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Turning The Boat For Home
'One of our greatest nature writers' Guardian
For over fifty years, Richard Mabey has been a pioneering voice in modern nature writing. This book collects pieces across his rich career, tracing his continually evolving ideas as much as the profound changes in our environment. From the rediscovery of food foraging in the 1970s, to reflections on the musicality of birdsong, these essays show Mabey's passionate belief that our planet is a commonwealth for all species, and that our reconnection with the living world is more vital than ever.
'Richard Mabey is among the best writers at work in Britain' Tim Dee
'Poised where nature meets culture, [Mabey] is knowledgeable, politically savvy and wry, and an excellent naturalist' New Statesman
For over fifty years, Richard Mabey has been a pioneering voice in modern nature writing. This book collects pieces across his rich career, tracing his continually evolving ideas as much as the profound changes in our environment. From the rediscovery of food foraging in the 1970s, to reflections on the musicality of birdsong, these essays show Mabey's passionate belief that our planet is a commonwealth for all species, and that our reconnection with the living world is more vital than ever.
'Richard Mabey is among the best writers at work in Britain' Tim Dee
'Poised where nature meets culture, [Mabey] is knowledgeable, politically savvy and wry, and an excellent naturalist' New Statesman
288 pages, Hardcover
Published October 3, 2019
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84 people want to read
About the author
Richard Mabey
107 books170 followersRichard Mabey is one of England's greatest nature writers. He is author of some thirty books including Nature Cure which was shortlisted for the Whitbread, Ondaatje and Ackerley Awards.
A regular commentator on the radio and in the national press, he is also a Director of the arts and conservation charity Common Ground and Vice-President of the Open Spaces Society. He lives in Norfolk.
A regular commentator on the radio and in the national press, he is also a Director of the arts and conservation charity Common Ground and Vice-President of the Open Spaces Society. He lives in Norfolk.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 18, 2026
Mabey’s style of writing is not really for me, I find it far too wordy and almost easy to get lost in the subject matter and confuse the details of a scene or story altogether.
I could be moved to 3⭐️ but this is solely because the book was a gift from someone dear to me
I could be moved to 3⭐️ but this is solely because the book was a gift from someone dear to me
July 16, 2020
Nature writing has not always appealed to me. I have always seen it as a bit 'high brow' and quite self-indulgent of the middle class writer, a point that Richard Mabey acknowledges in this book. This isn't an autobiography but a collection of his writings from his extensive writing career. But he too, acknowledges that nature writers tend to be from middle class backgrounds. But I found this book quite delightful. The collection is about people and places he has encountered. I found it most enjoyable when Mabey is writing about those people he knew first hand and those places, his own Hunters Woodland for example, that he owned and managed. Even experiences in his own garden portrays a sense of wonder, something Mabey hasn't lost, even after all these years of writing. A good book to dip in and out of and to lose yourself in.
October 27, 2020
One of my favourite writers on Nature, and probably the person I’ve read most consistently, starting with ‘Food for Free’ back in the 1970s. I used to have a few of his books, but sadly had to prune my collection when we moved house. Now I’ve just got the stunning ‘Flora Britannica.’
This is a great collection of his writing over the years, and a good ‘bedside book’ as the articles are mostly short, so one or two do nicely before sleep. He also writes about other writers, so some good pointers about who else to read.
This is a great collection of his writing over the years, and a good ‘bedside book’ as the articles are mostly short, so one or two do nicely before sleep. He also writes about other writers, so some good pointers about who else to read.
November 10, 2019
The back of the dust jacket of the UK Edition written by Tim Dee says it. None finer.
January 27, 2025
Subtitled A life writing about nature, this is a collection of essays, originally published in a variety of newspapers, books and magazines, from one of the UK's best nature writers. There's always the risk with this type of collection of essays that some of them, having been specifically written in response to something in the news or a newly published book, will date quite quickly. That luckily only applies to a couple of these essays.
