The Natural History of Selborne
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in The Natural History of Selborne (Penguin English Library) for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
|
There is a newer edition of this item:
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
More than any other writer Gilbert White (1720-93) has shaped the relationship between man and nature. A hundred years before Darwin, White realised the crucial role of worms in the formation of soil and understood the significance of territory and song in birds. His precise, scrupulously honest and unaffectedly witty observations led him to interpret animals' behaviour in a unique manner. This collection of his letters to the explorer and naturalist Daines Barrington and the eminent zoologist Thomas Pennant - White's intellectual lifelines from his country-village home - are a beautifully written, detailed evocation of the lives of the flora and fauna of eighteenth-century England.
About the Author
Edited with an introduction by Richard Mabey
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The letters of Gilbert White are probably more know through reference than reading - people are more likely to know of them because they are mentioned in other books rather than through the actual book itself. This is a shame. This book probably represents the "grand - father" of much of the nature writing that followed it - and for that reason alone many people, both reader and writers, are in its debt.
This book itself is a gentle stroll on foot and horseback through the seasons and landscapes of Selborne during the second half of the 1700's. This is a landscape rich in wildlife and character, and the author has both the skill as a naturalist and writer to bring it to life through the letters he writes - in many ways this is the blog from the 18th Century! But it is also so much more than just the random jottings of an observant man. Questions are pursued over the course of many years, and a good number of ideas and observations are floated that in time would become more important - and more well known. Only in one area does White really stray significantly from current understanding, and that is in his long search for evidence of hibernation in birds, especially those of the "swift and swallow kind".
My only criticism of the book relates to its layout rather than its style or content. Given the need to refer to the notes provided at regular intervals I would have preferred then to have been placed at the bottom of the page rather than at the back of the book, where they tend to act as a "break" on the flow of the text.
In some ways the list of (especially) birds he knows as common, but which are now rare, restricted or extinct in the area, is a marker of how much our landscapes have changed with the passing of the years. But in other ways they show what a skilled observer can find within one local area. In the "Advertisement" at the start of the book White hopes that he may induce his "readers to pay a more ready attention to the wonders of Creation". In this time of rapid environmental change "ready attention" to the world around us would still be highly valuable.
This book itself is a gentle stroll on foot and horseback through the seasons and landscapes of Selborne during the second half of the 1700's. This is a landscape rich in wildlife and character, and the author has both the skill as a naturalist and writer to bring it to life through the letters he writes - in many ways this is the blog from the 18th Century! But it is also so much more than just the random jottings of an observant man. Questions are pursued over the course of many years, and a good number of ideas and observations are floated that in time would become more important - and more well known. Only in one area does White really stray significantly from current understanding, and that is in his long search for evidence of hibernation in birds, especially those of the "swift and swallow kind".
My only criticism of the book relates to its layout rather than its style or content. Given the need to refer to the notes provided at regular intervals I would have preferred then to have been placed at the bottom of the page rather than at the back of the book, where they tend to act as a "break" on the flow of the text.
In some ways the list of (especially) birds he knows as common, but which are now rare, restricted or extinct in the area, is a marker of how much our landscapes have changed with the passing of the years. But in other ways they show what a skilled observer can find within one local area. In the "Advertisement" at the start of the book White hopes that he may induce his "readers to pay a more ready attention to the wonders of Creation". In this time of rapid environmental change "ready attention" to the world around us would still be highly valuable.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The edition of this book that I possess (circa 1970's) claims that this is something like the third most published book in the English Language, loved from America to Japan. It is a seminal book. When Linnaeus was creating his very methodical classification of the natural world it took a vicar from the little village of Selbourne to put in stone the study of nature through its behavior.
This book taught me how to examine the world around me, but it also offers the guilty pleasure of complete escapism. What could be safer then 1780's Southern England, as yet untouched by industry? Gilbert creates a world where human concerns do not exist and the rhythm of the natural world is all through this collection of letters to his friends.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
watching nature carefully with great amusement
6 July 2000
Format:Paperback
Gilbert White lived the quietest life, but he succeeded in gaining the attention of all the prominent naturalists of the 18th century. His only book was the result of years of observations of his gardens and surrounding countryside of southern England. Written in the form of letters to interested fellow naturalists, White comments on birds, geology, insects, and even a visit to a North American moose that has been imported by a neighbor. As a writer, Gilbert White is astute in combining his observations with a charming delight in everything he sees that makes the reader want to follow him wherever he goes.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
FOR SOMETHING QUITE DIFFERENT AND A CHALLANGE!
