The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot - Softcover

Macfarlane, Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141030585 ISBN 13: 9780141030586

Publisher: Penguin, 2013

Synopsis

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

SHORTLISTED FOR THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE

The original bestseller from the beloved author of UNDERLAND, LANDMARKS and THE LOST WORDS - Robert Macfarlane travels Britain's ancient paths and discovers the secrets of our beautiful, underappreciated landscape

'The Old Ways confirms Macfarlane's reputation as one of the most eloquent and observant of contemporary writers about nature' Scotland on Sunday

'Sublime... It sets the imagination tingling, laying an irresistible trail for readers to follow' Sunday Times

'Read this and it will be impossible to take an unremarkable walk again' Metro

'He has a rare physical intelligence and affords total immersion in place, elements and the passage of time: wonderful' Antony Gormley

'I love to read Macfarlane' Financial Times

Following the tracks, holloways, drove-roads and sea paths that form part of a vast ancient network of routes criss-crossing the British Isles and beyond, Robert Macfarlane discovers a lost world - a landscape of the feet and the mind, of pilgrimage and ritual, of stories and ghosts; above all of the places and journeys which inspire and inhabit our imaginations.

About this title

Review

Praise for "The OldWays"
With a steady command of the literature and history of each place he visits, [Macfarlane] tries to read landscapes back into being. His sentences bristle with the argot of cartographers, geologists, zoologists, and botanists. "The New Yorker"

Macfarlane explores the meditative aspects of being a pedestrian not so much a travelogue as a travel meditation, it favors lush prose, colorful digressions if you ve ever had the experience, while walking, of an elusive thought finally coming clear or an inspiration surfacing after a long struggle, "The Old Ways" will speak to you eloquently and persuasively. "The Seattle Times"

A backpack of assorted expeditions charted by a writer whose poetic and scientific skills are equal to one another there are some splendid set pieces. "The Wall Street Journal"

A wonderfully meandering account of the author s peregrinations and perambulations through England, Scotland, Spain, Palestine, and Sichuan Macfarlane sparticular gift is his ability to bring a remarkably broad and varied range of voices to bear on his own pathways and to do so with a pleasingly impressionist yet tenderly precise style. Aengus Woods, "themillions.com"

"Macfarlane seems to know and have read everything his every sentence rewrites the landscape in language crunchy and freshly minted and deeply textured. Surely the most accomplished (and erudite) writer on place to have come along in years." Pico Iyer

"Luminous, possessing a seemingly paradoxical combination of the dream-like and the hyper-vigilant, "The Old Ways" is, as with all of Macfarlane's work, a magnificent read. Each sentence can carry astonishing discovery." Rick Bass

In Macfarlane, British travel writing has a formidable new champion Macfarlane is read above all for the beauty of his prose and his wonderfully innovative and inventive way with language he can write exquisitely about anywhere. William Dalrymple, "The Observer"
In this intricate, sensuous, haunted book, each journey is part of other journeys and there are no clear divisions to be made the walking of paths is, to [Macfarlane], an education, and symbolic, too, of the very process by which we learn things: testing, wandering about a bit, hitting our stride, looking ahead and behind. Alexandra Harris, "The Guardian""

Praise for The OldWays
With a steady command of the literature and history of each place he visits, [Macfarlane] tries to read landscapes back into being. His sentences bristle with the argot of cartographers, geologists, zoologists, and botanists. The New Yorker

Macfarlane explores the meditative aspects of being a pedestrian not so much a travelogue as a travel meditation, it favors lush prose, colorful digressions if you ve ever had the experience, while walking, of an elusive thought finally coming clear or an inspiration surfacing after a long struggle, The Old Ways will speak to you eloquently and persuasively. The Seattle Times

A backpack of assorted expeditions charted by a writer whose poetic and scientific skills are equal to one another there are some splendid set pieces. The Wall Street Journal

