The Lost Words
Written by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris
Narrated by Edith Bowman, Guy Garvey, Benjamin Zephaniah and Cerys Matthews
4.5/5
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Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
FINALIST, WAINWRIGHT PRIZE
In 2007, when a new edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary — widely used in schools around the world — was published, a sharp-eyed reader soon noticed that around forty common words concerning nature had been dropped. Apparently they were no longer being used enough by children to merit their place in the dictionary. The list of these “lost words” included acorn, adder, bluebell, dandelion, fern, heron, kingfisher, newt, otter, and willow. Among the words taking their place were attachment, blog, broadband, bullet-point, cut-and-paste, and voice-mail. The news of these substitutions — the outdoor and natural being displaced by the indoor and virtual — became seen by many as a powerful sign of the growing gulf between childhood and the natural world.
Ten years later, Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris set out to make a “spell book” that will conjure back twenty of these lost words, and the beings they name, from acorn to wren. By the magic of word and paint, they sought to summon these words again into the voices, stories, and dreams of children and adults alike, and to celebrate the wonder and importance of everyday nature. The Lost Words is that book — a work that has already cast its extraordinary spell on hundreds of thousands of people and begun a grass-roots movement to re-wild childhood across Britain, Europe, and North America.
Robert Macfarlane
Robert Macfarlane won the Guardian First Book Award, the Somerset Maugham Award, and The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award for his first book, Mountains of the Mind (2003). His second, The Wild Places (2007), was similarly celebrated, winning three prizes and being shortlisted for six more. Both books were adapted for television by the BBC. He is a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
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Reviews for The Lost Words
43 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great audiobook. Thanks for thinking of nature and the words needed in our vocabulary. I recommend this poetry to anyone. You can relate to the sounds, rhymes, words, and beings. Words transcend into images, leading to the beauty of nature.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I listened to it and followed with the printed book. It was a lovely experience.