Nature’s Ghosts

The World We Lost and How to Bring it Back

Sophie Yeo

$49.99

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

HarperNorth
04 September 2024

Landscape archaeology; Environmental archaeology; Ecological science, the Biosphere; The environment; Applied ecology; Biodiversity; Conservation of wildlife & habitats

What history can teach us about how to avoid ecological catastrophe ‘Sophie writes fantastically, chronicling the most important issues facing nature conservationists today.’ Chris Packham

For thousands of years, humans have been the architects of the natural world. Our activities have permanently altered the environment – for good and for bad.

In Nature’s Ghosts, award-winning journalist Sophie Yeo examines how the planet would have looked before humans scrubbed away its diversity: from landscapes carved out by megafauna to the primeval forests that emerged following the last Ice Age, and from the eagle-haunted skies of the Dark Ages to the flower-decked farms of more recent centuries.

Uncovering the stories of the people who have helped to shape the landscape, she seeks out their footprints even where it seems there are none to be found. And she explores the timeworn knowledge that can help to fix our broken relationship with the earth.

Along the way, Sophie encounters the environmental detectives – archaeological, cultural and ecological – reconstructing, in stunning detail, the landscapes we have lost.

Today, the natural world is more vulnerable than ever; the footprints of humanity heavier than they have ever been. But, as this urgent book argues, from the ghosts of the past, we may learn how to build a more wild and ancient future.

By: Sophie Yeo
Imprint: HarperNorth
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 240mm, Width: 159mm, Spine: 23mm
Weight: 540g
ISBN: 9780008474126
ISBN 10: 0008474125
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 04 September 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Sophie Yeo is a writer and journalist based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. She has written about nature and climate change for publications including the Washington Post, the Guardian and BBC Future. She is also the founder and editor of Inkcap Journal, a publication focusing on conservation in Britain, which won the Press Gazette Newsletter of the Year award in 2022.

Reviews for Nature’s Ghosts: The World We Lost and How to Bring it Back

‘Sophie writes fantastically, chronicling the most important issues facing nature conservationists today.’ Chris Packham ‘Essential, intelligent reading. Sophie is one of the brightest, best-informed and balanced contributors to big debates over climate change, biodiversity loss and the future of nature.’ Patrick Barkham ‘Sophie's writing blends the crisp prose of investigative journalism with the poetry born of her obvious passion for the natural world.’ Guy Shrubsole ‘Indispensable. Sophie's crystal clear writing style and ability to describe often complex issues with such precision, balance and humour is extraordinary.’ Lee Schofield 'Yeo proves herself to be a diligent and intuitive landscape detective.' Jon Gower