Showing titles in Outdoors & Nature

With heart-pounding descriptions of avalanches and treacherous ascents, Barry Blanchard chronicles his transformation from a poor Native American/white kid from the wrong side of the tracks to one of the most respected alpinists in the world. At thirteen, he learned to rappel when he joined the...

Kangchenjunga is the third highest mountain in the world and a notoriously difficult and dangerous mountain to climb. First climbed from the west in 1955 by a British team comprising Joe Brown, George Band, Tony Streather and Norman Hardie, it waited over 20 years for a second ascent. The third ascent, from the north, followed in 1979 by a four-man team including the visionary British alpinist Doug Scott.

'The most magical book about the African bush since Born Free' – Daily Mail 'A beautiful love story between humans and the majestic elephants' – Jo Malone, Daily Express Françoise Malby-Anthony never expected to find herself responsible for a herd of elephants with a troubled past. A chic...

An intimate account of Alex Honnold's unprecedented, almost unimaginable feat: a 3,000-foot vertical climb up El Capitan in Yosemite, without a rope. One slip, one false move, one missed toehold and you're dead. On June 3rd 2017 veteran adventure journalist and professional climber Mark Synnott was in Yosemite to witness something that only a handful of people knew was about to occur: the most famous climber in the world, Alex Honnold, was going to attempt to summit one of the world's most challenging ascents, a route called Freerider on the notorious rock formation El Capitan.

On a beautiful summer afternoon in 1998, Dan Stephens, a 22-year-old canoeist, was leading a trip deep into Ontario's Quetico Provincial Park. He stepped into a gap among cedar trees to look for the next portage - and did not return. More than four hours later, Dan awakened from a fall with a lump on his head and stumbled deeper into the woods, confused. Three years later, Jason Rasmussen, a third-year medical student who loved the forest's solitude, walked alone into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness on a crisp fall day.

Brought to you by Penguin. When Helen Molesworth joined the gem and jewellery industry she began her own love affair with one of humanity's oldest and richest fascinations. For as long as people have known about gemstones they have treasured them. Born of violent geological events and the chance...

How well do you know the ground beneath your feet? A primer for every Earth resident, by Harvard’s acclaimed geologist. “A sublime chronicle of our planet." –Booklist, STARRED review Odds are, where you’re standing was once cooking under a roiling sea of lava, crushed by a towering sheet...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK In Susan Orlean's mesmerizing true story of beauty and obsession is John Laroche, a renegade plant dealer and sharply handsome guy, in spite of the fact that he is missing his front teeth and has the posture of al dente spaghetti. In...

Brought to you by Penguin. Shortlisted for the Best Nonfiction Audiobook at the New York Festival Radio Awards 2020. A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 2019 WINNER OF THE STANFORD DOLMAN TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2020 'You'd be crazy not to read this book' The Sunday...

Brought to you by Penguin. "I adore the fox for its magnificence; I hate the fox for killing my chickens. To love and loathe the fox is a British condition." The fox is our apex predator, our most beautiful and clever killer. We have witnessed its wild touch, watched it slink by bins at night...

Over 60 years after Virginia Woolf drowned in the River Ouse, Olivia Laing set out one midsummer morning to walk its banks, from source to sea. Along the way, she explores the roles that rivers play in human lives, tracing their intricate flow through literature, mythology, and folklore. Lyrical and stirring, To the River is a passionate investigation into how history resides in a landscape - and how ghosts never quite leave the places they love.

'An immersive and lyrically personal journey through deep-time and modern tides' RAYNOR WINN 'Wondrous, elegant and haunting, Lost to the Sea is a fascinating alternative history of the fractured, flooded and eroded edges of Britain and Ireland' PHILIP HOARE 'Beautiful . . . Woollett paints...

In this informed, incisive, and passionate commentary on the state of nature and conservation, Mark Avery reflects on our relationship with the wildlife around us. From the cats that pass through his garden to the chronic decline of farmland wildlife, from the Pasqueflowers he visits every spring to the proportion of national income devoted to saving nature–everything is connected, and everything is considered.

A few months of married bliss, a lovers' nest in Darrowby and the wonders of home cooking are rudely interrupted for James Herriot by the Second World War. James Herriot's fifth volume of memoirs relocates him to a training camp somewhere in England. And in between square pounding and digging for victory, he dreams of the people and livestock he left behind him.

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'Steve Brusatte has a rare gift for bringing the distant past vividly and fascinatingly to life' - Bill Bryson'Soaringly brilliant' – Alice Roberts A New Scientist and Times most anticipated book of 2026 Billions of birds share the planet with us. With...

Helen Skelton is no stranger to doing hard things, from kayaking the entire length of the Amazon to competing in a boxing match for Sports Relief. Her ability to dig deep and find the inner strength and to carry on no matter the challenge - physical, mental, or emotional - is nothing short of remarkable. Helen grew up on a farm in Cumbria and credits her deep connection with nature and family for grounding her throughout the experiences in her life. In My Stride explores the lessons Helen has learned through life and adventure.

Mary Oliver has published twenty-one volumes of poetry and six books of prose in the span of five decades, but she rarely performs her poetry in live readings. With At Blackwater Pond, Mary Oliver gives her audience what they've longed to hear: the poet's voice reading her own work. In this...

From the bestselling author Simon Winchester, a human history of land around the world: who mapped it, owned it, stole it, cared for it, fought for it and gave it back. In 1889, thousands of hopeful people raced southward from the Kansas state line and westward from the Arkansas boundary to...

A breathtaking mix of memoir, nature writing and history: this is Kerri ní Dochartaigh's story of a wild Ireland, an invisible border, an old conflict and the healing power of the natural world. Kerri ní Dochartaigh was born in Derry, on the border of the North and South of Ireland, at the very height of the Troubles. She was brought up on a council estate on the wrong side of town. But for her family, and many others, there was no right side

The four elements are the pillars that uphold the manifest world and anchor spirit to matter. They are associated with a wide range of spiritual entities, from small elementals to divine beings. This book explores the consciousness of the elements, which provides a system of understanding that supports most of the magic of the West and paganism. The use of the elements in a wide range of systems and practices will be examined. Much has been written about the four elements already; this book offers new teachings for newcomers and long-time practitioners alike.