Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane
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.
