It is also a great way to fight climate change. Soils store more carbon than all terrestrial plants, including rainforests. Rewilding (parts of) Antartica with herbivores could help keep the carbon stored in the soil, as the large animals snow trampling compacts the snow layer and leads to deeper winter soil freezing. Which sets in motion a series of events that favours deep-rooted grasses and herbs. Paul Jepson and Cain Blythe present an overview of rewilding, what it is, why it matters, and how increased knowledge, understanding, and embracing of its principles can help bring about the recovery of natural ecosystems. Jake is very much a bloke’s bloke. He’s the kind of guy you might meet down the pub on a Saturday night chewing over what that stupid politician did now, or talking incessantly about the weather. A gamekeeper for many years, after a short, successful stint in the London club scene, he’s not someone you would expect to be at the forefront of rewilding. I met him at an event and he was exactly how I expected – honest, enthusiastic and raw. That’s what makes this book so bloody brilliant – it’s relatable.

I'm not quite sure where this book fits within the ecological literature I've become deeply interested in as an adult. Most likely you could use this as a 101 or 102 level introduction to the topic and a light argument for its practice. The narrator of the audiobook has a beautiful Scottish brogue, which had me talking quietly to myself while walking around listening to it, regularly trying to mimic the ways he pronounces familiar words such as "book" (the "oo" is more like the sound from saying "boo" or "dew") or anything containing a soft "e," which made me realize how much more phonetic and natural the Scottish way sounds than the way I'm used to speaking.For those in the farming community who are feeling skeptical about the benefits of rewilding farmland and the financial impact it might have, this book may be of interest. The Knepp Estate went from a relatively high yield, high intensity area of farmland which was going into the red, to an enterprise which had a 22% profit margin in 2021. I think it is important to note that I do have experience when it comes to this topic area and have somewhat of a basis of knowledge that helped me to consume this book fully. I therefor would say that this may not be the best starting point if you are looking to research into rewilding as a topic, as whilst it is comprehensive it can be overwhelming and complex at some points. This book also provides interesting examples of rewilding experiments, notably ‘the big four’: Oostvaardersplassen (‘OVP’, Netherlands), Siberia’s Pleistocene Park (Russia), island rewilding (the Mauritian islands), and the wolf introduction in Yellowstone Park (USA). This provided some optimism in the final chapter, that rewilding is viable and that Europe will lead the way for potential rewilding projects across the world, especially for Asia. In the process, Jepson and Blythe cover evolutionary biology, ecology, political issues and various theories of rewilding in an unbiased, accessible and informed way. Natural and systems approaches are assessed, drawing on recent research and innovations such as the wildlife economy model in South Africa, de-domestication and wildlife banks.

Five Years ago, Isabella Tree's phenomenal book Wilding started a national conversation about restoring our flat-lining landscape. The Book of Wilding, co-authored with her husband Charlie Burrell, takes that conversation to the next level. It is both brilliantly readable and incredibly hard-working, offering all of us the opportunity to get involved. Let's do it!I consciously didn’t call my book ‘ Rewilding’ because that pesky little ‘re-‘ prefix suggests to many rewilding detractors an attempt to recapture the past – something we know, in this totally altered world of the Anthropocene, is impossible to do. All we can hope to do is stimulate something interesting for nature with the tools we have left to us, in the environment in which we now find ourselves. Those who are enthusiastic about saving the environment often have a mixed relationship with science. They might for example, support organic farming or oppose nuclear power, despite organics having no nutritional benefit and requiring far more land to be used to raise the same amount of crops, while nuclear is a green energy source that should be seen as an essential support to renewables. This same confusion can extend to the concept of rewilding, which is one reason that the subtitle of this book uses the word 'radical'. This very nearly made it onto the top 5 list – a great read, which explores the history and cultural importance of orchards, alongside the role they play in biodiversity. After reading this book, you’ll want to plant your own orchard – in fact, I actually did! Forget Me Not– Sophia Pavelle: Someone much younger than me wrote a book about rewilding – and by all accounts it’s really good (this makes me feel like perhaps I’m being left behind!). Will read this soon!

For any young people anxious about the future of our planet, this is a strong and positive reminder of all the wonderful work being done to restore the natural world. In your book you describe how, at the start of the transition, the land, “released from its cycle of drudgery, seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.” Most conspicuous, you write, “was the noise: the low-level surround-sound thrum of insects — something we hadn’t even known we’d been missing. We walked knee-deep through oxeye daisies, bird’s-foot trefoil, ragged robin, knapweed…” The account goes on and it’s very lyrical. Wilding in England clearly requires a clear head and determination, but there is also emotion. What does wilding feel like? Reading about the mishaps in Argentina reminded me of the reindeer discussions in Finland. It's not all or nothing, but rather finding a way and a solution that as many interest groups as possible can live with. Wilder primarily explores large-scale, costly rewilding projects that few of us could replicate. I intentionally wrote about places like Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique – which is in the midst of a multimillion-dollar rewilding effort designed to undo the damage caused by the country’s civil war – to inspire readers.For self-described “beaver nut” Derek Gow, there is no plan B. So degraded are Britain’s landscapes, we must urgently reintroduce beavers and other missing or fast-disappearing wildife to repair at least some of the damage. Since the charismatic Scot had this epiphany three decades ago, after spending time at Gerald Durrell’s Jersey Zoo, he has perfected the complex art of captive-breeding often uncooperative native mammals for release – not just beavers, but also water voles (over 25,000 reared to date), harvest mice and wildcats. You had already been wilding for more than a decade when your next choice, George Monbiot’s Feral, was published in 2013. What does his book add?