A book I very nearly gave up on, the start is so much the opposite of me with its climbing, walking at night over moorland, sleeping out in the middle of the natural world.

I am glad I did not give up, at times its poetic, at times its incredibly informative - Macfarlane interweaves some superb stories into the narrative framework - that of the potato famine being the most chilling.

An excellent reminder of what we are losing in our world.