Is a River Alive?

By Robert Macfarlane

Book Overview

Hailed in the New York Times as "a naturalist who can unfurl a sentence with the breathless ease of a master angler," Robert Macfarlane brings his glittering style to a profound work of travel writing, reportage, and natural history. Is a River Alive? is a joyful, mind-expanding exploration of an ancient, urgent idea: that rivers are living beings who should be recognized as such in imagination and law.

Macfarlane takes readers on three unforgettable journeys teeming with extraordinary people, stories, and places: to the miraculous cloud-forests and mountain streams of Ecuador, to the wounded creeks and lagoons of India, and to the spectacular wild rivers of Canada--imperiled respectively by mining, pollution, and dams. Braiding these journeys is the life story of the fragile chalk stream a mile from Macfarlane's house, a stream who flows through his own years and days.

Powered by dazzling prose and lit throughout by other minds and voices, Is a River Alive? will open hearts, challenge perspectives, and remind us that our fate flows with that of rivers--and always has.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393242137
• ISBN13: 9780393242133
• Release Date: May 2025
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Expressive Ecological Writing

Robert Macfarlane’s storytelling and inquisitiveness shines through again in Is a River Alive?. One of the aspects of his writing that is especially endearing is his natural way of moving through these different landscapes with other people. He has a gift for highlighting for the reader the wisdom, passion, and care that his fellow companions show for the sacred places that are highlighted in the book. This is a must-read for anyone interested in contemporary ecological writing.

Immerse yourself in this book of rivers

Diving into Macfarlane's nonfiction book is life changing. Is A River Alive? is not so much a question as a myriad of potential answers. The questions come from the reader (rather than the author) to all of the philosophical, ecological, and scientific writings of this amazing author.