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muninnherself's review
4.0
I bought this for my mum for Mother's Day because I follow Tom on Twitter and read stuff on his blog, and I thought she'd like it. Which she did. Anyway, I borrowed it and I enjoyed it too. It's funny and also touching, I particularly enjoyed the chapter about Tom's nan. Good stuff about landscape and how it affects you without you really noticing, but how actually noticing is always very rewarding.
halfmanhalfbook's review
5.0
The facets that make up our character are drawn from many sources; our DNA, our family, our culture, our history and as Tom Cox argues in this book, the places where you grow up that can define you as much as these other things. The way that Cox recommends that immerse yourself in the local landscape is to walk through the lanes and paths, climb the hills and the stiles, take in the views and soak up the natural world at walking pace.
The blurb on the cover says: It’s not quite a nature book, not quite a humour book, not quite a family memoir, not quite folklore, not quite social history, not quite a collection of essays, but a bit of all six. But there is a lot more in this book than that; crammed into the covers of the book. He is captivated by all sorts of things that he encounters on his strolls, from bees to beavers, scarecrows to owls and even his cats make an appearance a few times. Keeping his sanity by taking longs walks in the country around his Devon home gives him plenty of time to consider the world. All of the subjects he tackles begin with a narrow focus, before becoming wider ranging and for me, much more interesting.
He is fascinated equally by the ghosts of the past as he concerned by the future of the countryside, but what makes 21st Century such a really good book is that it defies categorisation. Part of this reason behind this is because Cox writes about what he wants to without following any set agenda, and partly this is because this reflects modern life and all its distractions where you start on one project, get distracted by something else, wander off to get an item and arrive back four hours later wondering why you were starting that in the first place. Because of this, the book feels fresh and interesting, it has its poignant moments, the chapter on scarecrows is really quite creepy and is a great example of modern folklore, His VERY LOUD DAD makes me laugh every time he appears in the narrative too. This rich and varied book is not quite many things, but one thing it is, is fantastic.
The blurb on the cover says: It’s not quite a nature book, not quite a humour book, not quite a family memoir, not quite folklore, not quite social history, not quite a collection of essays, but a bit of all six. But there is a lot more in this book than that; crammed into the covers of the book. He is captivated by all sorts of things that he encounters on his strolls, from bees to beavers, scarecrows to owls and even his cats make an appearance a few times. Keeping his sanity by taking longs walks in the country around his Devon home gives him plenty of time to consider the world. All of the subjects he tackles begin with a narrow focus, before becoming wider ranging and for me, much more interesting.
He is fascinated equally by the ghosts of the past as he concerned by the future of the countryside, but what makes 21st Century such a really good book is that it defies categorisation. Part of this reason behind this is because Cox writes about what he wants to without following any set agenda, and partly this is because this reflects modern life and all its distractions where you start on one project, get distracted by something else, wander off to get an item and arrive back four hours later wondering why you were starting that in the first place. Because of this, the book feels fresh and interesting, it has its poignant moments, the chapter on scarecrows is really quite creepy and is a great example of modern folklore, His VERY LOUD DAD makes me laugh every time he appears in the narrative too. This rich and varied book is not quite many things, but one thing it is, is fantastic.
nickimags's review
5.0
Well what can I tell you about this terrific book, except that I absolutely loved it and that I’ve discovered a new favourite author. Just thinking about writing this review is making me smile as I remember some of the anecdotes. Fortunately I’d recently stocked up on new post -it notes so I could mark all the parts that made me think, laugh out loud and smile as I was reading.
There are so many great stories in this wonderful collection and here are some of my favourites. His recollection of his Dad’s way of telling him stories as ‘someone acting as a translator for his own words’, likening a male tawny owl’s call to that of the Fonz from Happy Days, Bad Weird and Good Weird (you’ll have to read it to understand), ‘hello people’ when out walking, how unreliable phone apps are for identifying caterpillars, bees mating on his flares, and his wonderful account of watching the beavers. I could go on as I’ve remembered some more, but that would spoil it, and I definitely don’t want to do that as you really do need to discover this fab book for yourself.
I also love his thoughts on social media and the internet, of how we’re so focussed on sharing stuff that we don’t enjoy the actual moment we’ve just witnessed. I’m very guilty of this, so it was good to be reminded to just enjoy nature and wildlife without thinking that I need to be sharing it online.
I thoroughly recommend this if you like reading nonfiction, in fact even if nonfiction is not your thing, give this a try as I’m certain you’ll enjoy this fantastic book.
There are so many great stories in this wonderful collection and here are some of my favourites. His recollection of his Dad’s way of telling him stories as ‘someone acting as a translator for his own words’, likening a male tawny owl’s call to that of the Fonz from Happy Days, Bad Weird and Good Weird (you’ll have to read it to understand), ‘hello people’ when out walking, how unreliable phone apps are for identifying caterpillars, bees mating on his flares, and his wonderful account of watching the beavers. I could go on as I’ve remembered some more, but that would spoil it, and I definitely don’t want to do that as you really do need to discover this fab book for yourself.
I also love his thoughts on social media and the internet, of how we’re so focussed on sharing stuff that we don’t enjoy the actual moment we’ve just witnessed. I’m very guilty of this, so it was good to be reminded to just enjoy nature and wildlife without thinking that I need to be sharing it online.
I thoroughly recommend this if you like reading nonfiction, in fact even if nonfiction is not your thing, give this a try as I’m certain you’ll enjoy this fantastic book.
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