Publication Date: 01/05/2025 ISBN: 9780241624814 Category: Books

Is A River Alive?

Robert Macfarlane

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Publication Date: 01/05/2025 ISBN: 9780241624814 Category: Books

Hardback £25.00

Mr B's review

Macfarlane has moved into a new level of nature writing, connecting with the world and the people who know it in a way that he, and many readers, have not experienced in his writing before.
Recognising the plight of his local spring and river in Cambridgeshire, he visits three rivers across the world, journeying to Ecuador, India and Canada. The people that he meets are activists, indigenous voices, conservationists, educators, musicians and guides. The rivers themselves are characters too, part of our shared landscapes and facing various threats: pollution, mining, warming temperatures, felling of surrounding forest, concrete development and dam-construction.
Is a River Alive follows an awakening and a way of recognising the natural world in new ways which might enable us to change our attitudes and legislation before it is too late. Part travel, part conservation, part philosophy, this book is one of the most important books I have read. – Katrina

Description

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.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR CONSERVATION WRITING 2025