Why did I love this book?
In these times of natural and man-made disasters, this book examines how nature can reclaim even the most abused land once we have gone.
The author explores a dozen sites around the world that have been damaged and then abandoned by humans, including the demilitarised zone separating the two parts of Cyprus, the forests around Chornobyl, the polluted battlefields of Verdun, enormous but derelict collective farms in Estonia, and the toxic muds of Newark Bay.
Perhaps the most extraordinary story concerns a herd of cows on the Scottish island of Swona. When the last humans left in 1974, "almost as an afterthought, they turned to the byre and opened the gate, letting the cattle loose, to fend for themselves until their return." No permanent inhabitant has returned to this day, and the cows have successfully readapted to a post-human landscape.
I found the overall effect of this book both reassuring and unsettling. The examples from around the world suggest that nature can save itself. Nature is stronger and more resilient than any single species.
4 authors picked Islands of Abandonment as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
A beautiful, lyrical exploration of the places where nature is flourishing in our absence
"[Flyn] captures the dread, sadness, and wonder of beholding the results of humanity's destructive impulse, and she arrives at a new appreciation of life, 'all the stranger and more valuable for its resilence.'" --The New Yorker
Some of the only truly feral cattle in the world wander a long-abandoned island off the northernmost tip of Scotland. A variety of wildlife not seen in many lifetimes has rebounded on the irradiated grounds of Chernobyl. A lush forest supports thousands of species that are extinct or endangered everywhere…