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For thousands of years, humans have been the architects of the natural world. Our activities have permanently altered the environment – for good and for bad.
Nature's Ghosts examines how the planet would have looked before humans scrubbed away its diversity: from landscapes carved out by megafauna to the primeval forests that emerged following the last ice age, and from the eagle-haunted skies of the Dark Ages to the flower-decked farms of more recent centuries. It uncovers the stories of the people who have helped to shape the landscape, seeking out their footprints even where it seems there are none to be found. And it explores the timeworn knowledge that can help to fix our broken relationship with the earth. Along the way it recounts the environmental detective work – archaeological, cultural and ecological – that has allowed us to reconstruct, in stunning detail, the landscapes we have lost.
Today, the natural world is more vulnerable than ever; the footprints of humanity heavier than they have ever been. There is no returning to a Golden Age of nature. But, as this urgent book argues, from the ghosts of the past, we may learn how to build a more wild and ancient future.
Sophie Yeo is a freelance environmental journalist and commentator, based in Newcastle. She writes for a variety of publications about a range of environmental topics – including the Washington Post, Guardian and BBC Future – and in May 2020 launched her own publication called Ink Cap Journal, focusing on nature and conservation in the UK. She studied English literature at Oxford University and has a masters in magazine journalism from Cardiff.
– Shortlisted for the 2024 James Cropper Wainwright Prize for Writing on Global Conservation
"[...] These topics (and many of the places described) might be familiar to readers here. But what the book does so well is bring them together into a coherent narrative, piecing together our long history and providing insights into how best we might make use of that knowledge. Nature’s Ghosts provides a wonderfully fresh perspective and Sophie Yeo tells the story beautifully. She has also done the hard yards in picking through the latest research and talking to the relevant experts. There is substance here as well as style. Whether you are a newcomer to these issues or a battle-hardened rewilder, this book might just change the way you think about the future of our beleaguered planet."
– Ian Carter, British Wildlife 36(1), October 2024
"Sophie writes fantastically, chronicling the most important issues facing nature conservationists today."
– Chris Packham
"A wondrous book and a ticket for environmental time travel."
– Tristan Gooley
"Urgent and utterly compelling."
– Lewis Dartnell
"Essential, intelligent reading. Sophie is one of the brightest, best-informed and most balanced contributors to big debates over climate change, biodiversity loss and the future of nature."
– Patrick Barkham
"Carefully and elegantly traces the complex histories of humanity's changing relations with land and wildness. A joyful sermon on the power of finding one's place in nature."
– Rebecca Wragg Sykes
"Beautiful and necessary: Yeo will make you see the land with new eyes."|
– Ben Rawlence
"Fascinating, deeply researched and breathtaking in its scope."
– Guy Shrubsole
"A thrilling work of investigative writing, peeling back layers of history to reveal deep truths about nature and landscape."
– Lee Schofield
"A beautifully-told journey through time and place. It invites us to reimagine our relationship with the natural world."
– Henry Mance
"Vivid and urgent. A powerful new voice and a must-read book for anyone who cares about nature and our future."
– Mary-Ann Ochota
"Captivating. Enriched by Sophie's luminous ideas and a forward-thinking passion for the natural world."
– Tiffany Francis-Baker
"A tour de force."
– Benedict Macdonald
"As textured and layered as the lost landscapes through which Yeo transports us."
– Jon Dunn
"Fascinating. A book that, in a thrilling way, makes you feel small."
– Patrick Galbraith
"A book of overwhelming, hopeful humanity."
– Harriet Rix
