Is a River Alive? [J0098]

2025 - HCDJ Excellent condition. Hailed as "a naturalist who can unfurl a sentence with the breathless ease of a master angler" (Holly Morris, New York Times), Robert Macfarlane brings his glittering style to a profound work of travel writing, reporting, and natural history. Is a River Alive? is a joyous exploration into an ancient, urgent idea: that rivers are living beings who should be recognized as such in imagination and law. Macfarlane takes readers on three unforgettable journeys teeming with extraordinary people and places: to the miraculous cloud-forests and mountain streams of Ecuador, to the wounded creeks and lagoons of India, and to the spectacular wild rivers of Canada-imperiled by mining, pollution, and dams. Braiding these journeys is the life story of the fragile chalk stream a mile from Macfarlane's house, which flows through his own years and days. Powered by Macfarlane's dazzling prose and lit throughout by other voices, Is a River Alive? will open hearts, challenge perspectives, and remind us that our fate flows with that of rivers-and always has.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "It lost me a bit near the end, but overall this is a neat book arguing that rivers are alive and why they should be protected. Uses arguments that are both scientific, cultural, and based on the author's own experiences."; "A wonderful read for anyone interested in nature, particularly as it relates to animism and the need for legal protection for our planet."; "A great story about three rivers and the great people who take care of them and fight for them. This is the third book I've read from RM and it won't be the last."