Islands of Abandonment Audiobook By Cal Flyn cover art

Islands of Abandonment

Nature Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape

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Islands of Abandonment

By: Cal Flyn
Narrated by: Cal Flyn
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About this listen

A beautiful, lyrical exploration of the places where nature is flourishing in our absence

"[Flyn] captures the dread, sadness, and wonder of beholding the results of humanity's destructive impulse, and she arrives at a new appreciation of life, 'all the stranger and more valuable for its resilence." (The New Yorker)

Some of the only truly feral cattle in the world wander a long-abandoned island off the northernmost tip of Scotland. A variety of wildlife not seen in many lifetimes has rebounded on the irradiated grounds of Chernobyl. A lush forest supports thousands of species that are extinct or endangered everywhere else on earth in the Korean peninsula's narrow DMZ.

Cal Flyn, an investigative journalist, exceptional nature writer, and promising new literary voice visits the eeriest and most desolate places on Earth that due to war, disaster, disease, or economic decay, have been abandoned by humans. What she finds every time is an "island" of teeming new life: nature has rushed in to fill the void faster and more thoroughly than even the most hopeful projections of scientists.

Islands of Abandonment is a tour through these new ecosystems, in all their glory, as sites of unexpected environmental significance, where the natural world has reasserted its wild power and promise. And while it doesn't let us off the hook for addressing environmental degradation and climate change, it is a case that hope is far from lost, and it is ultimately a story of redemption: the most polluted spots on Earth can be rehabilitated through ecological processes and, in fact, they already are.

©2021 Cal Flyn (P)2021 Penguin Audio
Ecosystems & Habitats Natural History Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science Ecosystem Island Habitat
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Critic reviews

Finalist for the Wainwright Prize

A Vulture "Book of the Summer"

One of Washington Post's Best Travel Books of 2021

“[A] riveting collection of essays.... Through lush and poetic language, [Flyn] captures the vital forces at work in the natural world. This is nature writing at its most potent.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

“Bracing, eye-opening, comprehensive, and essential, Islands of Abandonment is an energizing and important work. It affirms that nature is resilient, given half a chance, and should motivate all of us to try harder, even for the habitats that seem broken or hopeless.” (Jeff VanderMeer, New York Times best-selling author of Annihilation and the Southern Reach trilogy)

"Filled with understanding and adventure, Islands of Abandonment is written with a beautiful attention to detail and a generous and imaginative frame of mind. The wonderful and surprising thing is how much reassurance and sense of possibility comes out of it at every turn. In that way, it is the most precious hymn to resilience." (Adam Nicolson, author of Sea Room)

All stars
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One of the best books I have read. So descriptive…close your eyes and you are transported to each site. I have been fortunate enough to have visited many of these locations. Outstanding work.

Amazing

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The author conducted her own personal and up close research in some remote and dangerous locations around the world. She documented flora and fauna regeneration in a variety of unlikely locations that are damaged because of war, natural destruction or just plain human disregard for the planet. I listened to the audiobook and she does an excellent reading both enlightening and enjoyable.

Personal Up Close Research

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If there is a thing as ruin porn, this is ruin love letters! Thanks so much! Just finished and going straight back for another round and bought a hard copy! Really well written can't wait for more from this author!

Stunningly Breathtaking!

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Especially liked it as literature and the beauty of its language, It’s point of view,was uniquely factual and hopeful with an integration of information and the author’s observer’s voice.

Story line, writing.

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I hope Miss Flyn's other writings are as descriptive. I cannot go to these places, yet feel as though I have. At times, I wanted to weep for the scars we cause, but yet revel in the amazing resilience of this beautiful planet that hosts us. Thank you, Miss Flyn, I will definitely be looking into your other works.

Amazing Review of destruction finding some hope

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Eloquently written, informative (the chapter on Verdun in particular was fascinating), and offers a hopeful but realistic perspective on nature's resilience. Read by the author is a nice plus.

We need more like this

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Flynn is knowledgeable about her subjects. She is well educated and travels deeply further researching what she writes about. The writing is lyrical as well as factual. I learned a lot from listening to this book. I may listen to it again someday. I found mispronunciations of Greek names distracting. It’s not that difficult to get the accent correct in Greek names! Overall though, it was a really good journey of science, poetry and art.

Beautifully Written Story

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A serious review of the resilience of life and a thought provoking discussion of both natural and human caused destructive events and their magnitudes of disruption to life on earth.

Thought provoking

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Flyn writes with such descriptive and poetic prose. Each place visited and explored comes alive, as though raised from the dead of obscurity.

Stunningly necessary

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A thought provoking and well- written book. Highly recommend! Non-fiction is not my preferred genre but the author captured my attention from the beginning.

Must read

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