- Published: 07/03/2013
- ISBN: 9781847087577
- Granta Books
- 368 pages
Field Notes From a Hidden City
Esther Woolfson
Against the background of austere and beautiful Aberdeen, Woolfson observes the seasons, the streets and the quiet places of her city over the course of a year. She considers the geographic, atmospheric and environmental elements which bring diverse life forms together in close proximity, and in absorbing prose writes of the animals among us: the birds, the rats and squirrels, the spiders and the insects. Her close examination of the natural world leads her to question our prevailing attitudes to urban and non-urban wildlife, and to look again at the values we place on the lives of individual species.
£9.99
This is a beautiful book, a meditation and an investigation, a contemplation of our uncaring attitude to wild animals. Part autobiography, it is shot through with the solitude and wisdom of older age, as Woolfson pursues her scientific studies alone
Mike Wade, The Times
Woolfson turns her beady eye to the muddled and fascinating ecology of her hometown of Aberdeen... It can only be hoped that books like this play a part in making us both notice and value the lovely creatures we stand to lose, before the wild portions of our cities have been entirely swept and tidied and paved out of existence
Olivia Laing, Observer
An illuminating, humane and informative companion in the great tradition of the finest nature writing
Catherine Lockerbie, Scotland on Sunday
From the Same Author
Esther Woolfson on Granta.com
Essays & Memoir
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Granta 151
Between Light and Storm
Esther Woolfson
‘We’ve always been entwined in life and in death with other creatures, although often too much time has elapsed to be able to interpret with any certainty what some of these symbols and artefacts mean.’
Essays & Memoir
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Granta 142
Magpie
Esther Woolfson
‘His life was one of calculation and endeavour, of learning and watching, remembering and trying.’
