Robert Macfarlane
Macfarlane is a writer and Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. His prize-winning and best-selling books about landscape, nature, memory and travel include Mountains of the Mind: A History of a Fascination (2003), The Wild Places (2007), The Old Ways (2012), Holloway (2013, with Stanley Donwood and Dan Richards) and Landmarks (2015).
Books by Robert Macfarlane
Underland: A Deep Time Journey
by Robert Macfarlane
Perhaps Britain's most hotly anticipated title of 2019, Robert Macfarlane ("the great nature writer of this generation" – Wall Street Journal) returns with a new work of nature writing that delves deep underground as he explores caves, sinkholes and catacombs, and digs into the great strata of time that has built up beneath us.
Macfarlane has previously been interviewed by Five Books about the best books on 'wild places.'
The Lost Words
Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris (illustrator)
***Winner of the 2019 Kate Greenaway Medal***
“This is a book of poems about nature for children. Each poem describes an individual animal, creature or plant and contains words that are going out of usage. It’s very playful and compelling. The illustrations are utterly breathtaking. Jackie Morris… she’s got to be one of the most brilliant artists working in children’s books at the moment.” Read more...
The Best Picture Books of 2017
Zoe Greaves, Children's Author
Mountains of the Mind
by Robert Macfarlane
It’s difficult to say what it’s about in a few sentences, but I think what he’s really getting at is just the idea that to be in high and dangerous places is a beautiful and exciting experience. He used to be a climber, although he doesn’t climb any more, and in the book he is interested in what makes people do this highly dangerous thing. It also has a lot of cultural history about mountains, about the various ways different people have felt about them.
Interviews with Robert Macfarlane
The best books on Wild Places, recommended by Robert Macfarlane
Robert Macfarlane, author of an acclaimed trilogy of books about landscape and human thought tells us about the intrepid, sometimes misanthropic writers who inspired his own investigation of wilderness. He chooses some of his favourite books of nature-writing.
Interviews where books by Robert Macfarlane were recommended
The best books on Silence, recommended by Sara Maitland
Modern Western societies often seem to be intolerant of silence. Why should this be? And is there any alternative? The author of “A Book of Silence” explains
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1
Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape
by Lauret Savoy -
2
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
by Robin Wall Kimmerer -
3
Earth's Wild Music: Celebrating and Defending the Songs of the Natural World
by Kathleen Dean Moore -
4
The Next Great Migration: The Beauty and Terror of Life on the Move
by Sonia Shah -
5
Landmarks
by Robert Macfarlane
The Best Books For Environmental Learning, recommended by Mitchell Thomashow
The Best Books For Environmental Learning, recommended by Mitchell Thomashow
We are surrounded by nature but it’s easy to miss it and spend time either in our heads or on screens. Here Mitchell Thomashow, a longtime teacher of environmental learning, picks books to broaden our vistas and help us see the natural world with fresh eyes.
The Best Picture Books of 2017, recommended by Zoe Greaves
Looking for a lovely set of books to give to a child who is just learning to read? Five Books children’s editor, Zoe Greaves, picks five of the best published this year.
Editors’ Picks: Notable Books of 2019, recommended by Cal Flyn
Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn reflects on a year of spectacularly rich literary output, highlighting notable new books from Mary Gaitskill and Robert Macfarlane, as well as sparkling debuts that mark the arrival of exciting new literary voices in 2019.
