Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 Trying to grasp the wild August 22, 2008
Brida (Worcs)
THE WILD PLACES follows a popular theme in today's society of trying to discover the wild and wilderness within our own country. As a concept, it cannot be flawed, but having now finished the book, I feel that Macfarlane perhaps has not quite grasped this.
THE WILD PLACES attempts to create a mind map by Macfarlane of the wild places within Britian and Ireland. As he goes on his travels, Macfarlane makes use of history and literary anecdotes which pertain to the places he visits. I did find these intriguing and informative, often adding something else to the body of the text, however there were times when I would have preferred more description about the places he was actually visiting, rather than their historical background. For me, a book about the wild should include the author's own response to it. I felt that it was only towards the end that I managed to get a grasp of what Macfarlane was trying to show the reader with this book - that the wild does not have to be an isolated, remote place which is more hostile than inviting, but that nature has its wildness wherever it manages to poke through.
However, that gripe aside, THE WILD PLACES does have some beautiful prose, in whcich the love of nature that Macfarlane has comes through and affects you as you read.
Waiting on my bookshelf now is Jay Griffiths' book, WILD. It will be interesting to see how they compare.
Combination of beautiful, imaginative, repetitive and irritating August 12, 2008
Arcticflower (Cumbria)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When I started this book it seemed to be beautiful, imaginative and intelligent. Unfortunately it became rather repetitive and irritating. The additional material - literary and historical was mainly interesting but then he talked about some rather odd folk who devoted a lifetime to wave patterns and sand dunes!!
I also began to dread him being near water because I knew he was going to strip off and jump in - not necessarily for a swim - on his winter night in Cumbria he got in and sat in the freezing water gasping up to his neck - why?????
I began to wonder what was the point of the book. It seemed to be trying to be something it wasn't, especially when compared with Mountains of the Mind which was excellent. I suspect it was the influence of Roger Deakin (Waterlog, Wildwood), a friendship that had developed after writing Mountains of the Mind. Whether deliberately or unconsciously I think he may have been trying to be similarly philosophical, one with nature, 'wild', rejecting conventional modern lifestyle etc Perhaps even more so since Roger died before this book was finished. I ended up skimming over the last chapters.
 A book to savour - poetic, reflective and precise July 23, 2008
J. H. Bretts
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book really imaginatively engaged me and brought to life the wildness of many of the landscapes of the United Kingdom. Macfarlane's precise writing evokes these places so well - the weather, plants, minerals, animal life and people. He also has the uncanny knack of bringing in his reading in English literature, nature writing , history and science in ways that seem entirely right and never forced. Casting a moving shadow over the book is the death of a friend, which also helps make this so much more than a travelogue.
Best ever June 17, 2008
Mr. D. Hatton
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I think this book is the most enjoyable I have read in my 89 years. Irs word pictures and linked thoughts are superb.
rootless April 19, 2008
G. Smith (Scotland)
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
This collection of essays is not in the same league as the wonderful 'Mountains of the Mind'. The writing is often sharp and lyrical, and Macfarlane frequently makes unexpected connections with ideas and writing that cause the reader to think in new ways.
However, there is a lingering sense of 'urban tourist' to my mind. Ironically, for a book which tries to examine place and belonging, there is a strange rootlesness that tends to look at the world in an almost colonial way. This is most obvious in the sections which deal with Scotland, Ireland or Wales, all countries with combine a strong sense of 'place with indigenous literature and language. Macfarlane never really seems to get to grips with this, and seems to see these countries as variations of a type of 'Englishness' that are seen through the prism of the English literary canon. He makes little acknowledgement of the link between landscape and landscape (Gaelic (Scots and Irish) and Welsh) and the fact that there is a long cultural tradition that predates and has a very different worldview from that of the Romantic poets who 'discovered' and idealised wild landscape.
In summary, this is an interesting but flawed collection of essays.
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