One Midsummer's Day

Swifts and the Story of Life on Earth

Mark Cocker

$60.95

Hardback

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English

Jonathan Cape Ltd
01 July 2023

Mathematics & Sciences; Ecological science, the Biosphere; Animal ecology; The environment; Wildlife: birds & birdwatching; The Earth: natural history general

The bestselling author of Crow Country and writer of the Guardian's Country Diary tells the story of all life on Earth through a single day spent in the company of swifts

It takes a whole universe to make one small black bird

The bestselling author of Crow Country and writer of the Guardian's Country Diary tells the story of all life on Earth through a single day spent in the company of swifts

'A jewel of a book' CAROLINE LUCAS MP

'One of our greatest living naturalists' SPECTATOR

Swifts are among the most extraordinary of all birds. Their migrations span continents and their twelve-week stopover, when they pause to breed in European rooftops, is the very definition of summer. They may nest in our homes but much about their lives passes over our heads. No birds are more wreathed in mystery. Captivated, Mark Cocker sets out to capture their essence.

Over the course of one day in midsummer he devotes himself to his beloved black birds as they spiral overhead. Yet this is also a book about so much more. Swifts are a prism through which Cocker explores the profound interconnections of the whole biosphere.

From the deep-sea thermal vents where life was born to the 15 million degrees at the core of our Sun, he shows that life is a singular and glorious continuum. These birds without borders are a perfect symbol to express the unity of the living planet. But they also illuminate how no creature, least of all ourselves, can be said to be alive in isolation. We are all inextricably connected.

Drawing deeply on science, history, literature and a lifetime of close observation, One Midsummer's Day is a dazzling and wide-ranging celebration of all life on Earth by one of our greatest nature writers.

By: Mark Cocker
Imprint: Jonathan Cape Ltd
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 240mm, Width: 162mm, Spine: 33mm
Weight: 573g
ISBN: 9781787332799
ISBN 10: 1787332799
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 01 July 2023
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Mark Cocker is an author and naturalist whose thirteen books include works of biography, history, literary criticism and memoir. His book Crow Country was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2008 and won the New Angle Prize for Literature in 2009. With the photographer David Tipling he published Birds and People in 2013, a massive survey described by the Times Literary Supplement as 'a major literary event as well as an ornithological one.' Our Place- Can We Save Britain's Wildlife Before It Is Too Late? was described by the Sunday Times as 'impassioned, expert and always beautifully written ... a sobering and magnificent work.' His most recent book, A Claxton Diary, won the East Anglian Book of the Year Award in 2019.

Reviews for One Midsummer's Day: Swifts and the Story of Life on Earth

"Lyrical and startling by turn, he reveals the extraordinary in the apparently ordinary ... A jewel of a book -- Caroline Lucas MP Mark Cocker has achieved something extraordinary. Crafted from a lifetime of watching and adoring nature, he presents to us the whole universe, reflected in the dark eye of a sleek brown bird. At once intimate and expansive, this book is a lovesong to swifts, a paean to nature and a call to protect our unique and fragile planet. -- Lee Schofield, author of WILD FELL A rich and elegant exploration that takes us to unexpected places. With the swift as our lift, we leave the garden on an extraordinary tour that takes in the moon, amongst many other wonderful destinations -- Tristan Gooley, author of THE WALKER'S GUIDE TO OUTDOOR CLUES AND SIGNS Magnificent ... One Midsummer's Day situates both swifts and humans in the universe in a way that I've not seen done for any species... a beautifully poised book -- Charles Foster, author of BEING A BEAST As thoroughly researched and elegantly written as one would expect from Mark Cocker, one of the leading nature writers of our time. More than just an account of a species of bird, remarkable though that bird is, Cocker goes much further to show how the life of swifts is deeply entangled with the entirety of life on Earth -- Peter Reason, author of IN SEARCH OF GRACE An outright classic of his genre... If you thrill to the swifts' arrival (and mourn their annual too-soon departure), this book will enchant as they do... A nature classic for the new century -- Jim Perrin A passionately written study of these mysterious ""creatures of air"", fascinating and constantly thought-provoking -- Ann Wroe, author of SIX FACETS OF LIGHT"