal blessings Chapter - 3: Scottish idylls Chapter - 4: Pointing and setting Chapter - 5: 'Wind him in, then!' Chapter - 6: The art of the possible Chapter - 7: Not exactly Halford Chapter - 8: Ireland in the rough Chapter - 9: Limited rods Chapter - 10: Running away to the river bank Chapter - 11: Smoked salmon for break fast Chapter - 12: High days and by-days Chapter - 13: A few arguments for fox hunting Chapter - 14: A taste of Alaska Chapter - 15: Confessions to a gamebook Chapter - 16: Not so pukka sahibs Chapter - 17: Porridge and kippers Chapter - 18: Grouse fever Chapter - 19: The sporting wife Chapter - 20: In praise of the yeoman dog Chapter - 21: A stalk without a stalker Chapter - 22: The Tweed 'auxiliary' Chapter - 23: Guineas and tigers Chapter - 24: Duck soup Chapter - 25: Long Pond Chapter - 26: A shoot in the shires Chapter - 27: Bag and baggage Chapter - 28: Hit and miss in Argyll Chapter - 29: Reflections on a December pheasant peg Chapter - 30: Chancing a snipe Chapter - 31: Literary diversions Chapter - 32: Unsporting occasions Chapter - 33: Back-end day Chapter - 34: A future for field sports

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Book Synopsis'a delightful and funny memoir of her family's crazy life in the English countryside. Perfect escapist reading for these locked-down times.' - SALMAN RUSHDIE'a heartwarming tale of country living' - SUNDAY EXPRESS'a charming memoir and a perfect choice for these unsettling times' - DEVON LIFE'A total joy... enchanting, hilarious and vivid... Beautifully written, richly informative...' - LIZ CALDER'A gem ... A heart-warming memoir of moving to the glorious Cornish countryside and taking up farming is the perfect antidote to city life.' - NIKOLA SCOTT"A love letter to the British countryside...a wonderfully earthy story of fresh Cornish air...an adventure from start to finish." - TOWN & COUNTRY"A light-hearted account of 30 years of trial and error on a Cornish farm...I loved every minute..." - SAGAEver dream of packing up and escaping to a simpler life on the land, just the Cornish landscape and a few cows and goats rising up to greet you each day? When Rosanne and her husband left city life for the Cornwall idyll they knew little of farming, the seasons and milking; but over time they found their way, rising to each new challenge and embracing all that the land gave them.Growing Goats and Girls lovingly and invitingly charts the rural, hardworking and joyfully haphazard lives of Rosanne and her husband as they escape London to live off the land. In their tumbled-down farmhouse in Cornwall, they learn to rear goats, chickens, cows, bees - and two children - get to grips with unruly machinery and cantankerous farmers, and chart the changing seasons in glorious countryside over thirty years.Heart-warming and uplifting in its celebration of the simple things, this earthy portrait of life on the land taps into our collective imagination. After all, who hasn't dreamed of new beginnings, escaping into nature and living more simply. Growing Goats and Girls reminds us to appreciate the fleeting, timeless moments of beauty, nature and the simple comforts of family life.Trade Review'A gem of a book that made me fall in love with Cornwall all over again! If you've ever dreamed of leaving it all behind, Rosanne Hodin's funny, heart-warming memoir of moving to the glorious Cornish countryside and taking up farming is the perfect antidote to the busy-ness of city life.A total joy... enchanting, hilarious and vivid... Beautifully written, richly informative...A love letter to the British countryside...a wonderfully earthy story of fresh Cornish air...an adventure from start to finish. - Town & Country

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Book SynopsisA follow-up to Black Dog's bestselling Country Wisdom and Know-How, the Country Wisdom Almanac provides hundreds of ideas and methods for living the good and simple life, plus information on weather, gardening, buying produce and cooking by season, holidays, frost dates, moon phases, and more. Divided into the four seasons and then organized into 373 individual tips, the Country Wisdom Almanac presents a wide variety of ways to live a simpler, more self-sustained life year round. Each season offers home-improvement ideas (wallpaper a room in the Fall or build a stone wall in the Spring), crafts (create gorgeous homemade decorations for Christmas, Halloween, or the Fourth of July), recipes (use seasonal produce to create fresh, healthy meals), gardening advice (what and when to plant in order to get the maximum results from your land), and more. Also included is year-round advice on caring for pets, creating your own health and beauty remedies, canning and preserving food, and more. Each season opens with a list of holidays and a guide to in-season produce. Appendices cover average weather by city and month, frost dates, and moon phases.

