01-05-2025
What people should learn from rivers
There is an adage among journalists, known as Betteridge's law, which holds that 'Any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word 'No'.' It is gloriously broken by Robert Macfarlane's new book, 'Is a River Alive?' Yes, the book answers. Yes it is: here are stories and observations and apprehensions that show how the lives of rivers and people interact with each other. Yes, for here that life is evoked in prose so forceful, thoughtful and beautiful that it can only be speaking the truth.