A wonderfully meandering account of the author s peregrinations and perambulations through England, Scotland, Spain, Palestine, and Sichuan Macfarlane sparticular gift is his ability to bring a remarkably broad and varied range of voices to bear on his own pathways and to do so with a pleasingly impressionist yet tenderly precise style. Aengus Woods, themillions.com

"Macfarlane seems to know and have read everything his every sentence rewrites the landscape in language crunchy and freshly minted and deeply textured. Surely the most accomplished (and erudite) writer on place to have come along in years." Pico Iyer

"Luminous, possessing a seemingly paradoxical combination of the dream-like and the hyper-vigilant, The Old Ways is, as with all of Macfarlane's work, a magnificent read. Each sentence can carry astonishing discovery." Rick Bass

In Macfarlane, British travel writing has a formidable new champion Macfarlane is read above all for the beauty of his prose and his wonderfully innovative and inventive way with language he can write exquisitely about anywhere. William Dalrymple, The Observer

In this intricate, sensuous, haunted book, each journey is part of other journeys and there are no clear divisions to be made the walking of paths is, to [Macfarlane], an education, and symbolic, too, of the very process by which we learn things: testing, wandering about a bit, hitting our stride, looking ahead and behind. Alexandra Harris, The Guardian"

Praise for The Old Ways

"With a steady command of the literature and history of each place he visits, [Macfarlane] tries 'to read landscapes back into being.' His sentences bristle with the argot of cartographers, geologists, zoologists, and botanists." --The New Yorker

"Macfarlane explores the meditative aspects of being a pedestrian...not so much a travelogue as a travel meditation, it favors lush prose, colorful digressions...if you've ever had the experience, while walking, of an elusive thought finally coming clear or an inspiration surfacing after a long struggle, The Old Ways will speak to you - eloquently and persuasively." --The Seattle Times

"A backpack of assorted expeditions charted by a writer whose poetic and scientific skills are equal to one another...there are some splendid set pieces." --The Wall Street Journal

"A wonderfully meandering account of the author's peregrinations and perambulations through England, Scotland, Spain, Palestine, and Sichuan...Macfarlane's particular gift is his ability to bring a remarkably broad and varied range of voices to bear on his own pathways and to do so with a pleasingly impressionist yet tenderly precise style." --Aengus Woods, themillions.com

"Macfarlane seems to know and have read everything...his every sentence rewrites the landscape in language crunchy and freshly minted and deeply textured. Surely the most accomplished (and erudite) writer on place to have come along in years." --Pico Iyer

"Luminous, possessing a seemingly paradoxical combination of the dream-like and the hyper-vigilant, The Old Ways is, as with all of Macfarlane's work, a magnificent read. Each sentence can carry astonishing discovery." --Rick Bass

"In Macfarlane, British travel writing has a formidable new champion... Macfarlane is read above all for the beauty of his prose and his wonderfully innovative and inventive way with language...he can write exquisitely about anywhere." --William Dalrymple, The Observer

"In this intricate, sensuous, haunted book, each journey is part of other journeys and there are no clear divisions to be made...the walking of paths is, to [Macfarlane], an education, and symbolic, too, of the very process by which we learn things: testing, wandering about a bit, hitting our stride, looking ahead and behind." --Alexandra Harris, The Guardian

About the Author

Robert Macfarlane is the author of Mountains of the Mind, The Wild Places, The Old Ways, Landmarks, and The Lost Words, co-created with Jackie Morris. Mountains of the Mind won the Guardian First Book Award and the Somerset Maugham Award and The Wild Places won the Boardman-Tasker Award. Both books have been adapted for television by the BBC. The Lost Words won the Books Are My Bag Beautiful Book Award and the Hay Festival Book of the Year. He is a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and writes on environmentalism, literature and travel for publications including the Guardian, the Sunday Times and The New York Times.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0141030585
• ISBN 13: 9780141030586
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 448