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Book SynopsisA knitting book focusing on the sheep-to-shawl process by a well-known knitter, shepherd, and artisanal yarn producer. Gain an insider''s view on fiber farming and yarn craft, from sheep to skein, all told through the eyes of shepherd and textile artisan Barbara Parry. Follow her flock over the course of a year and discover all the facets of life with sheep: from shearing day and lambing season, to preparing fiber for yarn. Along the way you''ll find projects for the fiber obsessed by top knitwear designers, essays on country life, and over 100 stunning photographs. With the growing locavore movement, the rising trend in sustainable farming, and the ever-increasing interest in crafting, this book is perfect for those who yearn for a closer connection to a rural lifestyle and who enjoy making things by hand.

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Book SynopsisA beautifully lyrical collection of essays on the natural world in Britain by the Guardian's country diary writer Paul Evans. With a title taken from the 1940 Batsford book, this is nature writing for the modern reader. It is a book both for those that live in the country and those that don't, but experience nature every day through brownfield edge lands, transport corridors, urban greenspace, industrialised agriculture and fragments of ancient countryside. Evans weaves historical, cultural and literary references into his writing, ranging from TS Eliot to Bridget Riley, from Hieronymus Bosch to Napoleon. The essays include the The Weedling Wild, on the wildlife of the wasteland: ragwort, rosebay willowherb, giant hogweed and the cinnabar moth; Gardens of Light, about the creatures to be found under moonlight: pipistrelle bats, lacewings and orb-weaver spider; The Flow, with tales from the riverbank, estuaries and seas, including kingfisher, minnow, otter and heron. The Commons looks at meadowland with a human footprint, with the Adonis blue butterfly, horseshoe vetch, skylark, black knapweed and the six-belted clearwing moth. Other chapters look at the wildlife returned to Britain, such as wild boar and polecats, and finds nature in and around landscapes as varied as a domestic garden or a wild moor. The book ends with an alphabetical bestiary, an idiosyncratic selection of British wildlife based on the author's personal encounters.Trade Review'Evans has a lovely way of writing, evocative with an eye for detail on the bigger picture' * Half Man Half Book *'There is profound yet unobtrusive elegance in Paul Evans’ writing' * The Ecologist *'There is profound yet unobtrusive elegance in Paul Evans’ writing.' -- Peter Reason * Resurgence & Ecologist Review *'It’s the perfect collection to dip into and out of at leisure and is perfect for anyone with a natural history bent' * Epicurean *'It’s like going on a short walk with a knowledgeable guide. Refreshing and educational.' * The People's Friend *‘By celebrating [the natural world] so beautifully, Evans is playing as important a role in its conservation as anybody.' * Birdwatching *'The ordinary becomes extraordinary in this fascinating book' -- Miriam Darlington * BBC Wildlife *

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Book SynopsisMike Tomkies gives a remarkable picture of the whole cycle of nature around him, in a harsh and testing environment of unrivalled beauty. Vivid colours and sounds fill these pages - exotic wild orchids, the roar of rutting stags, a pair of dragonflies mating, the flight of the redwing, the territorial movements of foxes, otters and badgers, an oak tree being torn apart by hurricane-force gales. Nothing seems to escape his penetrating eye, to which the selection of his photographs in this book - some revealing little-known aspects of animal behaviour - immediately testifies. Yet Mike's extraordinary insights into the wildlife that shared his otherwise empty territory of 300 square miles are not gained without perseverance in the face of perilous hazards. Every pound of supplies (including heavy gas canisters) has to be manhandled in and out of his boat, which once sank beneath him in a storm. Thousands of miles of rock faces and hillside must be trekked each year in summer and winter, the tussock grass concealing sodden peat holes that will break an ankle. Hours on end, day and night, are spent in cramped hides on windy, precipitous ledges.A Last Wild Place is much more than the chronicle of a man who left city life in order to study the wilderness. It is a celebration of nature at its most rugged and spectacular in all Britain. Like the enormous ageing salmon he threw back because he felt he had no right to claim its life, Mike Tomkies reveals through his quest our urgent need to become retuned to natural rhythms if mankind is to regain a measure of health and sanity in a world bent on self-destruction.Trade Review`...unique observations and insights that fuel a powerful story of not only wildlife, but living in the wild amongst them, observing animal behaviour. ...a fine survey that armchair naturalists will appreciate for both its vivid tone and engrossing animal insights’. Donovan’s Bookshelf -------------------- `His phenomenal knowledge of wildlife is not limited to mammals and birds but includes trees, wild plants and insects, particularly butterflies. His chapters on deer in winter are particularly poignant... He is an extraordinary naturalist and his tales are made all the more interesting by the presence of his constant companion, his experienced German shepherd dog Moobli'. Wildlife Detective, The blog of Alan Stewart -------------------- `...presents a truly remarkable picture of the whole cycle of nature around him... ...Impressively informed and informative, "A Last Wild Place" is a simply fascinating and engaging read from cover to cover and an enduring testimonial to a life time of observation and study of the natural world. Midwest Book Review

