The Perfumier and the Stinkhorn: Reflections on Natural Science and Romanticism

by Richard Mabey

In these elegant, short essays, revered nature writer Richard Mabey attempts to marry a Romantic's view of the natural world with that of the meticulous observations of the scientist. By Romanticism, he refers to the view that nature isn't a machine to be dissected, but a community of which we, the observers, are inextricably part. And that our feelings about that community are a perfectly proper subject for reflection, because they shape our relationship with it. Scientists eshew such a subjective response, wanting to witness the natural world exactly, whatever feelings subsequently follow. Our feelings are an extension of our senses - sight, taste, smell, touch and sound - and here, in a sextet of inspiring meditations, Mabey explores each sensory response in what it means to interact with nature. From birdsong to poetry, from Petri-dish to microscope, this is a joyful union of meandering thoughts and intimate memories.

Genres: Nonfiction, Natural History, Science, Nature, Essays

140 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Richard Mabey is one of England's greatest nature writers. He is author of some thirty books including Nature Cure which was shortlisted for the Whitbread, Ondaatje and Ackerley Awards.

A regular commentator on the radio and in the national press, he is also a Director of the arts and conservation charity Common Ground and Vice-President of the Open Spaces Society. He lives in Norfolk.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This man has an ability to write about nature in such a way that I want to immediately go back forty years and start my adolescence again so as to not waste so many years before I stopped taking the natural world for granted. He is a total inspiration and makes me re-fall in love with the beauty of what's around me on a regular basis.

These are six short essays reflecting on the use of the senses in the exploration and attempt to understand or at least to begin to uncover the wonder of the world around us. The attempt to bridge across the man made chasm that can be delved out between the romantic and the scientist. Six essays, I hear you cry, about the five senses. Well spotted dear Reader. The sixth essay is an interesting reflection on the sense of place, on maps and our being a part of a developing and changing landscape.

He writes at one point of a landscape covered in a heavy snowfall and how this changes the surroundings and it becomes a blank sheet upon which the scurryings and workings of the hidden creatures of the countryiside 'full of curves and diversions and scuffled pauses' become ' footnotes to the events of the night'. Now that is a beautiful phrase.

Its a short book full of little snippets of information. Did you know, for example, that when oak leaves are eaten by insects they 'emit another pheromone which promotes the production of extra tannin in neighbouring trees and make their leaves more bitter'. What an extraordinary statement, the communication of trees, their 'saving' of each other. I loved that. Romance and science coalescing.

Its a really lovely evocation of one man's enthusiasm for the world around him and I for one am thrilled he has such a wonderful command of the english language so as to express it and inspire me.

[Etcipiente · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un buon equilibrio tra scienza e romanticismo, con una piccola tendenza verso il secondo

[Francesca Lorenzini · Rating 2 out of 5]

Molto autobiografico, piuttosto poetico. Niente di che.

[Suzie Grogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a perfect little book. Richard Mabey is the best sort of nature writer, one who brings the poetry of the land into the reality of human engagement with it. Just beautiful.

[Amanda Witt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A close look at connections in nature and how it relates to our lives.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A predictably enjoyable slim volume of nature essays by Richard Mabey, originally for radio, that made a perfect bag book. That sounds like damning with faint praise and perhaps that is indeed what I am doing as it washed pleasantly over me...However, I think that may be my own failure rather than the book's. Certainly I feel it would repay re-reading. Michael Kirkwood's illustrations really enhance the work.

[Linda Proud · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous read - a great writer at the height of his powers. A memoir and yet a book about the senses, the world around us and its plant life.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

another excellent book by Mabey