The Gifts of Reading

From the acclaimed author of The Old Ways and Landmarks -- an essay on the joy of reading, for anyone who has ever loved a book Every book is a kind of gift to its reader, and the act of giving books is charged with a special emotional resonance. It is a meeting of three minds (the giver, the author, the recipient), an exchange of intellectual and psychological currency, that leaves each participant enriched. Here Robert Macfarlane recounts the story of a book he was given as a young man, and how he managed eventually to return the favour, though never repay the debt. From one of the most lyrical writers of our time comes a perfectly formed gem, a lyrical celebration of the transcendent power and humanity of the given book.

• Landmarks (Landscapes)
• The Wild Places (Landscapes)
• Underland: A Deep Time Journey
• The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot (Landscapes)
• The Living Mountain: A Celebration of the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland (Canons)
• The Lost Words
• Mountains of the Mind: Adventures in Reaching the Summit
• A Time of Gifts: On Foot to Constantinople: From the Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube (New York Review Books Classics)
• The Lost Words
• A Primer for Forgetting: Getting Past the Past