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Book SynopsisClassic Victorian countryside writer Richard Jefferies has his best articles gathered together here on the subject of pheasants, pigeons, foxes, rabbits, hares and game birds and the wild habitats in which they live.

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Book SynopsisThis beautiful book is an exploration and celebration of modern Lancashire’s unspoilt and lesser-known corners. Full of fascinating facts, figures and insights, complemented by many colour images, and produced to a very high standard, the book is designed to be both informative and lovely to look at. It is written in an accessible and lively style and will delight anyone who has an interest in the natural history of our region.Table of ContentsFOREWORD 6 PREFACE 8 1 INTRODUCTION 10 2 UPLANDS 20 3 RIVERS 21 4 WOODLANDS 60 5 GRASSLANDS 130 6 LAKES, TARNS AND PONDS 164 7 MOSSLANDS 180 8 LIMESTONE PAVEMENTS 196 9 COAST 218 BIBLIOGRAPHY 257 GLOSSARY 261 APPENDIX I: PLACENAMES OF LANCASHIRE 262 APPENDIX II: GAZETTEER OF SITES BY BOROUGH BY HABITAT 269 INDEX 281 LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS 285 BIOLOGICAL RECORDING FORM 287

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Book SynopsisOther countries - from Yellowstone to serengeti - had long since had their large national parks when Germany's first national park was founded in 1970 in the Bavarian Forest. How did it come about? Why did the local "Waidlers" fight against the national park? How has the park's management dealt with conflicts over bark beetles, red deer and lynx? Does the national park region benefit from tourism? These and other critical questions are answered in this volume on the Bavarian Forest by experts from different disciplines. Prominent contemporary witnesses from the national park and its planning also have their say.

