Signed on the title page. Winner of the 2022 John Burroughs Medal for natural history writing. Explores Chernobyl, Scotland (Scottish Islands), the volcanic regions of the Caribbean, and Tanzania, in the vein of Alan Weisman's "The World Without Us." With a blurb by Kathleen Jamie on the back. Fine paperback with a touch of wear to front wrap lower corner; still fine. With an attractive "signed by author" sticker on upper corner of front wrap. // Wood (+) River (=) Books specializes in ecology, natural history, nature writing, the environment, and environmental literature, with a special passion for association copies and notable inscriptions. We invite you to explore our dedicated, growing collection of signed and inscribed climate change books. WRB162023E. Seller Inventory # ABE-1674505331214

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Bibliographic Details

Title: Islands of Abandonment: Life in the ...

Publisher: William Collins

Publication Date: 2021

Binding: Soft cover

Condition: Fine

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: 1st Edition.

About this title

Synopsis:

THE SUNDAY TIMES’ BESTSELLER AND SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT BOOK OF THE YEAR

WINNER OF THE SUNDAY TIMES YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARD

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT CONSERVATION AWARD

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH ACADEMY BOOK PRIZE

SHORTLISTED FOR THE HIGHLAND BOOK PRIZE

This is a book about abandoned places: ghost towns and exclusion zones, no man’s lands and fortress islands – and what happens when nature is allowed to reclaim its place.

In Chernobyl, following the nuclear disaster, only a handful of people returned to their dangerously irradiated homes. On an uninhabited Scottish island, feral cattle live entirely wild. In Detroit, once America’s fourth-largest city, entire streets of houses are falling in on themselves, looters slipping through otherwise silent neighbourhoods.

This book explores the extraordinary places where humans no longer live – or survive in tiny, precarious numbers – to give us a possible glimpse of what happens when mankind’s impact on nature is forced to stop. From Tanzanian mountains to the volcanic Caribbean, the forbidden areas of France to the mining regions of Scotland, Flyn brings together some of the most desolate, eerie, ravaged and polluted areas in the world – and shows how, against all odds, they offer our best opportunities for environmental recovery.

By turns haunted and hopeful, this luminously written world study is pinned together with profound insight and new ecological discoveries that together map an answer to the big questions: what happens after we’re gone, and how far can our damage to nature be undone?

More praise for Islands of Abandonment

‘Extraordinary … Just when you thought there was nowhere left to explore, along comes an author with a new category of terrain … Dazzling’ SPECTATOR

‘A haunting look at how nature fights back … Beautiful, evocative’ SUNDAY TIMES

‘Flyn’s brave, thorough book sets out to explore places where angels fear to tread … The result is fascinating, eerie and strange … There is some thrilling writing here’ KATHLEEN JAMIE, NEW STATESMAN

‘Wonderful’ ADAM NICOLSON

‘Exhilarating’ DAILY TELEGRAPH

Cal Flyn's book 'Islands of Abandonment' was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 24-01-2022.

About the Author:

Cal Flyn is an author and journalist from the Highlands of Scotland. Previously she has been a reporter for both The Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph, and a contributing editor at The Week magazine. Cal holds a MA in Experimental Psychology from Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Her first book, ‘Thicker Than Water’, was a Times book of the year and dealt with the colonisation of Australia and questions of inherited guilt.

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Visit us at www.ruralhours.com. Rural Hours (formerly Wood River Books) specializes in ecology, natural history, nature and science writing, the environment, ecopoetics, contemporary essay, and literary journalism, with a special passion for association copies and notable inscriptions. Our name is an homage to Susan Fenimore Cooper's book Rural Hours (1850), considered the first work of environmental nonfiction by an American woman. The daughter of James Fenimore Cooper, Susan Cooper was also an accomplished watercolorist, and her birds from Rural Hours populate these pages. Her rendering of a "chimney swallow" (now known as a swift) serves as our logo and mascot: sleek and elevated, part sky and part city street. Rural Hours is mainly a project of writer and teacher Nick Neely. Along with a pair of MFA degrees in nonfiction and poetry, Nick has a Master's in Literature and Environment from the University of Nevada, Reno. He has much expertise and years of experience in the field of eco-writing. His first book, Coast Range, was a finalist for John Burroughs Medal for nature writing and his second book, Alta California--about a 12-week trek he made along the California coast--was a Los Angeles Times bestseller. Check out the "Rambles" page for eventual short essays from him on environmental lit, new books, and more. Rural Hours is a young venture, but we aspire to be among the leaders in the field of rare and interesting eco-writing. We believe, emphatically, that environmental literature and its preservation is in the service of the preservation of the world. In addition to helping serious collectors and institutions build their libraries and archives, our goal is to curate a substantial "house collection" of environmental writing for public display on this site and beyond, one that shows the evolution of the genre(s). That will be a perennial work in progress. We hope to draw a deep, explorable map of environmental writing that traces the lineage and connections between authors and artists determined to render and protect the earth, locally and globally. At the same time, we would like to challenge the usual contours of the "environmental literature" canon and promote a more diverse and inclusive array of voices; in that way, our longterm goal is to excavate the past and curate toward the future. Rural Hours also hopes to eventually have an open shop and gallery space, but for now we are only online. You've come to the right the place. Enjoy poking around, and then head out for a walk.

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