The Wild Places

“A formidable consideration by a naturalist who can unfurl a sentence – poetry really – with the breathless ease of a master angler, a writer whose ideas and reach far transcend the physical region he explores . . . the natural world swells with meaning through Macfarlane’s devoted observations.” – The New York Times Book Review   “Macfarlane delivers crisp, engaging scenes . . . by the end of his peregrinations he had won me over completely.” – Anthony Doerr, The Boston Globe   “In this eloquent travelogue, Macfarlane explores the last undomesticated landscapes in Britain and Ireland in a narration that blends history, memoir, and meditation . . . His striking prose not only evokes each locale’s physicality in sensuous, deliberate detail, it glows with a reverence for nature in general and takes the reader on both a geographical and a philosophical journey.” – Publishers Weekly"The Old Ways confirms Macfarlane's reputation as one of the most eloquent and observant of contemporary writers about nature'" — Scotland on Sunday (UK)"Sublime… It sets the imagination tingling, laying an irresistible trail for readers to follow'"–Sunday Times (London)"Read this and it will be impossible to take an unremarkable walk again" –Metro (London)"He has a rare physical intelligence and affords total immersion in place, elements and the passage of time: wonderful" –Antony Gormley, artist