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Book SynopsisSmall farms once occupied the heights that Elder calls home, but now only a few cellar holes and tumbled stone walls remain among the dense stands of maple, beech, and hemlocks on these Vermont hills. This book is a journey into these verdant reaches where in the last century humans tried their hand and where bear and moose now find shelter.Trade ReviewStarting with a few lines of Frost's poem on the human and natural histories of this enclave, each chapter examines the exquisite detail of nearby nature in conjunction with close analysis of Frost's expansive meanings...Readers may question whether this is primarily a book of literary criticism, environmental appreciation or simply a minute vivisection of a poem, but in the end Elder persuades us of the vastly encompassing theme Frost addressed and the eventual self-discovery of being lost in this land. Elder has written a tour de force of insight and interpretive skill. * Publishers Weekly *It is deeply personal and profoundly moving--and an eloquent challenge to some of the principal assumptions that guide the environmental movement in this country. Reading the Mountains of Home may be at once one of the more accessible yet complex nature books ever published. It is accessible because Elder is an immensely gifted writer, whether he's describing the way a glacier halved a mountain 20,000 years ago or explaining why, in his opinion, Frost was one of New England's great naturalists. It is complex because the book has three distinct threads: First, there is a nature writer's scrutiny of the world; second, there is an English professor's precise discussion of literature and one long Frost poem; and, third, there is one man's self-examination at midlife...Though John Elder's book is suffused with loss...[it] is uplifting. In part, this is due to Elder's contention that man and nature are not incompatible and that wilderness may be renewable after all. But it is due also to Elder himself: It is not hard for Elder to find beauty and pleasure in the world, and this comes across on almost every page. -- Chris Bohjalian * Boston Globe Magazine *[This] is the most intelligent book about Vermont that I've read in several years. New Vermont books often fall into a very few predictable categories...John Elder's book, Reading the Mountains of Home, fits into none of those categories. It transcends them all, brilliantly, and emerges as that rare find: a new and fascinating look at this complex place we call home...A book of considerable subtlety and complexity that reads easily and spins a story as compelling as any good novel. But that's only one of [its] accomplishments. For what Elder has also done here, I believe, is the very important task of pointing a new, coherent direction for the national environmental movement, a movement now struggling with an outmoded script, and very much in need of revitalization...Perhaps the best description of Reading the Mountains of Home is to call it an exploration--a deep exploration of what a particular place can mean to a particular human being--and thereby to all of us. It's a book I hope every Vermonter will read. -- Tom Shayton * Vermont Public Radio *John Elder turned to Frost's last great poem and has written a beautiful study of its complicated narrative...More than literary criticism, Reading the Mountains of Home is an extended homage, a memoir and meditation. Elder succeeds in the most difficult of ways: As his focus expands, his concentration grows more acute...His analysis is attuned to both the language of the poem and to its concentric rings, the stories that illuminate this landscape and prove the vitality and relevance of poetry. -- Thomas Curwen * Los Angeles Times *John Elder has plumbed deeply the wisdom of the likes of Parker and Frost, examining with the skill of both a poet and a naturalist the history of the modern Vermont landscape...[He] has written a book that manages at once to blend precise nature writing, profound literary criticism, and a moving examination of his own personal world at midlife...Reading the Mountains of Home is a truly rare joy: It is a book that will not merely help a reader to navigate the world in the woods; it will also help one to understand that all too complex geography of the human soul. -- Chris Bohjalian * Free Press (Burlington) *Elder's extended essay achieves what little criticism does: it brings poetry, literally, down to earth...Part meditation, part ecological history of [the Bristol] woods, and part literary criticism, the work is also a quiet testimonial to the uses of reading--reading either a mountain or a poem...This is the opposite of most academic writing--although Elder is a professor of English and environmental studies at Middlebury College--and also averse to the critical writing of most poets today, since...[his] language avoids the lyrical and mystical steadfastly for the plain and true. As a provocative alternative to customary criticism, it is also an example well worth following by other writers--a 'directive' of its own. * Poetry Calendar *Elder hikes through the [Bristol] region as he muses on its sociology and biology and how its hardwood forests were lost to small farms, themselves now replaced by blazing maples. In an unusual and insightful book, Elder argues that not all ecological destruction this century was intrinsically wrong, while showing that, just because a landscape pleases the eye, there is nothing to say that it must be natural. -- Adrian Barnett * New Scientist [UK] *I'm not sure what impressed me more about John Elder's writing in Reading the Mountains of Home: his eloquent use of language or the ambitiousness of what he accomplishes. First, the book functions as a literary exercise...Second, it examines the complicated cycles of loss and recovery within Vermont's natural and human communities. Finally, Reading the Mountains of Home is an engaging familial narrative, as Elder processes several personal losses--the death of his father and dog, the slow recovery of his mother from surgery, and the social withdrawal of his son...This book is for the optimist as well as the amateur historian. Elder celebrates change by describing how loss soon leads to recovery; 'sometimes we must go down before we find our second chance.' Citing [Frost's] 'Directive,' Elder espouses the value of being 'lost enough to find yourself.' Delightfully, Elder's journey becomes the reader's. -- Kelly Ault * Vermont Woodlands *Reading the Mountains of Home is an exquisite literary map that orients us toward an empathetic response to wilderness. Using Robert Frost's poem, 'Directive' as his compass, John Elder charts an utterly original course as he explores the terrain of his own natural autobiography and what it means to live in place. This book is a smart, moving, and intricate path through the wildlands of Vermont. John Elder has created a beautiful, enduringly wise topography of his own, where language and landscape create a confluence of native rapport. -- Terry Tempest Williams, author of RefugeWhat a grand book this is! It's too full of life to be confined to a genre--it's memoir, natural history, and literary criticism, but it's also much more than the sum of its parts. Reading the Mountains of Home is one of the great classics of the American East. -- Bill McKibbenElder mixes his experiences on the land with wide ranging reflections. Ashe observes his external world, he also looks inward, examining how thelandscape has become meaningful to himself, his family, and his neighbors. John Elder is a fine writer, a knowledgeable and insightful guide, a livelyand engaging companion, a man of remarkable depth, sensitivity, andgentleness. What a pleasure, to share in this man's loving, thoughtfulexploration of Bristol and the surrounding mountain country. -- Richard Nelson, author of The Island WithinJohn Elder's Reading the Mountains of Home blends mountain hiking, Robert Frost, Vermont history and lore, and meditations on family into a thoughtful depiction of living with nature in the late twentieth century. Lovers of Frost's poetry, of New England's landscapes, and of the rich tradition of American nature writing, of which Elder is a leading authority, will be drawn to this engaging volume. -- David M. Robinson, Oregon State UniversityJohn Elder has interwoven a dazzling series of odysseys, of heart and head, place and people, composed them in the framework of Robert Frost's 'Directive,' and produced one of the most beautiful books of natural history I've ever read. It is seldom that the elegance of one writer's soul, mind, and style have combined to give us such insights into the relationship of people with place and with each other, and the epiphany of riding your own fragile handmade canoe through whitewater rapids. -- Ann H. ZwingerHere is a very unusual piece of nature writing. John Elder makes his way simultaneously through Robert Frost's greatest poem and through one of Vermont's wildest places. His double journey produces a whole book of illuminations. -- Noel Perrin, Dartmouth CollegeElder begins each chapter with several lines from the poem, an effective technique that creates a convergence of literary criticism and nature writing. The reader learns much about the natural history of the Vermont landscape, from prehistory to the settling and clear-cutting by Europeans to current recovery and return to wilderness. Elder is an able guide, sprinkling his text with anecdotes, statistics, and self-revelation. -- Randy Dykhuis * Library Journal *A sure sign that the Northern Forest region is in the early stages of cultural renewal is the development of a Northern Forest literature, 'a dialogue between wilderness and culture.' John Elder's...book Reading the Mountains of Home is a wonderful contribution to this dialogue...[The book] is a deep, lyrical, celebration of living very locally. Yet, its focus on such a small plot of land leads the writer and reader to ponder universal questions of living lightly on Earth. -- Jamie Sayen * Wild Earth *Table of Contents"Directive" by Robert Frost Introduction South Mountain A Wilderness of Scars Hiking by Flashlight Bristol Cliffs The Plane on South Mountain Succession Someone's Road Home Interval In the Village North Mountain North Mountain Gyres The Ledges Coltsfoot, Mourning Cloak The Stolen Goblet A Confusion of Waters Notes Selected Readings Acknowledgments Index

