Cornerstones

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What to expect

Bloomsbury presents Cornerstones by Benedict Macdonald, read by Joshua Picton.

FINALIST IN THE PEOPLE'S BOOK PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2022/2023 – WRITTEN BY THE WAINWRIGHT-CONSERVATION-PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF REBIRDING.

Transform your understanding of the natural world forever and discover the wild forces that once supported Britain’s extraordinary natural riches, and could again.

Our precious archipelago is ravaged by climate change, bereft of natural ecosystems and lies at the mercy of global warming, flooding, drought and catastrophic biodiversity loss. But could restoring species that once helped protect our islands help turn this crisis around?

From familiar yet imperilled honeybees and ancient oak woods to returning natives like beavers and boars, Britain’s cornerstone species may hold the key to recovering our biodiversity on land and in our seas.

In Cornerstones, we discover how beavers craft wetlands, save fish, encourage otters, and prevent rivers from flooding. We learn how ‘disruptive’ boars are seasoned butterfly conservationists, why whales are crucial for restoring seabird cities and how wolves and lynx could save our trees, help sequester carbon and protect our most threatened birds.

Benedict Macdonald transforms our understanding of the natural world forever, revealing lives that once supported extraordinary natural riches and explaining how humans – the most important cornerstone species of all – can become the greatest stewards of the natural world.

Critics Review

Cornerstones makes a bold, riveting and visionary case for reviving the wild species that can help us restore our living planet. This is an exciting read!
Patrick Barkham, author of The Butterfly Isles and Wild Child
By concentrating on 'cornerstones', we have the potential to transform landscapes and lives. A brilliant read.
Bird Watching magazine
Very few writers can navigate the complexities of the interconnectedness of nature and humanity, but Macdonald achieves this with skill and impact. Cornerstones paves a compelling pathway of hope, and it is as bright and brilliant as it is essential.
Sophie Pavelle, author of Forget Me Not
It’s an interesting debate and one we should have.
Simon Lester, Country Life
This celebration of the species that anchor healthy, life-giving ecosystems is a timely reminder to recognise – and urgently protect – our common roots.
New Statesman
A primordially fortifying book.
New Statesman
It is ultimately a hopeful tale, and one well worth reading.
Lorraine Connolly, Country Life
Benedict Macdonald continues to come up with practical and effective solutions to the biodiversity crisis, with his latest book, Cornerstones.
Stephen Moss
I think this is this author’s best book, so far, and that makes it excellent.
Mark Avery
Macdonald crams in evidence from a dizzying array of studies and writes with the urgency of an evangelist […] it’s exciting, convincing stuff.
Countryfile
Macdonald's skill is in painting a big picture and communicating the benefits for all to see.
Birdwatch magazine
This book is a brave, wonderfully descriptive and immensely important diagnosis of how far the countryside has drifted.
Geographical
From the first sentence of the introduction, I was drawn in by evocative descriptions of Nature at its best.
Lorraine Connolly, Country Life
The author’s great strength is in painting vivid pictures, helping us to imagine a possible future where we have more self-willed, wilder land.
British Wildlife
Macdonald excels in describing the who and what of rewilding. He offers fascinating tales of the ways in which animals may transform British landscapes [...] Macdonald’s vision for rewilding reminds us of the potentially transformative animal lives around us. Humans could and should allow them to help restore our natural world.
Times Literary Supplement
From this book you will uncover the important role ‘wild forces’ once played, and could play again, in boosting biodiversity and restoring broken ecosystems — all described in remarkably researched detail [...] one very important book.
Rewilding Britain

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