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seclement's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this book, but it certainly is not what it says on the tin. This is a book that narrates this history of Britain's conservation movement. Sure, in doing so it describes some of the reasons behind the destruction of Britain's environment and hints towards its future by recounting the trends of the past. But it is not really about saving British wildlife before it is too late. Although informed by facts and relevant primary source material, this book is largely the perspective of one man. A well-informed man with relevant expertise, of course, but it is a deeply personal book in the way that it narrates the history of Britain's environmental movement. I loved the book. It helped me understand so much about the environmental movement and conservation policy in this country, which had thus far puzzled me so much because it seems so different to that which I am used to in other countries. On one hand, it re-affirmed for me that so much of British conservation is tinkering at the margins and protecting what other countries would view as ordinary, but what is, for British people, extraordinary in its importance (think hedgerows, unimproved pastures, and landscapes shaped by centuries of human habitation, like fens and heathland). It also helped flesh out the reasons for the thing that to me feels so striking: that for British people, wilderness is irrelevant and treasured landscapes are truly where nature meets culture. I have always felt that every bit of nature is cultural here, including the ineffectual British laws governing nature's conservation. This book got me closer to understanding why that came to be. The book is engaging and from the heart, and I really enjoyed reading it, once I got over my expectations about what it should be, based on its title and blurb. I don't believe that it tells the full "truth" of British conservation, but I do feel it tells a heartfelt version of it through the eyes of someone with a lot of passion and experience. I have read a lot of books on this subject and have lived in this country for 5 years, working in this field. But my hat is off to Cocker, as he has succeeded where so many other authors have failed in helping me actually understand how the movement came to be so distinctly British, even if I am still left with many questions about why. Most of all, the reason I rate the book 4 rather than 5 is that it doesn't answer the question in the book's subtitle. It is still a puzzle how we might proceed in the future, given how much culture has changed in this country and how unlikely it is that we will return to the cultural conditions that created the distinctly British version of nature that people like him love so much. Judging by his 'ten interlocking Truths' (yes, with a capital T), I am not so sure that he has the answers either. The book may not get you to the 'where to from here' step, but it will get you a long way toward understanding how we got here when viewed through the lens of the conservation movement. I suspect that, to get to the next step, this needs to be linked to much larger contextual factors, but this book is in most ways incredibly parochial. I say that not as an insult but as a means of highlighting how insightful it is about local conditions and cultural drivers of conservation. I can't think of another book that does that so well. That said, I don't think this is a book for people who aren't specifically interested in British conservation, as it has little bearing on conservation elsewhere. In this sense, it does indeed live up to its name in describing "our place", if by 'our' we mean the residents of Britain.
norwegianforestreader's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
slow-paced
4.0
mxmrow's review against another edition
5.0
This book covered a lot I did not know and was quite unbiased in so far as highlighting issues with approaches across the political spectrum but equally being clear in how environmental protections are hindered by the disproportionate power of a small landed class.
lilyspunner's review against another edition
5.0
This book addresses issues which should be important to us all
georgiesutton's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
I liked the local focus and how this supported the book. I also liked how the book brought together various nature writing and ideas into one neat book.
tardycreative's review against another edition
2.0
Hard to read as it was written in a very boring and slow manner. I was disappointed because I heard so much about this book and it seemed more exciting than it is, it also concentrates a lot on chronology of various wildlife projects and ornithology as opposed to urban wildlife which is how it was advertised to me at the library. This book is riddled with statistics which will drive you crazy too.
red_dog's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
An important book, an interesting book (although it takes a while to get going), but as several reviewers have already pointed out, its subheading is fairly misleading - rather than looking explicitly at what we can do to save Britain's wildlife, it actually holds a mirror up to many of the taken-for-granted assumptions we have about our relationship with the countryside.
georgecook's review against another edition
2.0
Took me 3 months to get through this book. It was hard, long, dry reading. With a tag line of "can we save Britain's wildlife before it's too late?" this should have been right up my street. However it was not. If I wasn't reading it for a book club it probably would have been the one I never finished. No flow between chapters and, I feel bad saying it, so so boring. Basically a history of legislation. The final chapter got interesting as he actually began to say his opinion and answer the question but it was too little too late. I feel i am the target audience for this book and yet I still found it so boring it nearly killed my love of reading.
halfmanhalfbook's review
5.0
Britain has always liked to think of itself as a nation of animal lovers, we spend several billion pounds on our pets each year get outraged when people commit acts of cruelty towards our furry friends. This love of animals drives people who care about wildlife too. It wasn't until 2013 that we finally voted for our own national animal, the hedgehog and there are a couple of million people in organisations such as the RSPB and the various wildlife trusts. The National Trust has now reached five million members. Programmes like Springwatch have made people far more aware of the amazing variety of wildlife in our country, they are more aware of environmental issues, try to put food out for the birds and make their gardens a little more friendly towards wildlife.