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Book SynopsisDuring the 1960s and 70s new environmental and fair employment laws meant that the US Forest Service began to hire talented women in professional careers. A Hunger for High Country is the story of one of these women. Set in the national forests surrounding Yellowstone National Park, this is part memoir and part profile of a time and place.

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Book SynopsisA full-colour guide to understanding Nevada's magnificent but challenging landscape - teal sky and a sea of purple sage, mountain mahogany and a crimson mass of claret cup cactus.Trade Review"Mention Nevada, and most people think of one of three things: nuclear testing, the feverish glitter of Las Vegas, or a view of drab, endless valleys and barren mountains glimpsed from a car speeding toward California. Now Ann Ronald, a scholar of nature writing, and Stephen Trimble, a distinguished photographer of the landscapes and native peoples of the West, have combined forces to show us another Nevada. The Silver State they know is full of color and life, rich with history both natural and human, abundant with lessons for the earth-centered traveler eager for wisdom and rejuvenation." - ISLE "Ann Ronald's essays combine beautiful prose with natural, historical, and anecdotal information. The essays compliment Stephen Trimble's rich color photographs that are a celebration of light, shadow, and detail. After studying this work, many readers will find themselves asking when they might next have an opportunity to visit Nevada." - Journal of the West "Earthtones takes the reader from the lowest deserts to the highest mountains of this unusual state that has such an abundance of public lands for the nature lover. This is a wonderful book and one that should be on the shelf of every library, public or private, that aspires to be complete on the subject of the Great Basin and its environs." - The Bloomsbury Review "Earthtones is a wonderful introduction to the mystical, vastly misunderstood, and hidden Silver State." - Small Press

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Book SynopsisSustainability, Citizen Participation, and City Governance examines sustainable development challenges in law, planning, and policy, and offers municipal actors strategies for overcoming them.Table of ContentsIntroduction Hoi L. Kong and Tanya Monforte Part I. Social Movements & Innovation 1. Folco “Beyond Smart/Sustainable Cities: Toward a Citizen-Centric Rebel Cities Transition” 2. Manaugh & Dreszer “Mobilisons-Nous: ‘Violent Infrastructure’ and Pedestrian Space in Montreal” 3. Shearmur “Boroughs, Small Municipalities and Sustainability: What is Municipal Innovation and Can it Make a Difference?” Part II. The Role of Law & Overcoming Collective Action Problems 1. Curran “Sustainable Development and Property Rights: Citizen Participation in Dismantling Urban Environmental Regulation in British Columbia, Canada” 2. Kong “Sustainable Urban Design: The Case of Montreal” 3. Flynn “The Implications of Stakeholder Group Involvement in Urban Sustainable Development” 4. Luka “Complimenting Citizen Engagement with Innovative Forms of Professional Coproduction: a Case for Transdisciplinary Charrettes” Afterword: Thinking Through Transdisciplinarity in Urban Sustainability Tanya Monforte

