Local
Alastair Humphreys
£12.99
Mr B's review
Used to a life of worldwide adventure, Alastair recognises that his addiction to long distance travel and exotic landscapes are unsustainable for the planet and encourages a tiringly fast-paced life. He decides to turn his explorer’s gaze to his local area, buying an ordnance survey map and making a resolution to explore one square per week.
He initially must persuade himself that he can be excited about british suburbia, cycling cracked concrete paths and the small scale of these new microadventures. He does this with incredible curiosity and a wry humour. The difficulties and ugliness he finds on his journeys lead him to consider environmental pressures on our natural habitats and farmland, how we have moulded our landscape to human use, litter and pollution, development and blocked access. In doing so, he raises key environmental concerns.
Travelling almost exclusively by bike or foot and using phone apps to research his discoveries and identify species, this is a motivational and accessible book for most of us interested in slowing down to pay attention to the nature around us. – Katrina
Description
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING 2024
‘Agile, wryly funny and wise’ Robert Macfarlane
A search for nearby nature and wildness
After years of expeditions all over the world, adventurer Alastair Humphreys spends a year exploring the detailed local map around his home.
Can this unassuming landscape, marked by the glow of city lights and the hum of busy roads, hold any surprises for the world traveller or satisfy his wanderlust? Could a single map provide a lifetime of exploration?
Discovering more about the natural world than in all his years in remote environments, he learns the value of truly getting to know his neighbourhood.
An ode to slowing down, Local is a celebration of curiosity and time spent outdoors, as well as a rallying cry to protect the wild places on our doorstep.
Publisher Review
“Agile, wryly funny and wise.” – Robert Macfarlane ‘Alastair Humphreys is the consummate roamer: big of heart, curious of mind, light of step’ – Amy-Jane Beer, winner of the 2023 Wainwright Prize ‘A paean to the benefits of determined noticing. What really shines through its pages is Humphreys’ omnivorous curiosity’ Financial Times ‘Thanks to some genuinely thoughtful writing about planet, place and political purpose, Humphreys finds beauty in the scruffy margins and makes readers look anew at what might easily be familiar or forgotten’ The Observer ‘A vivid, wry, angry, passionate read from Mr Adventure’ Saga Magazine ‘I wholeheartedly recommend the book. Anything that establishes the view that exploration is an attitude, not an activity, has to be a good thing. The physical bounds of our children will be smaller than ours. It is up to us to show that by rewilding the mind and finding adventure in the commonplace, a life constrained by necessity is still a life worth living’ Chris Gibson Wildlife ‘Witty and gritty, affectionate and mildly censorious, eager and sometimes weary. This is still a book of a traveller and adventurer – it’s just he can cycle home quite quickly each day. Readable, well-written, stimulating’ Mark Avery
Find this book on the following lists
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Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing Longlist 2024
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Nature on your Doorstep
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Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing Shortlist 2024
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