Gifts of Reading

Robert Macfarlane

Formats & Editions

Flexible plastic / vinyl cover

Buy from..

About the book

From the bestselling author of UNDERLAND, THE OLD WAYS and THE LOST WORDS - 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.

About the Author

Robert Macfarlane

Robert Macfarlane is the bestselling author of an award-winning trilogy of books about landscape and the human heart: Mountains of the Mind, The Wild Places, and The Old Ways. He is also the author of Landmarks and Holloway. His work has been translated into a dozen languages and is published in more than 20 countries, and his books have been widely adapted for TV, film, and radio by the BBC, among others. Macfarlane has contributed to Harper’s Magazine, Granta, The Observer (London), the Times Literary Supplement (London), and the London Review of Books. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2012, and is currently a Fellow in English of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.