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Book SynopsisThe inaction of nation states and international bodies has posed significant risks to the environment. By contrast, cities are sites of action and innovation. In Sustainability, Citizen Participation, and City Governance, contributors researching in the areas of law, urban planning, geography, and philosophy identify approaches for tackling many of the most challenging environmental problems facing cities today. Sustainability, Citizen Participation, and City Governance facilitates two strands of dialogue about climate change. First, it integrates legal perspectives into policy debates about urban sustainability and governance, from which law has typically stood apart. Second, it brings case studies from Quebec into a rare conversation with examples drawn from elsewhere in Canada. The collection proposes humane and inclusive processes for arriving at effective policy outcomes. Some chapters examine governance mechanisms that reconcile clashes of incommensTable of ContentsIntroduction Hoi L. Kong and Tanya Monforte Part I. Social Movements & Innovation 1. Folco “Beyond Smart/Sustainable Cities: Toward a Citizen-Centric Rebel Cities Transition” 2. Manaugh & Dreszer “Mobilisons-Nous: ‘Violent Infrastructure’ and Pedestrian Space in Montreal” 3. Shearmur “Boroughs, Small Municipalities and Sustainability: What is Municipal Innovation and Can it Make a Difference?” Part II. The Role of Law & Overcoming Collective Action Problems 1. Curran “Sustainable Development and Property Rights: Citizen Participation in Dismantling Urban Environmental Regulation in British Columbia, Canada” 2. Kong “Sustainable Urban Design: The Case of Montreal” 3. Flynn “The Implications of Stakeholder Group Involvement in Urban Sustainable Development” 4. Luka “Complimenting Citizen Engagement with Innovative Forms of Professional Coproduction: a Case for Transdisciplinary Charrettes” Afterword: Thinking Through Transdisciplinarity in Urban Sustainability Tanya Monforte

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Book SynopsisLow Mountains or High Tea dishes up the charms and eccentricities of the British countryside as seen through the eyes of an American husband and wife who had entirely different ideas on how to spend a holiday abroad.Trade Review“Steve Sieberson’s delightful follow-up to his first book follows the author and his wife, ‘the Italian Woman,’ as they set off on a grand tour of Britain’s national parks. Fans of A Year in Provence and Under the Tuscan Sun will love Low Mountains or High Tea. With a sharp eye for details of culture, climate, and landscape—along with a dash of good humor—Steve Sieberson has written a book every armchair traveler will fall for.”—Brent Spencer, author of Rattlesnake Daddy: A Son’s Search for His FatherTable of Contents1. The Best-Laid Plans 2. Multifarious Puddings 3. Baby Steps and Buttertubs 4. The Hard Way Down 5. Searching for Urra Moor 6. Joke-a-Fone 7. Stare-Down on a Lonely Road 8. No Trace of Janet Leigh 9. Of Daffodils and the Silent W 10. Bad Mice and Blind Cats 11. A View to Five Lands 12. Wet Wool and Flavored Tea 13. A Sweet Mess 14. Embracing the Velar Fricative 15. Tilted Bogs and Cold Toast 16. Sensory Overload 17. One Brief, Shining Moment 18. Close Encounters 19. Passing through the Kingdom 20. Dancing in the Streets 21. Don’t Talk about the Troubles 22. Twelve Days on a Bus 23. Return to the Horseshoe 24. Losing It 25. Reunion 26. Wandering in a Fog 27. No Beach Access 28. Mainly in the Plain 29. It Ends in a Car Park Epilogue: High Point Tally Study Guide: Did You Read the Whole Book? Acknowledgments

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Book SynopsisUpon moving to Appalachian Ohio with their two small children, Richard Gilbert and his wife are thrilled to learn there still are places in America that haven’t been homogenised. But their excitement over the region’s beauty and quirky character turns to culture shock as they try to put down roots far from their busy professional jobs in town. They struggle to rebuild a farmhouse, and Gilbert gets conned buying equipment and sheep—a ewe with an “outie” belly button turns out to be a neutered male, and mysterious illnesses plague the flock. Haunted by his father’s loss of his boyhood farm, Gilbert likewise struggles to earn money in agriculture. Finally an unlikely teacher shows him how to raise hardy sheep—a remarkable ewe named Freckles whose mothering ability epitomises her species’ hidden beauty. Discovering as much about himself as he does these gentle animals, Gilbert becomes a seasoned agrarian and a respected livestock breeder. He makes peace with his romantic dream, his father, and himself. Shepherd, a story both personal and emblematic, captures the mythic pull and the practical difficulty of family scale sustainable farming.

