Review
'These jottings establish the man as one of the greatest recorders of English agricultural life.' --Daily Mail
Review
'A little classic.'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
60 of 60 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Collis provides a poignant account of his years working on English farms during WW2. This book contains a combination of philosophical insight and detailed description of a rural Britain that has (temporarily?) passed but is once again becoming relevant again. The simple farming and forestry practices he describes remind the reader of what our civilisation is based on. Collis was an educated man who came to farming late in life and so he provides very valuable insight into non-intensive practices that we may need to embrace once again. I would strongly recommend this book as a must read to anyone interested in farming, ecology, animals, anthropology and a whole heap of other subjects. He describes a world based on sustainability rather than waste. Excellent.
46 of 46 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In the early days of World War II John Stewart Collis elected to work as a manual farm labourer rather than take a wartime occupation more suited to his studious, intellectual nature. In this book he not only describes his experiences on two farms in southern England, but reflects on the nature of everything he encounters, from manual labour through to nature itself. Although never stated, one can sense the difficulty and occasional loneliness he felt trying to integrate with fellow workers who were both suspcicious and sometimes openly hostile to his presence. But mostly this memoir is a happy meditation on the pleasure of hard physical work through the seasons in the open air. Anyone who has ever worked on a farm will recognise many of his observations, and anyone who yearns for a simpler way of life will find this book as evocative as the smell of a freshly ploughed field on a January morning.
The second section of this book describes how for a year he worked alone thinning a wood near Iwerne Minster in Dorset, where he lived an almost hermit like existence, yet wanting for nothing more than to be where he was, and engaged in what he was doing. I have never read such a moving memoir as The Wood; a memoir of a man so at peace with himself and his surroundings, able to regard the warming sun on his back in early spring as the most profound of pleasures. If I ever get a chance to emulate Collis and his experience working in the wood I will count myself fortunate indeed.
The second section of this book describes how for a year he worked alone thinning a wood near Iwerne Minster in Dorset, where he lived an almost hermit like existence, yet wanting for nothing more than to be where he was, and engaged in what he was doing. I have never read such a moving memoir as The Wood; a memoir of a man so at peace with himself and his surroundings, able to regard the warming sun on his back in early spring as the most profound of pleasures. If I ever get a chance to emulate Collis and his experience working in the wood I will count myself fortunate indeed.
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I love this book. Mr Collis realises the only way to truly understand the countryside and agriculture is to get stuck in and get his hands dirty. A self confessed lazy person (though not by todays idlers standards), he takes his dinner-breaks very seriously! He gains a new perspective by working on the land at various farms across the country. His descriptions of the characters he meets and the places he works are delightful and manages to make even the most arduous tasks and grotty conditions sound somewhat desirable. John Collis leaves you under no illusion that farming is an idyllic, peaceful profession (as it may be viewed by city folk, driving past in their motor cars) but gives an insight into the toil and drudgery and back-breaking slog which so often goes unseen in such a beautiful setting.
I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in farming, the countryside or who just appreciates the wonderful descriptions of feelings, places, thoughts and people by a man as he experiences them.
I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in farming, the countryside or who just appreciates the wonderful descriptions of feelings, places, thoughts and people by a man as he experiences them.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
This is a superb book
Didn't read this book for ages, put off by the small type. BUT when I started reading it I loved every page. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Mr. M. Hanson
A lovely easy read of agricultural practices during World War 2
This is a fascinating book about agricultural practices during World War II. Have yet to get to the forestry section but so far would recommended this. Read more
Published 15 months ago by gator_al
WWII and the land
Fascinating story about a guy who chose to work on the land instead of fighting in, for him, his second world war. A glimpse of what was.
Published 17 months ago by arteebee
Beauty tinged with sadness.
One of the best books i've ever read. I went through many emotions on my journey with the author. He writes with such care, thought, and poetry, without being smaltzy. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Solina
A unique treasure
This book consists of two sections narrating John Stewart Collis' wartime experience working on farms in Sussex and Dorset (published together in 1946 as While Following the... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Lost John
At Work on the Land
John Stewart Collis wrote two books about his experiences as an agricultural and forestry worker during the Second World War. Read more
Published on 31 Aug 2009 by SCM
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