Local: A Search for Nearby Nature & Wildness is a beautiful ode to slowing down, and appreciating time spent in nature. Shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing, this book is by adventurer Alastair, who decides after years of travelling around the world, decides to explore the small map around his own local home.
We have just one tiny planet to live on. We must care for it, and use its resources wisely. This is my sole agenda, and I’m broadly of favour of anything that supports it. So if we differ on specific points, it’s better to search for common ground where we can make positive changes together, rather than just shouting at each other on social media.
For more than twenty years, my favourite thing has been to leave here behind. Spin the globe, and off I go. However my mood has shifted. With the climate in chaos, I can’t justify flying all over the globe for fun anymore, burning jet fuel and spewing carbon for selfies. If I love wild places so much, was I willing to not visit them, in order to help protect them?
Can this unassuming landscape with busy roads and city lights, hold any surprises for a seasonal trekker. Could one single map actually provide a lifetime of exploring? Surprisingly, the answer appears to be yes.
Despite all his years in remote environments, the author learns the value of truly getting to know his neighbourhood. A celebration of both nature and the outdoors, but also a rallying cry to protect the wild places on our doorstep.
Shows us that space is deep as well as side, and that one need travel only a few hundred yards to become an explorer of the undiscovered country of the nearby. This funny and wise book is dedicated to – as the Australian poet Les Murray once put it – being ‘only interested in everything’. Robert Macfarlane
About the AuthorÂ
Alastair Humphreys has written 14 books, including some for children. He has spent 4 years cycling around the world (46,000 miles through 60 countries).
He has walked across southern India, rowed the Atlantic Ocean, run six marathons through the Sahara, crossed Iceland, busked in Spain and visited the Arctic. He encourages you (if you can’t afford to buy the book) to reserve a copy at your library.
