Unpathed Waters

Robert MacFarlane, who’s been called the greatest nature writer of his generation, rejects the term, which in a 2017 essay he called “tautological, confining, and bland.” His books combine careful observation of the natural world with history, philosophical reflections, and memoir. In Mountains of the Mind, his extraordinarily accomplished debut, he mixed historical essays on the discovery of plate tectonics and the concept of the sublime with vivid accounts of his own hair-raising mountaineering adventures. He’s continued this method since. His books are distinguished by his fine prose style, his erudition, and the fact that he often risks his life writing them. They’re books of history and adventure as well as nature.