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Is a River Alive?
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Is a River Alive? Hardback - 2025

by Robert MacFarlane

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This seller has earned a 4.28 of 5 Stars rating from internet customers.
4.28 / 5 (2447 total reviews)

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This seller has earned a 4.28 of 5 Stars rating from internet customers.
4.28 / 5 (2447 total reviews)

Readers largely praised Robert Macfarlane’s new book for its luminous, image-rich prose and immersive storytelling as he follows rivers in Ecuador, India, and Canada. Many found it moving, hopeful yet heartbreaking, and galvanizing in its advocacy for the rights of nature, with standout scenes and memorable guides along the way. A substantial minority, however, faulted the book for romanticism and thin analysis: the legal and economic arguments around river personhood felt sketchy, the title question underexplored, the tone occasionally preachy or self-indulgent, and the narrative light on tension. Some also noted a perceived hypocrisy in globe-trotting to critique extractive systems and a lack of balance on hydropower and development. Overall, it’s widely admired for language and wonder, but divisive on rigor and policy depth.

Readers say this book is:
lyricalimmersiveinspiringthought-provokingelegiacpreachyoverwroughtunevenlight on analysistravelogue-heavy

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From the publisher

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.

Details

  • Title Is a River Alive?
  • Author Robert MacFarlane
  • Binding Hardback
  • Pages 384
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher W. W. Norton & Company
  • Publication date 2025-05-20
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Bibliography, Illustrated, Index, Maps
  • ISBN 9780393242133 / 0393242137
  • Weight 1.4 lbs (0.64 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.1 x 6 x 1.3 in (23.11 x 15.24 x 3.30 cm)
  • Themes
    • Topical: Ecology
  • Category Nature
  • Library of Congress subjects Natural history, Nature conservation
  • Dewey Decimal Code 333.916

Media reviews

Citations

  • Booklist, 05/01/2025, Page 16
  • Kirkus Reviews, 04/01/2025, Page 0
  • Library Journal, 03/28/2025, Page 1
  • Publishers Weekly, 03/17/2025, Page 0
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Is a River Alive?
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Is a River Alive?

by Macfarlane, Robert

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IS A RIVER ALIVE
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IS A RIVER ALIVE

by MACFARLANE,ROBERT

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Is a River Alive? [Hardcover] Macfarlane, Robert
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Is a River Alive? (Hardcover)
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2026-06-09. Hardcover. New. From the best-selling author of Underland and ""the great nature writer…of this generation"" (Wall Street Journal), a revelatory book that transforms how we imagine rivers—and life itself.""As beautiful as the rivers and the hope he’s describing."" —Valorie Castellanos Clark, Los Angeles TimesA New York Times BestsellerWinner of the 2026 Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing AwardWinner of the 2026 Nautilus Book AwardShortlisted for the Wainwright PrizeSpecial Jury Citation for the Banff Mountain Books PrizeNamed a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker, Economist, Guardian, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Kirkus Reviews, and Publishers Weekly • A Time Must-Read Book • One of NPR’s ""Books We Love"" • A Washington Post Notable Work of Nonfiction
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