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Reviews
Where the Wildflowers Grow: My Botanical Journey Through Britain and Ireland by Leif Bersweden
oceanic_rabbit's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
5.0
Warm, comforting, hopeful and informative. Leif Bersweden talks of flora and fauna with an infectious, likable warmth with accessible, easy to understand language.
eulaspiegel's review against another edition
4.0
A beautiful book that made me long for summer and all the botanizing I am going to do with my bike this year. As a light criticism it was a tad bit repetitive and drawn out in a few sections, but still a good read for anyone interested in botany.
elsie_brewster's review against another edition
5.0
Just wonderful. Filled me with joy and hope reading it.
thefloatingbookworm's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
4.75
hayleysdean21's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
This was a nice book about the joys of botanising. I would recommend, however, sometimes the writing style was not 100% for me, but I did love all the folklore and botanical facts.
hillersg7's review against another edition
4.0
This book could be subtitled: The Joy of Wildflowers. There is so much joy and enthusiasm here, as this peripatetic botanist journeys on his bike around Great Britain and Ireland. And there is a challenge that more needs to be done, to improve our attention to biodiversity, the effects of climate change and industrialisation, and our general care for our native flora. Along the way equally enthusiastic champions describe the wonders of different habitats and species.
andrewspink's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
relaxing
medium-paced
5.0
This was a book that could have been written just for me. The joy of botanising, and then to top that, on a bike! With special attention both to water-crowfoot and to mosses!! I spent three years researching water-crowfoot, which meant three very happy summers searching rivers all over Britain for them, measuring stuff, seeing what other plants were there, and so on. They are a much overlooked group, so it was great that he has them as a focus of one chapter and mentions them occasionally elsewhere.
I also know a lot of the places he visited in the book. Some of them to the exact spot (the summit of Ben Lawers, the place where the water-crowfoot grows by Haweswater), others the general habitat.
What he does exceptionally well, is to describe the emotions associated with botanising. The joy of finding a rare species you are searching for. The peaceful calm of spending an afternoon in a sunny meadow. The determination needed to brave the elements on a mountain top. My introduction to identifying Sphagnum species in the field was learning to collect one particular species when there was 30 cm of snow lying on top of everything.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was a delight to read.
I also know a lot of the places he visited in the book. Some of them to the exact spot (the summit of Ben Lawers, the place where the water-crowfoot grows by Haweswater), others the general habitat.
What he does exceptionally well, is to describe the emotions associated with botanising. The joy of finding a rare species you are searching for. The peaceful calm of spending an afternoon in a sunny meadow. The determination needed to brave the elements on a mountain top. My introduction to identifying Sphagnum species in the field was learning to collect one particular species when there was 30 cm of snow lying on top of everything.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was a delight to read.