United States
£ GBP
Conor Mark Jameson has spent most of his life exploring the natural environment and communicating his enthusiasm for it to family, friends and, more recently, readers of a range of newspapers and magazines. Shrewdunnit brings together the best of these dispatches, alongside unpublished essays, in a poetic and evocative journal that inspires and delights. Jameson’s prose is fresh and in places irreverent, with a hint of mischief and a dash of wit.
From his back door to the peaks of New Zealand and the swamp forests of the Peruvian Amazon, he carries on the biogumentary style he perfected in his earlier books showing – never telling – how to bring nature and conservation home. He may just have invented a genre.
"In his latest book Conor Mark Jameson takes the reader on a journey of discovery of “everyday (or so we wished) nature” with an entertaining narrative style. The author weaves scientific facts within captivating anecdotes told with humour and empathy, and the result is a thoroughly enjoyable read that reminds us how we can be surprised and fascinated by even the most common or familiar patch of land."
– Daria Dadam, BTO book reviews, September 2014
"A delightful diary of 'everyday Britain', seen through the eyes of one of our most perceptive nature writers."
– Stephen Moss, author of The Great British Year
"Conor Mark Jameson is one of those people who, if they didn't exist, would have to be invented by SOMEONE in a world which so desperately needs his profound knowledge, his wise and amusing observations and his tireless campaigning on behalf of the natural world."
– Esther Woolfson, author of Field Notes from a Hidden City
"This is a fantastically detailed and very visual diary of British natural history. It's a journey through the colourful landscape of Conor Jameson's countryside."
– David Lindo, author of The Urban Birder
"[...] a delightful read, wonderfully crafted by a writer and naturalist at the top of his game."
– Iolo Williams, author of Wild About the Wild
"A wide-ranging, warm-hearted and generous love-letter to wild things, near and far, Shrewdunnit is a delightful and beguiling collection in the great tradition of local naturalists. It is alive with the mysteries that surround us, while showing us how nature is something cherishable and very close to home."
– Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk
"Conor's stories are gently beguiling, strikingly original. They speak from his heart to our souls and carry the profound wisdom of a thoughtful and perceptive observer."
– Derek Niemann, author of Birds in a Cage
"A wonderful collection by a gifted and thoughtful writer: a delight both to dip into and reread for insight and enjoyment [...]"
– Jonathan Elphick, author and editor
"Conor's is a rare talent, one that seems so simple, but that he works on long and hard to perfect. This new book is a joy, and we can all feel grateful that he has given us the opportunity to benefit from his wisdom and his delight in the natural world around him."
– Rob Hume
"[...] an assortment of stories that sparkle with insight, imagination and affection."
– Sophie Stafford, former editor of BBC Wildlife Magazine
"Shrewdunnit is done in an old form, one currently neglected, perhaps as old- fashioned, in the US, and still done very well in England-- a year's observations, mostly of one place (although he is a thoroughly modern naturalist and also goes abroad); a phenology, a record, a series of sketches light and serious. Such a book stands or falls by two things: how well the writer knows his chosen place, and how well he writes, how originally he he can see. Conor succeeds on both counts."
– Stephen Bodio, Querencia blog
