Mark Avery's Book Review: Wild Winter
By John D Burns
- Wild Winter
- ISBN: 9781839810053, available now
- Buy from WildSounds & Books. 10% of each sale though RBA and WildSounds will be donated to the World Land Trust
This is the second of John D. Burns’s books I have reviewed here, but whereas Sky Dance was fictional (although it read pretty true to life to me) this is a story of walks by the author, sometimes with friends, in the mountains of Scotland, in winter. I’m going to read his other two books now – I like his style.
There is a lot of nature in this book from a Hen Harrier near the beginning to Mountain Hares, Beavers, eagles, rutting Red Deer and more. I think this book would appeal to many interested in wildlife, the debates about grouse shooting and land reform, landscape and walking. And, in fact, anyone who wants an easy but engaging read, as one grows fond of the author as one reads his self-deprecating stories and his conversations with friends and strangers. No offence to the author, but the star of this book was his friend Martin. I liked Martin a lot, and after a recent conversation with someone near and dear to me about what some might call my bolshy behaviour when it comes to ‘the rules’ I was able to read out Martin’s thoughts and actions as a form of ‘look it’s not just me’-ism.
But aside from the admirable Martin, this book introduces us to other characters and places such as northern Sutherland (a couple of times), the Monadhliaths, the Cairngorms and Ardnamurchan.
The first few pages are really gripping, not because of the suspense but because they are so beautifully written and include wise words on experiencing dawns. There are many wise words in here, and some funny ones, and some great descriptions of places and the feel of walking through those places. But there is a lot of nature and a little bit of the politics of nature conservation in here too.
A thoroughly engaging book with a simple but attractive cover (8/10 for that).
Mark Avery - markavery.info
May 2021
This book review was first published on Mark Avery's blog and is reproduced here with permission
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