19 July 2008
Format:Paperback
Well, it took me about three years of on and off reading to finish this work, but I finally managed it. I am delighted I did so, and feel much richer for the accomplishment. This book, first published in 1789 is a worthwhile read on so many levels. Gilbert White, like the vast majority of naturalists, and indeed, scientists, of the time, was an Anglican Cleric. Most who participated in the study of science (overall known as "Natural History"), and the world around them were either like White, or they were financially independent gentlemen, such as Charles Darwin and his contemporaries, who had the time, inclination and wealth to indulge their interests. This does not mean though that their work was any less valid, and this certainly holds true for Gilbert White and his wonderful "The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne."
White spent quite a number of years observing and recording the world around him in Southern England. He has recorded his finding in this work which comes in the forms of letters written to various peers. All things "natural" were considered by White; birds, animals, plants, climatic changes, building material, seasonal changes, et al. The author, primarily an ornithologist, was one of the first to advocate and practice the study of birds through direct observation, rather than killing and collecting. He was one of the first that used bird calls as a means of identification. His study of earthworms in 1770 predated Darwin's famous study by quite a number of years. His writings are some of the first recorded observations of modern phenology.
The reading of this work, for me, took some effort. The style and syntax are of course Victorian, or in this case, pre-Victorian. I found I had to drag all of my old Latin books from my school days out (hey, it has been over forty years) and found that a very large dictionary of the English Language an absolute must. There was also the problem of taxology. To be quite frank, at that time, it was a mess. Some species had numerous scientific names and dozens upon dozens of local or regional names. I read the 1901 edition of this book, and I can assure you that it is not footnoted to take care of this problem...you are on your own! The complete and very large dictionary is necessary due to the many, many archaic terms and words used in this work. The vocabulary used in this book simply is not common, unless of course this is the area of your education and expertise. These problems and the chore of reading sentences that run for half a page were daunting, but to be honest, that was part of the charm of the book and part of its strength. It forces the reader (at least it did me), to get off their duff and actually do some research. I learn so much when I read one of these old works. It is worth the struggle!
Overall tough, you will find the author's style quite crisp and to the point when you consider the era in which it was written. His powers of observation are wonderful and if you read his words closely, you can almost imagine yourself standing with him as he is observing, recording and speculating on his numerous subjects. What a mind the man must have had. I would have loved to have spent several days just setting and talking with him. If you get a chance, get a copy, an old one preferably, and give this one a try. I feel, like me, you will not be sorry you did.
White spent quite a number of years observing and recording the world around him in Southern England. He has recorded his finding in this work which comes in the forms of letters written to various peers. All things "natural" were considered by White; birds, animals, plants, climatic changes, building material, seasonal changes, et al. The author, primarily an ornithologist, was one of the first to advocate and practice the study of birds through direct observation, rather than killing and collecting. He was one of the first that used bird calls as a means of identification. His study of earthworms in 1770 predated Darwin's famous study by quite a number of years. His writings are some of the first recorded observations of modern phenology.
The reading of this work, for me, took some effort. The style and syntax are of course Victorian, or in this case, pre-Victorian. I found I had to drag all of my old Latin books from my school days out (hey, it has been over forty years) and found that a very large dictionary of the English Language an absolute must. There was also the problem of taxology. To be quite frank, at that time, it was a mess. Some species had numerous scientific names and dozens upon dozens of local or regional names. I read the 1901 edition of this book, and I can assure you that it is not footnoted to take care of this problem...you are on your own! The complete and very large dictionary is necessary due to the many, many archaic terms and words used in this work. The vocabulary used in this book simply is not common, unless of course this is the area of your education and expertise. These problems and the chore of reading sentences that run for half a page were daunting, but to be honest, that was part of the charm of the book and part of its strength. It forces the reader (at least it did me), to get off their duff and actually do some research. I learn so much when I read one of these old works. It is worth the struggle!
Overall tough, you will find the author's style quite crisp and to the point when you consider the era in which it was written. His powers of observation are wonderful and if you read his words closely, you can almost imagine yourself standing with him as he is observing, recording and speculating on his numerous subjects. What a mind the man must have had. I would have loved to have spent several days just setting and talking with him. If you get a chance, get a copy, an old one preferably, and give this one a try. I feel, like me, you will not be sorry you did.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
