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wietse111's review against another edition
5.0
Ik twijfel een beetje tussen vier en vijf sterren, maar uiteindelijk toch vijf omdat zeker het begin gewoon inspirerend was. Monbiot houdt gewoon heel erg van de natuur, en dit is een pleidooi voor meer natuur in de wereld en vooral om de natuur gewoon z’n ding te laten doen. De passie spat er van af, en ik kreeg door het lezen gewoon zin om door een bos heen te rennen ofzo. Inhoudelijk was ik het er niet eigenlijk voordat ik het las al wel eens, stond wat dat betreft niet heel veel nieuws in. Zijn pleidooi tegen soortenarme natuurgebieden vond ik wel erg interessant.
rogue_runner's review against another edition
3.0
With the caveat that I went into this not entirely enjoying Monbiot's style or some lines of his thought processes, I can see how this is an important text and revolutionary at its time.
10 years later, it's still impressive in its breadth and depth of thinking, but there are better texts that dig into some of the concepts. I find Monbiot periodically deeply frustrating; others have touched on his penchant for injecting tales about faraway adventures. This aside, I understand where the 2023 twitterstorm about 'reintroducing' eagle owls to the UK suddenly came from, and I don't understand his dislike for reintroduction of wild horses to the UK on one hand, while toting the reintroduction of elephants, rhinos and hippos on the other.
Conservation bashing, too, rubs me the wrong way. An irritation, to knock down the things that are happening in favour of impossible pipe dreams because they're 'not quite good enough'. Trying is better than nothing, no?
10 years later, it's still impressive in its breadth and depth of thinking, but there are better texts that dig into some of the concepts. I find Monbiot periodically deeply frustrating; others have touched on his penchant for injecting tales about faraway adventures. This aside, I understand where the 2023 twitterstorm about 'reintroducing' eagle owls to the UK suddenly came from, and I don't understand his dislike for reintroduction of wild horses to the UK on one hand, while toting the reintroduction of elephants, rhinos and hippos on the other.
Conservation bashing, too, rubs me the wrong way. An irritation, to knock down the things that are happening in favour of impossible pipe dreams because they're 'not quite good enough'. Trying is better than nothing, no?
nimmi's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
5.0
mrs_bonaventure's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this. The writing is very rich and descriptive but the polemic is a call to arms.
I had no idea that so many of our megafauna in Britain had disappeared as a result of hunting - that is, I knew about wolves and bears and so on, but not the rhino, elephant and wild horses further back. The hypothesis makes sense, give or take a mini ice age or two.
The main conclusion is that grazing animals - which humans placed in the landscape - are the reason we have hardy any forest any more, and if you remove the sheep (and deer), forests will naturally come back.
I’m all for this... it’s another powerful case for being vegetarian.. and letting some of nature’s processes take us back to where we need to be (replacing someone barren heath, and some lowland, with crops - animals take an awful lot of land).
This book is ten years old... I’m going to read more of his work that is more up to date.
I had no idea that so many of our megafauna in Britain had disappeared as a result of hunting - that is, I knew about wolves and bears and so on, but not the rhino, elephant and wild horses further back. The hypothesis makes sense, give or take a mini ice age or two.
The main conclusion is that grazing animals - which humans placed in the landscape - are the reason we have hardy any forest any more, and if you remove the sheep (and deer), forests will naturally come back.
I’m all for this... it’s another powerful case for being vegetarian.. and letting some of nature’s processes take us back to where we need to be (replacing someone barren heath, and some lowland, with crops - animals take an awful lot of land).
This book is ten years old... I’m going to read more of his work that is more up to date.
mogreig's review against another edition
4.0
An inspiring book showing us there is another way and changes can happen quickly. Rewind the environment but also ourselves.
adenw's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
4.0
bex_knighthunterbooks's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
I have historically really enjoyed Monbiot's articles and so I bought this years back convinced I was going to love it, and really excited to learn more about rewilding. A few years ago I then picked it up and managed about 30 pages before giving up. This time I finished it but I can totally see why I struggled that first time!
This book was such a mixed experience for me. Some parts I was bored and frustrated by a combination of the writing style and Monbiot choosing to focus on his 'adventures' (mostly involving fishing), which felt gratuitous and a little egotistical. Other parts were absolutely fascinating and I found myself reading whole pages out loud to my husband - I learned a lot and do feel this managed to get into good detail on the topic of rewilding. I found this book strongest in the parts leaning into a journalistic style, talking politics and policy, history, or science in an accessible and motivating way. I then didn't enjoy the parts leaning more into memoir or nature writing, especially as too often he tends to throw us straight into the 'action' without explaining why I should care about his kayaking trip or trip into nature. The nature writing also just didn't paint a picture for me with too many convoluted similes or words I don't recognise (usually specific nature terminology e.g. species names). Luckily, there were less memoir/nature writing sections further into the book.
I'm glad I read this because of the ideas it introduced to me, and I appreciated that this book wasn't afraid to tackle some trickier topics such as what policies are in the way of rewilding and its troubling and colonial history (e.g. involving the Nazis), but I don't think I'd recommend it to a wider audience. It might hit better for those with similar interests to Monbiot, and an interest in fishing in particular.
This book was such a mixed experience for me. Some parts I was bored and frustrated by a combination of the writing style and Monbiot choosing to focus on his 'adventures' (mostly involving fishing), which felt gratuitous and a little egotistical. Other parts were absolutely fascinating and I found myself reading whole pages out loud to my husband - I learned a lot and do feel this managed to get into good detail on the topic of rewilding. I found this book strongest in the parts leaning into a journalistic style, talking politics and policy, history, or science in an accessible and motivating way. I then didn't enjoy the parts leaning more into memoir or nature writing, especially as too often he tends to throw us straight into the 'action' without explaining why I should care about his kayaking trip or trip into nature. The nature writing also just didn't paint a picture for me with too many convoluted similes or words I don't recognise (usually specific nature terminology e.g. species names). Luckily, there were less memoir/nature writing sections further into the book.
I'm glad I read this because of the ideas it introduced to me, and I appreciated that this book wasn't afraid to tackle some trickier topics such as what policies are in the way of rewilding and its troubling and colonial history (e.g. involving the Nazis), but I don't think I'd recommend it to a wider audience. It might hit better for those with similar interests to Monbiot, and an interest in fishing in particular.
emberley's review
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.5
Yet another book that makes me wonder why governments don't do anything of actual use