This is a fantastic collection of essays, memiors, stories and diaries of the most renowned travel / nature / landscape writers I know (Raban, MacFarlane, Marsden, Deakin etc.) As varied as they all are, it's always about man within or in relation to nature, about nature in relation to civilisation. As could be expected, very fine pieces that bring out nature's strengths / importance even more as it isn't examined isolated but in context.

Read Anthony Doerr's 'Butterflies on a wheel', a three pager, at a bus stop - Osney Island to be precise - and became so engrossed I nearly missed the bus - a 400 to be precise. 'ButterflIes: a long shimmering curtain' in Wyoming.

It's reassuring to know that in a culture permeated with mediocrity and mindless trash, there are still people creating serious and thoughtful work and the means still exist of transmitting this work to its audience. Sadly though, having worked my way through this volume there is nothing which sticks out positively in the memory. The strongest reaction was created by Kathleen Jamie's piece recounting visits to a pathology lab in order to draw attention to the fact that "nature" is not just fields, trees and fluffy lambs but also encompasses the germs, viruses and organisms which ultimately bring out our individual demise. Unfortunately, being one of those squeamish types who cannot even watch medical dramas on TV, I couldn't even bring myself to read that piece in its entirety. Other essays that I did complete have failed to leave their mark. ( )