AuthorRobert Macfarlane
NarratorThe Author
Duration10h 41m
CategoriesAdult Non-Fiction, Science and Nature
PublisherPenguin Books Ltd
VersionUnabridged
Brought to you by Penguin.
From celebrated writer Robert Macfarlane comes this brilliant, perspective-shifting new book – which answers a resounding yes to the question of its title.
At its heart is a single, transformative idea: that rivers are not mere matter for human use, but living beings – who should be recognized as such in both imagination and law. Is a River Alive? takes the reader on an exhilarating exploration of the past, present and futures of this ancient, urgent concept.
The book flows first to northern Ecuador, where a miraculous cloud-forest and its rivers are threatened by goldmining.
Then, to the wounded rivers, creeks and lagoons of southern India, where a desperate battle to save the lives of these waterbodies is under way.
And finally, to north-eastern Quebec, where a spectacular wild river – the Mutehekau or Magpie – is being defended from death by damming in a river-rights campaign.
At once Macfarlane's most personal and most political book to date, Is a River Alive? will open hearts, spark debates and lead us to the revelation that our fate flows with that of rivers – and always has.
© Robert Macfarlane 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025
No One Is Too Small To Make A Difference
Author: Greta Thunberg
Author Greta Thunberg
Narrator The Author
Duration 1h 15m
'Everything needs to change. And it has to start today' In August 2018 a fifteen-year-old Swedish girl, Greta Thunberg, decided not to go to school one day. Her actions ended up sparking a global movement for action against the climate crisis, inspiring millions of pupils to go on strike for our planet, forcing governments to listen, and earning he...
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Author: Robin Wall Kimmerer
Author Robin Wall Kimmerer
Narrator The Author
Duration 16h 44m
As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science. As a Potawatomi woman, she learned from elders, family, and history that the Potawatomi, as well as a majority of other cultures indigenous to this land, consider plants and animals to be our oldes...
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Author: Siddhartha Mukherjee
Author Siddhartha Mukherjee
Narrator Dennis Boutsikaris
Duration 19h 31m
*Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2016* The Gene is the story of one of the most powerful and dangerous ideas in our history, from bestselling, prize-winning author Siddhartha Mukherjee. Spanning the globe and several centuries, The Gene is the story of the quest to decipher the master-code that makes and defines humans, th...
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Author: Henry Marsh
Author Henry Marsh
Narrator Henry Marsh
Duration 7h 47m
Henry Marsh has spent a lifetime operating on the surgical front line. Prompted by his retirement from his full-time job in the NHS, and through his continuing work in Nepal and Ukraine, Henry has been forced to reflect more deeply about what 40 years spent handling the human brain has taught him. Moving between encounters with patients in his Lond...
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Author: Monty Don
Author Monty Don
Narrator Monty Don
Duration 7h 38m
Written as he talks, this is Monty Don right beside you in the garden, challenging norms and sharing advice. Discover Monty's thoughts and garden ideas around nature, seasons, color, design, pests, flowering shrubs, containers, and much more. Read about the month-by month jobs he does in his own garden that he hopes are relevant to you.
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Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Author Malcolm Gladwell
Narrator Malcolm Gladwell
Duration 8h 47m
The highly anticipated new book from Malcolm Gladwell, host of Revisionist History and No.1 international bestselling author of The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw and David and Goliath. The routine traffic stop that ends in tragedy. The spy who spends years undetected at the highest levels of the Pentagon. The false conviction of...
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Author: Annaka Harris
Author Annaka Harris
Narrator Annaka Harris
Duration 2h 22m
As concise and enlightening as Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, this mind-expanding dive into the mystery of consciousness is an illuminating meditation on the self, free will, and felt experience. What is consciousness? How does it arise? And why does it exist? We take our experience of being in the world for...
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Author: David George Haskell
Author David George Haskell
Narrator The Author, Cassandra Campbell
Duration 10h 26m
David Haskell's award-winning The Forest Unseen won acclaim for eloquent writing and deep engagement with the natural world. Now, Haskell brings his powers of observation to the biological networks that surround all species, including humans. Haskell repeatedly visits a dozen trees around the world, exploring the trees' connections with webs of fun...
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Author: Jeanette Winterson, Robert Macfarlane, Nan Shepherd
Author Jeanette Winterson, Robert Macfarlane, Nan Shepherd
Narrator The Authors, Tilda Swinton
Duration 4h 54m
In this masterpiece of nature writing, beautifully narrated by Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton, Nan Shepherd describes her journeys into the Cairngorm mountains of Scotland. There she encounters a world that can be breathtakingly beautiful at times and shockingly harsh at others. Her intense, poetic prose explores and records the rocks, rivers,...
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Author: Douglas W. Tallamy
Author Douglas W. Tallamy
Narrator Jonathan Todd Ross
Duration 6h 40m
As development and subsequent habitat destruction accelerate, there are increasing pressures on wildlife populations. But there is an important and simple step toward reversing this alarming trend: Everyone with access to a patch of earth can make a significant contribution toward sustaining biodiversity. There is an unbreakable link between native...
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