The essays in Turning the Boat for Home cover a wide range of ecological topics, from the tenacity and adaptability of urban nature through the importance of preserving blanket bogs to foraging, the joys of birwatching (and listening!) and thoughts about tree planting. The quote below is taken from an article marking the tercentenary of the birth of the landscape designer Lancelot 'Capability' Brown, who popularised the planting of trees for ornamental and landscape effect;
"Planting amenity trees seems so self evidently a force for good that it's hard for us to understand what a novel practice it was before the eighteenth century. Why bother when trees appeared so magnanimously of their own accord? Now, addicted to the practice as a ritual of atonement, we've become blinkered to the fact that it's yet another expression of human power over nature. That trees have perfectly adequate, fine tuned reproduction systems of their own seems to have vanished from popular understanding."
Other items include an article on the unexpected nature trail alongside one of the UK's major motorways, an appreciation of the life of 18th century British naturalist Gilbert White, and an introduction he wrote to the book The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen, which I reviewed (very briefly) back in 2008, here.
Mabey shares his wide ranging knowledge generously and in beautiful prose. His writing is always worth reading and this is a good collection to pick up and enjoy.
The essays in Turning the Boat for Home cover a wide range of ecological topics, from the tenacity and adaptability of urban nature through the importance of preserving blanket bogs to foraging, the joys of birwatching (and listening!) and thoughts about tree planting. The quote below is taken from an article marking the tercentenary of the birth of the landscape designer Lancelot 'Capability' Brown, who popularised the planting of trees for ornamental and landscape effect;
"Planting amenity trees seems so self evidently a force for good that it's hard for us to understand what a novel practice it was before the eighteenth century. Why bother when trees appeared so magnanimously of their own accord? Now, addicted to the practice as a ritual of atonement, we've become blinkered to the fact that it's yet another expression of human power over nature. That trees have perfectly adequate, fine tuned reproduction systems of their own seems to have vanished from popular understanding."
Other items include an article on the unexpected nature trail alongside one of the UK's major motorways, an appreciation of the life of 18th century British naturalist Gilbert White, and an introduction he wrote to the book The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen, which I reviewed (very briefly) back in 2008, here.
Mabey shares his wide ranging knowledge generously and in beautiful prose. His writing is always worth reading and this is a good collection to pick up and enjoy.
October 27, 2025
Turning The Boat For Home is a reflective and deeply resonant collection that captures the full arc of Richard Mabey’s influence on modern nature writing. Across five decades of essays, Mabey doesn’t just observe nature he interprets it as a living dialogue between humanity and the wild, one shaped by cultural memory, curiosity, and ecological truth.
Every piece in this collection reveals Mabey’s unique ability to merge science with poetry. From his early insights on foraging to his meditations on birdsong and belonging, his words bridge the sensual and the cerebral, reminding readers that understanding nature is as much about empathy as it is about knowledge.
What makes Turning The Boat For Home remarkable is its quiet insistence that connection not control is the truest form of stewardship. It’s a book of wisdom and warning, hope and humility, inviting us to reconsider our place within the shared ecology of life.
Every piece in this collection reveals Mabey’s unique ability to merge science with poetry. From his early insights on foraging to his meditations on birdsong and belonging, his words bridge the sensual and the cerebral, reminding readers that understanding nature is as much about empathy as it is about knowledge.
What makes Turning The Boat For Home remarkable is its quiet insistence that connection not control is the truest form of stewardship. It’s a book of wisdom and warning, hope and humility, inviting us to reconsider our place within the shared ecology of life.
September 28, 2021
Yes, yes and yes again.
Admittedly I love the nature writing of Richard Mabey, the man has skill aplenty.
This collection of essays, reflections and general observations on nature and nature writing is superb and lives up to the cracking quality consistently shown in Mabey's books.
Highly recommended.
Admittedly I love the nature writing of Richard Mabey, the man has skill aplenty.
This collection of essays, reflections and general observations on nature and nature writing is superb and lives up to the cracking quality consistently shown in Mabey's books.
Highly recommended.
February 13, 2026
Very comforting read when I wasn't feeling well. Shortish chapters filled with the authors obvious love for nature and his quest to understand how humans fit with and respect other species. His long career in nature writing and the conclusions he has come to regarding the subject are nicely summed up in this book.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews