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Landmarks

by Macfarlane, Robert, 1976-

Format: Print Book 2016
Availability: Available at 4 Libraries 4 of 5 copies

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CLP - Main Library Mezzanine - Non-fiction DA632.M3245 2016x
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Mt. Lebanon Public Library Non-Fiction 508 Mac
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Northland Public Library Nonfiction 914.1 M16
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Pleasant Hills Public Library Nonfiction 914.104 M14
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Summary
Words are grained into our landscapes, and landscapes are grained into our words. Landmarks is about the power of language to shape our sense of place. It is a field guide to the literature of nature, and a glossary containing thousands of remarkable words used in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales to describe land, nature and weather.

Travelling from Cumbria to the Cairngorms, and exploring the landscapes of Roger Deakin, J. A. Baker, Nan Shepherd and others, Robert Macfarlane shows that language, well used, is a keen way of knowing landscape, and a vital means of coming to love it.
Published Reviews
Publisher's Weekly Review: "Macfarlane's (The Old Ways) beautifully written blend of nature writing and lexicon connects the work of his favorite writers to the British Isles' natural settings and the distinctive, lyrical vocabulary used to describe them. Each chapter is devoted to a different landform (such as flatlands, coastlands, and woodlands) and followed by a glossary of relevant terminology. The featured authors include "word-hoarder" Nan Shepherd, whose book The Living Mountain has its own lengthy glossary of colorful Scots words, such as "roarie-bummlers" (fast-moving storm clouds); and "water-man" Roger Deakin, whose book Waterlog, about his experiences swimming around the United Kingdom, unearthed archaic words such as dook (a swim in open water) and tarn (an upland pool or small lake.) The sources of the words in the glossaries are as diverse as the British landscape: works by famous wordsmiths such as Gerard Manley Hopkins and John Clare, as well as the various cultures, regions, and languages of Great Britain. Macfarlane bemoans the gradual disappearance of these colorful descriptors from modern usage, resulting in a "blandscape" of general terms. It would be fabulous if his wish in writing this exceptional compilation-for these words to "re-wild" contemporary speech-comes true. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved."
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Additional Information
Subjects Macfarlane, Robert, -- 1976- -- Travel.
Macfarlane, Robert, -- 1976- -- Books and reading.
Geography in literature.
English language -- Variation.
British Isles -- Description and travel.
Publisher [London], UK :Penguin Books,2016
Language English
Notes Reprint. Originally published: [London] : Hamish Hamilton, 2015. With an additional glossary.
Description x, 434 pages : illustrations ; 20 cm
Bibliography Notes Includes bibliographical references (pages 413-417) and index.
ISBN 9780241967874
0241967872
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