Our Place

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Our Place Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Mark Cocker (Author, Narrator), Penguin Audio (Publisher)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 95 ratings
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Random House presents the audiobook edition of Our Place, written and read by Mark Cocker.

Environmental thought and politics have become parts of mainstream cultural life in Britain. The wish to protect wildlife is now a central goal for our society, but where did these ‘green’ ideas come from? And who created the cherished institutions, such as the National Trust or the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, that are now so embedded in public life, with millions of members?

From the flatlands of Norfolk to the tundra-like expanse of the Flow Country in northern Scotland, acclaimed writer on nature Mark Cocker sets out on a personal quest through the British countryside to find the answers to these questions.

He explores in intimate detail six special places that embody the history of conservation or whose fortunes allow us to understand why our landscape looks as it does today. We meet key characters who shaped the story of the British countryside - Victorian visionaries like Octavia Hill, founder of the National Trust, as well as brilliant naturalists such as Max Nicholson or Derek Ratcliffe, who helped build the very framework for all environmental effort.

This is a book that looks to the future as well as exploring the past. It asks searching questions like who owns the land and why? And who benefits from green policies? Above all it attempts to solve a puzzle: why do the British seem to love their countryside more than almost any other nation, yet they have come to live amid one of the most denatured landscapes on Earth? Radical, provocative and original, Our Place tackles some of the central issues of our time. Yet, most important of all, it tries to map out how this overcrowded island of ours could be a place fit not just for human occupants but also for its billions of wild citizens.

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  1. Listening Length
    12 hours and 28 minutes
  2. Author
    Mark Cocker
  3. Narrator
    Mark Cocker
  4. Audible release date
    August 16, 2018
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Penguin Audio
  7. ASIN
    B07G1CF3XF
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 12 hours and 28 minutes
Author Mark Cocker
Narrator Mark Cocker
Audible.com Release Date August 16, 2018
Publisher Penguin Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B07G1CF3XF
Best Sellers Rank #604,751 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#897 in Environmental Conservation
#1,298 in Animals
#7,262 in Biology of Wildlife

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
95 global ratings

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Jake GC
5.0 out of 5 stars What went wrong for wildlife in Britain and how to reverse the decline
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 9, 2022
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By "Our Place" the author means the whole of Britain. In his excellent book Mark Cocker explains how Britain, despite having so many conservation organisations with millions of members, has seen a huge decline in wildlife species so that it is now one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. He explains the background, past and present, of the various government bodies responsible for nature and the environment as well as the history of the major conservation organisations. He highlights what has gone wrong and how habitat destruction through the wholescale industrialisation of farming and forestry bears much of the blame. Finally he makes suggestions for how this decline could be reversed. Insightful, well researched and should be read by all who are concerned about the decline of natural habitats in the British countryside and what the solutions might be.
One person found this helpful
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P E CHRISTIE
5.0 out of 5 stars Unnerving.
Reviewed in France on September 5, 2018
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Depressing review of the state of Britain's wildlife/biodiversity and possible hopes for a sustainable future. A scholarly piece of work, essential reading for both amateur and professional concerned for the environment.
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Ms M.
5.0 out of 5 stars A wake up call - if we chose to wake up.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 7, 2018
Verified Purchase
A wake up call - if we chose to wake up to our ongoing eradication of non human nature. The hardback has been sitting on our coffee table for a while now, with many recommendations. Heard Mark Cocker's talk, on the book, at the Bird Fair and then saw the audio format and bought it straight away knowing that Mark Cocker was the only person to read it. Now have read the book as well. Such elegant, but distressing, writing/listening with one highly quotable phrase following another. The "fallacy of conservation" "we place no value on non-human nature" and "at every turn in the road we chose ourselves". On historical examples - "we knew then, and we know better now, and we continue to destroy non man made nature". We live in the countryside and so are aware of the myth of conservation in intensive agriculture, intensive forestry and all our other "inputs" that continue to destroy the natural environment. Mid Wales, and it's 7,000,000 "free range" hens, is probably seen by the analytical satellites as turning into the ammonia capital of Europe. I'm sure Mark Cocker won't agree me with this, but we see wind farm companies imposing significant destruction of the uplands the peat and the wildlife "in our name" . He shows us that, as we know from history, that we live now in the way we have always lived. Trying to imagine how to get his story to a wider public to make more of us realise the damage that we, sometimes unconsciously, do with all our "stuff" is a challenge that should be taken up.
4 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars ... thankfully tells it how it is without lots of wasted space on false hopes
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 22, 2018
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Cocker gets down to the nitty-gritty here and thankfully tells it how it is without lots of wasted space on false hopes. Britain (and Ireland) host a shadow of the wildlife that once was - and we need to keep saying so.
4 people found this helpful
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Fiona Anderson
5.0 out of 5 stars Why we are failing to save Britain's wildlife
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 22, 2018
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Superbly written and well argued account of how we Brits while signing up in droves (or should it be flocks) for membership of organisations like the RSPB and the National Trust have failed to save many of our native species of birds and important habitats. Mark's writing ranges from the lyrical - his description of the Flow Country makes me wish I had braved the midges last time we drove through it - to expert polemic with well marshalled facts and inescapable conclusions - we've destroyed our own environment so thoroughly we should be ashamed. Glimmers of hope here and there, but mostly hard facts. Thank you, Mark, I am buying it for friends this Christmas. Roll on the paperback as the book needs a bigger audience.
3 people found this helpful
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