Cocker celebrates the achievements of the visionary people who have managed to save a landscape or a species, create some of our national institutions and inspire others to do the same. However, the reality is that our wildlife is suffering; species are going extinct, the whole ecosystem from the bottom up is reaching a critical tipping point that we may never return from. The numbers are pretty horrific, in the past 50 years, we have lost 50% of our biodiversity. That is the past 50 years, not since the industrial revolution. Just in the case of farmland birds, there are 44 million less now than there were in 1970. We only have 1% of our wildflower meadows left now.
So how did we reach the point where green concerns are on the rise just as the creatures people are beginning to care about fall off an actual and metaphorical cliff? In this really radical text, Cocker takes a long hard look at how we have got to this moment, what has caused this, and the people and systems to blame and boy, he does not hold back. He argues that the roots of this reach way back to almost 100 years ago after William invade with his Norman Army. This feudal system that he imposed on the country has shaped our politics and culture ever since. The landed classes manage to avoid almost all tax on their properties and still get large subsidies from the UK government and EU. They have no interest in preserving the fragile ecosystems unless it suits their narrow interests. He is prepared to criticise other organisations too, the Forestry Commission has a scathing attack on the monoculture of trees that they have imposed on regions that are totally unsuitable for them. Again they are another organisation that the elite has used for tax evasion, I mean efficient investments. The NT fairs a little better, but with its focus on maintaining the properties as the previous owners would have wanted and the continuation of their sporting activities, which mostly involves shooting, rather than making an effort to preserve the wildlife that they have on their extensive properties.
There are many other examples that make this essential reading, but as the subtitle says, is it too late? Whilst this is an intense polemic, he still manages to be lyrical, I was delighted by the writing whilst seething reading about the things that have happened. Part of his enthusiasm is driven by a small part of Norfolk that he has purchased and is slowly restoring to become a wildlife haven. Whilst he is doing his own small thing there are lots of people who aren't. We are to blame in part too, for example, we have demanded cheaper food, meaning that agri-business has managed to make farms and fields outdoor factories that wildlife does not play a part at all. But can we make a difference? There are around 8 million of us in the RSPB, National Trust and the Wildlife Trusts, but only a handful are prepared to rattle the doors of the politicians and ask them some very difficult questions. Another problem is the small number of people that own vast swathes of the land, they have no desire to change at the moment and will fit all the way to stop this.
Would also recommend Wild Kingdom: Bringing Back Britain's Wildlife by Stephen Moss and The Running hare by John Lewis-Stempel as must-read books in the same vein. It is not a book that you will like reading, but it demands to be read. Then acted on. Join a wildlife trust and start to make a difference.
Cocker celebrates the achievements of the visionary people who have managed to save a landscape or a species, create some of our national institutions and inspire others to do the same. However, the reality is that our wildlife is suffering; species are going extinct, the whole ecosystem from the bottom up is reaching a critical tipping point that we may never return from. The numbers are pretty horrific, in the past 50 years, we have lost 50% of our biodiversity. That is the past 50 years, not since the industrial revolution. Just in the case of farmland birds, there are 44 million less now than there were in 1970. We only have 1% of our wildflower meadows left now.
So how did we reach the point where green concerns are on the rise just as the creatures people are beginning to care about fall off an actual and metaphorical cliff? In this really radical text, Cocker takes a long hard look at how we have got to this moment, what has caused this, and the people and systems to blame and boy, he does not hold back. He argues that the roots of this reach way back to almost 100 years ago after William invade with his Norman Army. This feudal system that he imposed on the country has shaped our politics and culture ever since. The landed classes manage to avoid almost all tax on their properties and still get large subsidies from the UK government and EU. They have no interest in preserving the fragile ecosystems unless it suits their narrow interests. He is prepared to criticise other organisations too, the Forestry Commission has a scathing attack on the monoculture of trees that they have imposed on regions that are totally unsuitable for them. Again they are another organisation that the elite has used for tax evasion, I mean efficient investments. The NT fairs a little better, but with its focus on maintaining the properties as the previous owners would have wanted and the continuation of their sporting activities, which mostly involves shooting, rather than making an effort to preserve the wildlife that they have on their extensive properties.
There are many other examples that make this essential reading, but as the subtitle says, is it too late? Whilst this is an intense polemic, he still manages to be lyrical, I was delighted by the writing whilst seething reading about the things that have happened. Part of his enthusiasm is driven by a small part of Norfolk that he has purchased and is slowly restoring to become a wildlife haven. Whilst he is doing his own small thing there are lots of people who aren't. We are to blame in part too, for example, we have demanded cheaper food, meaning that agri-business has managed to make farms and fields outdoor factories that wildlife does not play a part at all. But can we make a difference? There are around 8 million of us in the RSPB, National Trust and the Wildlife Trusts, but only a handful are prepared to rattle the doors of the politicians and ask them some very difficult questions. Another problem is the small number of people that own vast swathes of the land, they have no desire to change at the moment and will fit all the way to stop this.
Would also recommend Wild Kingdom: Bringing Back Britain's Wildlife by Stephen Moss and The Running hare by John Lewis-Stempel as must-read books in the same vein. It is not a book that you will like reading, but it demands to be read. Then acted on. Join a wildlife trust and start to make a difference.
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