Skip to main content

Islands of Abandonment

New from Cal Flyn and out in January 2021. I like the sound of this book very much. It sounds like just my sort of thing.

Islands of Abandonment has the subtitle: Life in a Post-Human landscape.

It's about the ecology and psychology of abandoned places...

From the publisher's website:

A heavily fortified island which, since the end of the war, has been left to crumble and decay. An exclusion zone thrown up around the smouldering ruin of a nuclear reactor; the surrounding villages emptied and the forests scorched. A dwindling sea, upon whose deserted shoreline a beach has been formed of the scales and bones of fish killed by its toxic waters. A clearing in the woods so poisoned with arsenic that no trees can grow there. A no-man’s land between razor wire fences where jet planes rust on the runway after three decade’s neglect. These are the islands of abandonment.

Cal will travel to some of the eeriest and most desolate places on Earth, places which have been forgotten or neglected through war, disaster, disease or economic decay and which nature has taken gradual hold of once more.

Cal has now worked on a website to accompany the book, which I think has potential to help with a new resource idea that I have in mind to work on over the Christmas break - one of many little writing projects which I have lined up to keep me occupied and feed into geography curriculum-making.

 I have the book on pre-order.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

On the trail of the 'Detectorists'

As I was in Suffolk last week, I headed for Framlingham as I knew that there were various locations from the series 'Detectorists' and also a wonderful pub just a few miles away where we could go for lunch. Parked up in the Market Square, and from there it was a short walk to several locations. Here are plenty more on a map. Managed to track down four locations: the outside of the 'Two Brewers' pub (the interior was filmed elsewhere), Lance's upstairs flat, the shop where Lance's former partner sells Spiritual goods and scented candles, and the village hall where the DMDC met. Here's me outside said hut. Don't forget the uniformbooks book of course. Still available and an excellent read.

Jonathan Meades on Sustainability

Have blogged about Jonathan Meades before, and his particular presentation style which I like... Lunchtime today was spent in the company of the first in the series "Off-Kilter", made for BBC Scotland and was about Aberdeen . I liked the look of the area known as Fitty. Towards the end, he moved on to Donald Trump and his controversial plans for a golf course in the sand dunes close to Aberdeen. He called the planned development "New Trumpton on Sea" and talked about gated communities and their absentee residents. He riffed on the idea of ' sustainability ' and how every architect and development trumpeted its sustainable credentials. New words like : "Sustain-abulous" and "Sustain-astic" ! Called it "architectural correctness"... "It's a slogan of conformist unoriginality..." "The very act of making a building is energy hungry and vastly wasteful even if the building is an eco-igloo of Fairtrade otter dropp...

Edexcel Cultural Geography Contexts

Those teachers who have opted for the Edexcel 'A' level specification in the UK (for students aged 16-18), there is a unit called "The World of Cultural Diversity" . Today, the pre-release titles were announced. Students will be expected to prepare OPTION 4: The World of Cultural Diversity • Explore what is meant by a global culture, how it is defined and, if it exists, what its characteristics are. • Research contrasting locations, some of which show the effects of cultural globalisation and others which seem to be resisting the process. Would be interested in hearing the thoughts of any blog readers on any suggested resources or thoughts on these particular contexts...