Listen to a sample
Nature’s Ghosts
- Author
- Sophie Yeo
- Narrator
- Emily Pennant-Rea
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Publish Date
- 23 May 2024
- Run Time
- 8 hours 24 minutes
- Format
- x-book®
- Genre
- The environment, Applied ecology, Ecological science, the Biosphere, Landscape archaeology, Environmental archaeology, Nature and the natural world: general interest
- Rating
- 4.0 (1 review)
What to expect
‘Sophie writes fantastically, chronicling the most important issues facing nature conservationists today.’ Chris Packham
For thousands of years, humans have been the architects of the natural world. Our activities have permanently altered the environment – for good and for bad.
In Nature’s Ghosts, award-winning journalist Sophie Yeo examines how the planet would have looked before humans scrubbed away its diversity: from landscapes carved out by megafauna to the primeval forests that emerged following the last Ice Age, and from the eagle-haunted skies of the Dark Ages to the flower-decked farms of more recent centuries.
Uncovering the stories of the people who have helped to shape the landscape, she seeks out their footprints even where it seems there are none to be found. And she explores the timeworn knowledge that can help to fix our broken relationship with the earth.
Along the way, Sophie encounters the environmental detectives – archaeological, cultural and ecological – reconstructing, in stunning detail, the landscapes we have lost.
Today, the natural world is more vulnerable than ever; the footprints of humanity heavier than they have ever been. But, as this urgent book argues, from the ghosts of the past, we may learn how to build a more wild and ancient future.
Critics Review
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‘Sophie writes fantastically, chronicling the most important issues facing nature conservationists today.’ Chris Packham
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'A wondrous book and a ticket for environmental time travel.' Tristan Gooley
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‘Offers insights that could help shape a better informed and more constructive debate … Concludes with determination and hope.’ The Spectator
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'Wonderful … Invites us to overcome our shortsightedness by peering into the distant past and using it to inform our future.' The Times
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'Nature’s Ghosts underscores how people have more choices than they realize when it comes to crafting a better future.' Nature
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'Elegantly written and poetic.' Science
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'Appealing, thoughtful and impressively researched.' Richard Jefferies Prize panel
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'Urgent and utterly compelling.' Lewis Dartnell
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‘Essential, intelligent reading. Sophie is one of the brightest, best-informed and most balanced contributors to the big debates.’ Patrick Barkham
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'Carefully and elegantly traces the complex histories of humanity's changing relations with land and wildness. … Joyful.' Rebecca Wragg Sykes
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'Beautiful and necessary: Yeo will make you see the land with new eyes.' Ben Rawlence
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'Fascinating, deeply researched and breathtaking in its scope.' Guy Shrubsole
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'A thrilling work of investigative writing.' Lee Schofield
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'Important and inspiring.' Helen Rebanks
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'Beautifully told.' Henry Mance
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‘Vivid and urgent. A powerful new voice.’ Mary-Ann Ochota
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‘Captivating. Enriched by luminous ideas and forward-thinking passion.’ Tiffany Francis-Baker
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'A tour de force.' Benedict Macdonald
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'As textured as the lost landscapes through which Yeo transports us.' Jon Dunn
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'Fascinating … Thrilling.' Patrick Galbraith
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‘A book of overwhelming, hopeful humanity.’ Harriet Rix
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'Poignant.' Geographical Magazine
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‘An exhilarating ride back and forth in time … Yeo is a fantastic writer, and marshals a huge, sweeping narrative.’ DiscoverWildlife, best wildlife and nature books of 2024
User Reviews
Book 4.0
Narration 4.0
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4.0 4.0
Enjoyed the book. Very interesting subject.
clinch 2026-09-19
Details
- Author
- Sophie Yeo
- Narrator
- Emily Pennant-Rea
- Duration
- 8 hours 24 minutes
- Release Date
- 23 May 2024
- ISBN
- 9780008474140
- Format
- x-book®
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Genre
- The environment, Applied ecology, Ecological science, the Biosphere, Landscape archaeology, Environmental archaeology, Nature and the natural world: general interest
- Rating
- 4.0(1 review)
- Narration
- 4.0(1 review)
Synopsis
Winner of the 2024 Richard Jefferies Award for nature writing Shortlisted for the 2024 Wainwright Prize for Writing on Conservation A Times Science Book of the Year ‘Sophie writes fantastically, chronicling the most important issues facing nature conservationists today.’ Chris Packham For thousands of years, humans have been the architects of the natural world. Our activities have permanently altered the environment – for good and for bad. In Nature’s Ghosts, award-winning journalist Sophie Yeo examines how the planet would have looked before humans scrubbed away its diversity: from landscapes carved out by megafauna to the primeval forests that emerged following the last Ice Age, and from the eagle-haunted skies of the Dark Ages to the flower-decked farms of more recent centuries. Uncovering the stories of the people who have helped to shape the landscape, she seeks out their footprints even where it seems there are none to be found. And she explores the timeworn knowledge that can help to fix our broken relationship with the earth. Along the way, Sophie encounters the environmental detectives – archaeological, cultural and ecological – reconstructing, in stunning detail, the landscapes we have lost. Today, the natural world is more vulnerable than ever; the footprints of humanity heavier than they have ever been. But, as this urgent book argues, from the ghosts of the past, we may learn how to build a more wild and ancient future.
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