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Landmarks

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Landmarks

By: Robert Macfarlane
Narrated by: Roy McMillan
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About this listen

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Landmarks by Robert Macfarlane, read by Roy McMillan

SHORTLISTED FOR THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE

From the bestselling author of UNDERLAND, THE OLD WAYS and THE LOST WORDS

'Few books give such a sense of enchantment; it is a book to give to many, and to return to repeatedly' Independent

'Enormously pleasurable, deeply moving. A bid to save our rich hoard of landscape language, and a blow struck for the power of a deep creative relationship to place' Financial Times

'A book that ought to be read by policymakers, educators, armchair environmentalists and active conservationists the world over' Guardian

'Gorgeous, thoughtful and lyrical' Independent on Sunday

'Feels as if [it] somehow grew out of the land itself. A delight' Sunday Times

Discover Robert Macfarlane's joyous meditation on words, landscape and the relationship between the two.


Words are grained into our landscapes, and landscapes are grained into our words. Landmarks is about the power of language to shape our sense of place. It is a field guide to the literature of nature, and a glossary containing thousands of remarkable words used in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales to describe land, nature and weather.

Travelling from Cumbria to the Cairngorms, and exploring the landscapes of Roger Deakin, J. A. Baker, Nan Shepherd and others, Robert Macfarlane shows that language, well used, is a keen way of knowing landscape, and a vital means of coming to love it.

Earth Sciences Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science Travel Writing & Commentary England

Critic Reviews

A magnificent meditation on walking and writing. An astonishingly haunted book (Adam Nicolson (on The Old Ways))
The Old Ways sets the imagination tingling . . . it is like reading a prose Odyssey sprinkled with imagist poems (John Carey (on The Old Ways))
A wonderful book - literally a book full of wonders. He has a poet's eye and a prose style that will make many a novelist burn with envy (John Banville (on The Old Ways))
All stars
Most relevant
This book was a portal of imagination and wonder into nature. It’s like the author was able to compile a still life of words that are both beautiful and haunting - as sadly our connection to nature fades. Beautifully written and superbly narrated, I deeply loved this book. I will be looking for more of Macfarlane’s work to quicken the heart and fire the spirit.

Didn’t want it to end

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I recommend this for anyone who shares a love of land, language and literature. Robert Macfarlane's writing expertly fascinates and informs. The discussion is artfully presented. Roy McMillan's performance fits well and it is an incredibly enjoyable piece of non-fiction. It will take you on a journey into landscape and leaves you reconsidering the conventional ways you usually see and discuss the 'natural' world.

Fantastic and Brilliantly Presented

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I love this book. I brought it in hardback too. I dip into it every now and then. or listen to it often. It is always satisfies. A quiet but impassioned thrill. The narration simply could not be more perfect either. This is the pinnacle of audio book as MacFarlane is to literary natural history writing. Speaks to the soul.

The Very Definition of a Forever Book!

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I’m not sure if I fell more in love with landscape or with his powers of description. Dazzling prose. Wonderful list of nature writers reviewed.

Mind blowing

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When I first downloaded this I was dismayed that the glossary was included. The idea of line upon line of what amounted to an index was daunting. And yet...though it is a list, read out, it has the romance and mystery of a liturgy, but of the poetry of language, reminiscent of the mesmerizing comfort of the shipping news on the BBC. I am in love with the romance of these words, linked with extraordinary landscapes.

Mesmerizing

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