The English Love Affair with Nature, by Ian Alexander
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The English Love Affair with Nature, by Ian Alexander
Free PDF Ebook Online The English Love Affair with Nature, by Ian Alexander
We English, supposedly cold and unemotional, are helplessly in love with nature. We fell in love two hundred years ago and, since then, have been on a wild roller-coaster ride through escapism, romanticism, art, animal cruelty, conservation, birdwatching, the back-to-nature movement and much more. Today we live with pets, gardening, wildlife documentaries and smartphone apps. The English Love Affair with Nature tells the story of this extraordinarily long, tangled and passionate romance, how we fell in love, and why we are still mad about nature.
The English Love Affair with Nature, by Ian Alexander- Amazon Sales Rank: #5700606 in Books
- Published on: 2015-03-14
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.00" h x .73" w x 6.00" l, .95 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 320 pages
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A love affair, lovingly told By Miss La In his acknowledgements, Ian Alexander recognizes the contributions of the staff and fellow volunteers at the London Wildlife Trust, for “setting off trains of thought which led in many productive directions,” and indeed, this book, as handsome in form as it is in content, does explore many delightful and unexpected trails. I found myself frequently pleased, surprised, and amazed at the coverage of all things English Natural.Based on the title, you might pick up this book thinking that it would make a nice gift to that aunt of yours who loves her cat and always has a vase of flowers in the house. It’s much more than that. Mr. Alexander can wax poetic when he wants to, and does, but only as if adding condiments to an already gracefully substantial meal. Fully the first half of the book is an intelligent discourse on the beginnings of a sensitivity to the natural world, reaching back to the most obscure nooks in literature, political and social history, and science, all the while weaving the astounding number of hints and clues into strands that make up the fabric of this love affair with Nature. I shudder to think of the amount of material he had to work with, so I all the more admire that he never lost his way.Alexander keeps nicely to his theme of the love affair throughout, starting with the organization of the material. Note that in only four main sections of this 242-page opus, each section lays the lover theme – Smitten, Virgin, In Love, and Taking Stock. You will have to read the book for yourself to see if the name of the final section fits within the theme.As with many human endeavors, the artist often learns far more than his audience ever will, and so it proved for Mr. Alexander, an Englishman. In his preface, he reveals that one of the things he discovered along the way was that “quite a few things about the English suddenly made sense for the first time.” Alexander weaves his delight at his discoveries throughout the work, which brings delight to the reader as well. Naturally, exploring causes of something as nebulous as a people’s supposed love affair with Nature, even when broadly admitted and acknowledged, will be a dodgy thing, subject to one’s own world view as well as skill, inclination, and the influences of friends and colleagues, not to mention one’s purpose and hopes for the work.Thus, in keeping with modern sensibilities, Mr. Alexander is most careful to protect the sensibilities of the atheist, taking pains to not allow the God-centered view of the world found in the medieval world and up through to our own time to deter him or the reader from discovering the true sources of the love affair, which for Mr. Alexander, appear to have nothing to do with a Divine Hand. I suspect that a talented editor would have something to say about the emphasis placed on building the case for an atheistic view in a work on love and the natural world, while undermining the world of faith at the same time, for surely such an editor would want to remind the writer that many of his readers are sure to see the world through their faith, as indeed I do. I confess, it was heavy going from time to time, and the shots fired over the bow sometimes hit squarely. I had to put the book aside several times.However, that’s just me! Aside from this, the book opened my eyes to many things English (or is it British? – the author hints at this distinction, but alas for us Colonists across the pond, does not explain) such as, the many nature writers among the clergy (I bought some of the books he references), the incredible quasi-scientific work done among the nobility (who had time, money, and opportunity on their hands), the amazing (and amazingly ignored) contributions of women, the extreme collections that were diligently built up only to be hopelessly dispursed among the inheritors of the estate, the many artists of sundry media who passionately immersed themselves into the beauty and wonder of the world around them, and the list goes on.Truly, the whole work is itself a testament to one man’s love affair with Nature, for Mr. Alexander, like a stork, brought more and more sticks to the nest, and just when one wonders if it’s going to topple from its own weight, weaves them all together into a most satisfying whole. The language throughout is even and flowing, well tempered, and suitable for an educated mind and an epicurean palette. A smart publisher should pick this up, for it already far exceeds the quality of most of the self-published works I have encountered. I highly recommend this book for anyone closely acquainted in any way with the Natural world and nurtures their own sense of wonder and fascination with Nature, even to the point of love.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Perfect for the amateur naturalist or anyone who likes being outside in the fresh air By Amazon Customer This is a really surprising and quite wonderful book for anyone who is curious about the peculiarly British (Alexander argues specifically English) affinity for our countryside, and for the idea and reality of nature. Despite its self-imposed narrow geographical scope, the book covers a vast range. Despite what might be supposed from its title, the focus isn’t really on romanticism and the sublime, although romanticism is in there. The book is also about hobbies, popular culture and about ideas. In a bravura early section, for example, Alexander shows how, when the church was struggling with upstart enlightenment ideas, its own clergy were amongst the most meticulous observers of nature. Their observations and insights helped create taxonomies of plants and animals, buttressing the ideas that would turn the understanding of nature on its head, shaking the church to its core and (presumably) leading to no small degree of professional and spiritual angst. The book essentially plots the last 250-odd years, developing Alexander’s thesis that our love for nature (or even just fascination with the output of the BBC natural history unit) has developed over a long time, and from a multitude of interlinked scientific, artistic and cultural strands. But it is particularly strong on evoking the late 18th and early 19th centuries; an age when amateurs could still make contributions in a serious way to what would be come recognized as serious science.My favourite parts of the book are the vignettes of Alexander’s own encounters with nature. These are scattered throughout the book and add a light touch that nicely balances Alexander’s carefully constructed arguments and historical plotting (all carefully indexed and with an extensive bibliography). They reminding us what it is to be outside in the woods or on the edges of the Cairngorms (see, they’re not in England) and that we can experience nature with our own senses, just as those enlightenment clergy did.
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