Macfarlane is justifiably known for lush, evocative prose. But his epiphanies can be so portentous that I started to feel restless, even amid so many gorgeous Macfarlanian sentences. When he observes what he sees, his descriptions are original, sinuous and often startling; when he’s in thrall to a reverie, his descriptions get windy and sentimental ... Macfarlane weaves in plenty of factual information, including vivid passages on the biodiversity of cloud forests and the destruction caused by metal mining. But his method of persuasion isn’t primarily scientific; it’s affective and moral ... There is so much solemn virtue packed into this book I was grateful for the occasional bits of human comedy.
Read Full Review >>