United States
£ GBP
To the uninitiated, the Moor above Hebden Bridge in the West Yorkshire Pennines might seem little more than acre upon acre of heather and the occasional red grouse. In fact, that’s a pretty good description of the place. But On the Moor shows how a familiar local patch is more interesting than it might seem, if you dig deeper into the science, history, and natural history of the things you encounter there.
"Richard Carter's fascinating exploration of his local grouse-moor in West Yorkshire digs deep into natural history, human history, prehistory, and the history of science. His writing is grounded, insightful, and frequently hilarious, and he shows how falling in love with your own local patch can be a gateway to the whole world."
– Neil Ansell
"There's much to enjoy in Richard Carter's pean to the frugal yet visceral delights of being one with England's Pennine moorland. If this were all there were to the book it would have made a good nature read, but Carter cleverly weaves in science at every opportunity, whether it's inspired by direct observations of birds and animals and plants [...] or spinning off from a trig point onto the geometric methods of surveying through history all the way up to GPS. [...] All in all, this is probably best described as a great ramble on the moor with an expert guide. Rambling definitely comes into it, as we skip from season to season, or switch attention from the miniature botanical landscape [...] established in the top of an old fence post, to Carter's vacuum flask of tea (with some thoughts on Dewar and his development of it) to John Tyndall, explaining why the sky is blue. It's a wuthering wonder."
– Brian Clegg, Popular Science
"[...] wonderful. Science and history and geography and evolution and culture all tangled up in musings while walking about the moors around Hebden Bridge."
– PZ Myers, Pharyngula
"[...] by turns provocative, humorous, entertaining, fascinating and informative but never dull [...]. If, when reading, you like to be enlightened and educated in an enjoyable and entertaining manner then buy Richard's book; I promise you won't regret it."
– Thony Christie, Renaissance Mathematicus
"There's barely a page without a surprising fact [...] whether it's about a vacuum flask, a hawk or a bilberry. [...] Begin the book as you would a moorland walk, happy to put the route map away and just follow where the sheep trods take you – then you'll likely find the surprising turns and unexpected views a suitable reward."
– Nick Small, Caught by the River
"This is a lovely book. I really enjoyed it – partly, I suspect, because I have a similar sense of humour to that of the author and also because I am generally curious about life. [...] The author is good at explanations. I like that. Eclectic – that's what this book is. And rambling – in a good way (after all, these are walks). I liked it. I hope Richard Carter is writing another volume of his thoughts. I'll buy it."
– Mark Avery, Sunday Book Review, markavery.info