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Book SynopsisBest known for Our Southern Highlanders (1913) and Camping and Woodcraft (1916), Horace Kephart's keen interest in exploring and documenting the great outdoors would lead him not only to settle in Bryson City, North Carolina, but also to become the most significant writer about the Great Smoky Mountains in the early twentieth century. Edited by Mae Miller Claxton and George Frizzell, Horace Kephart: Writings extends past Kephart's two well-read works of the early 1900s and dives into his correspondence with friends across the globe, articles and columns in national magazines, unpublished manuscripts, journal entries, and fiction in order to shed some deserved light on Kephart's classic image as a storyteller and practical guide to the Smokies. The book is divided into thematic subsections that call attention to the variety in Kephart's writings, its nine chapters featuring Kephart's works on camping and woodcraft, guns, southern Appalachian culture, fiction, the Cherokee, scouting, and the park and Appalachian trail. Each chapter is accompanied by an introductory essay by a notable Appalachian scholar providing context and background to the included works. Written for scholars interested in Appalachian culture and history, followers of the modern outdoor movement, students enamored of the Great Smoky Mountains, and general readers alike, Horace Kephart: Writings gathers a plethora of little-known and rarely seen material that illustrates the diversity and richness found in Kephart's work.Trade ReviewThis book gave me a whole new perspective on Horace Kephart, who was, indeed, a very significant figure in regional life and also had considerable national impact." - George Brosi, coeditor of Appalachian Gateway: An Anthology of Contemporary Stories and Poetry

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Book SynopsisUrban Fox is a frank and humorous memoir that shares with us a lifetime of adventures and tells of one man's love of the countryside. Beautifully illustrated with evocative wood engravings, Urban Fox will delight the reader with its tales of a hidden world. It celebrates a way of life that few will believe possible, that of the urban poacher.

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Book SynopsisFrom the big picture to the smallest detail, Richard Collins fashions a rousing memoir about the modern-day lives of cowboys and ranchers. However, Cowboy is a Verb is much more than wild horse rides and cattle chases. While Collins recounts stories of quirky ranch horses, cranky cow critters, cow dogs, and the people who use and care for them, he also paints a rural West struggling to survive the onslaught of relentless suburbanization. A born story-teller with a flair for words, Collins breathes life into the geology, history, and interdependency of land, water, and native and introduced plants and animals. He conjures indelible portraits of the hardworking, dedicated people he comes to know. With both humor and humility, he recounts the day-to-day challenges of ranch life from how to build a productive herd, distribute your cattle evenly across a rough and rocky landscape, and how to establish a grazing system that allows pastures enough time to recover. He also intimately recounts a battle over the endangered Gila Topminnow and how he and his neighbors worked with university range scientists, forest service conservationists, and funding agencies to improve their ranches as well as the ecological health of the Redrock Canyon watershed. A rancher who wants to stay in the game doesn't dominate the landscape; instead, they have to continually study the land and the animals it supports. Collins is a keen observer of both. He demonstrates that patience, resilience, and a common sense approach to conservation and range management are what counts, combined with an enduring affection for nature, its animals, and the land. Cowboy is a Verb is not a romanticized story of cowboy life on the range, rather it is a complex story of the complicated work involved with being a rancher in the twenty-first-century West.Trade ReviewCollins seamlessly weaves a memoir about how he learned to ranch in southeastern Arizona with astute commentaries about the challenges of doing so in a land where most of his neighbors were exurbanites and a small endangered minnow caused more problems than the drug runners trekking through his mountain pastures.— Tom Sheridan, Professor of Anthropology, University of Arizona and author of Stitching the West Back TogetherI do think this book may become a classic and sit alongside other memorable books on ranching culture.— Richard L. Knight, retired professor of wildlife conservation, Colorado State UniversityThere is something special about being able to live and work in a landscape over many years. Each year offers a greater understanding of place and your place in it. Richard Collins shines when he is describing his beloved high desert grasslands and the people and creatures who occupy it.— Ross Humphreys, San Rafael RanchCollins is not only a fine storyteller, but there is generosity and exuberance in his writing and thinking that I hope will spread like wildfire to renew the many landscapes and cultures of the American West.— Gary Paul Nabhan, author of Food from the Radical Center: Healing Our Lands and CommunitiesCollins' descriptions of abundant wildlife, expansive scenic views and especially the watershed that divides his ranch from north to south, all attest to his deep connection to the property that he has explored, inch by inch, on horseback… The efforts of a hands-on working rancher to sustain the viability of the land he so loves makes it likely that cowboy truly is a verb.— Betty Barr, historian and author of Hidden Treasures of Santa Cruz CountyThe best description of ranching in southeast Arizona that I have yet run across. — Bill McDonald, Co-founder of the Radical Center and Past President of the Malpai Borderlands Group and fifth generation rancherCowboy is a Verb should be read by every rancher, agency member, or any folks that just love open spaces. Using local examples to illustrate his points, Richard shows the need to add a powerful; fourth "C" to the three Cs of successful ranching. Cowboys, Cattle, and Cow Dogs—make room for Cooperation. Anyone with feelings about the west will find things they like and things they wish Richard hadn't brought up in this book. That is the surest way to know he has written the truth about a subject that he knows and cares deeply about."— Jim Koweek, Author, Grassland Plant ID for Everyone: Except Folks that That Take Boring Technical Stuff Too SeriouslyOne of the few books available that gives a well-rounded description of modern-day ranching in the southwest… A very balanced picture of the challenges facing ranchers today. Thanks for writing such an enlightening book and giving me the opportunity to read it.— Walter Lane, Co-Owner Headquarters West, Ltd. and fourth generation rancherRichard Collins was a leader in the vitally important task of building a radical center among ranchers, conservationists, and federal agencies in southern Arizona. Today, as the West and the nation continues to harden into opposing factions we need the work of radical centrists more than ever. In this thoughtful, humorous, and heartfelt memoir, Collins captures the spirit of those heady years, sharing lessons learned for all of us along the way.— Courtney White, author of Grass, Soil, Hope and co-founder of the Quivira CoalitionAs a lifelong rancher and cowboy, I was mesmerized by Richard Collins' beautifully crafted stories. What I particularly relished was Collins' deep love of the land. His passion for conserving and improving grasslands, water, wildlife—the very environment that sustains us—shines through his articulate and moving prose. He is a down-to-earth rancher and cowboy who finds great joy in his daily tasks while never losing sight of his role as steward of the land.— H. Alan Day, author of The Horse Lover and Cowboy Up!Table of Contents Foreword by George B. Buyle, PhD Introduction Chapter 1. Alamo Spring Chapter 2. Fine Feathers Chapter 3. Tar Paper and Tin Shacks Chapter 4. What Goes Around Chapter 5. Living Close to Predicament Chapter 6. Rainfall, Cow Counts, and Climate Change Chapter 7. The Seibold Ranch Chapter 8. Fences, Fires, and Drug Mules Chapter 9. More Horses and a Dog Chapter 10. Canelo Hills Coalition Chapter 11. Toward a Practice of Limits Chapter 12. Taking Good Care Chapter 13. Habitat or Species Chapter 14. Why in Hell? Chapter 15. Cowboy is a Verb Acknowledgments Selected Sources About the Author

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Book SynopsisPeople love books about the countryside, but why do they all tend to be about posh people or the life cycle of the lapwing? Introducing Martin Aris, a working-class farmer, river keeper and mischief-maker, from the Cotswolds and Wiltshire. Martin is a proper country bloke who tells it like it is. Unbelievable! - his illustrated biography and thoughts on nature and life - does feature lovely lapwings etc, but also poaching and punch-ups. Plus, forget the Queen's English: this is written in Martin's Cots-Wilts accent, embellished with expletives. Unbelievable! will make you laugh out loud and reflect on a life well lived.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisFor those who seek the special serenity that seems to be found near moving water, this guide to waterfalls in one of America’s most beautiful states will be a blissful find in itself. Vermont Waterfalls: A Guide is illustrated with appealing antique postcards of some of the state’s most famous falls as well as modern photographs of falls described here for the first time. Using the same successful geographic organization scheme employed in Connecticut Waterfalls: A Guide, the author makes it feasible to see several waterfalls in one trip. Detailed maps identify waterfalls by their proximity to Vermont's major roadways: US 7 in the west; route 100 bridging the center; and US5/I-91 to the east. With more than 200 entries that include the history of and directions to all these cataracts and cascades, this guide is meant for everyone—waterfall enthusiasts, photographers, hikers, artists, families . . .

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