The Private Life of the Hare

by John Lewis-Stempel

THE PERFECT STOCKING FILLER FOR NATURE LOVERS

‘To see a hare sit still as stone, to watch a hare boxing on a frosty March morning, to witness a hare bolt . . . these are great things. Every field should have a hare.’

The hare, a night creature and country-dweller, is a rare sight for most people. We know them only from legends and stories. They are shape-shifters, witches’ familiars and symbols of fertility. They are arrogant, as in Aesop’s The Hare and the Tortoise, and absurd, as in Lewis Carroll’s Mad March Hare. In the absence of observed facts, speculation and fantasy have flourished. But real hares? What are they like?

In The Private Life of the Hare, John Lewis-Stempel explores myths, history and the reality of the hare. And in vivid, elegant prose he celebrates how, in an age when television cameras have revealed so much in our landscape, the hare remains as elusive and magical as ever.

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

Kindle Edition

First published October 17, 2019

Reviews

[Marina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cărțile despre natură și animale sunt viața mea! 🙈🙃

[Ivan Monckton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Firstly, ignore the publishers blurb under this book in Goodreads, it bares little relationship to the book. Secondly, before writing this, I checked my review of his previous book on the Oak, and everything I said there, is relevant to this book.
This is a very short book with a completely deceptive title. The ‘private life of the hare’ is one small chapter at beginning of the book which contains 13.5 pages of original text. The rest is a pretty poor cut and paste job that could be compiled by anyone with access to Google. I am afraid that after some truly excellent full length books, the author has discovered that it is easier money to produce these small compilations of bits and pieces. Good for him, but not for me. His next offering will be scrutinised carefully before I decide wether to part with hard earned cash for it.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is one field on my way to work that I have seen hares in a number of times, now and then I even see them boxing, it's a great site to see and I'm surprised I've not crashed yet haha. From reading this very interesting book I now know why they are in that particular field, the perfect slope for a quick escape and plenty of good views. JLS starts off this book describing the first time he saw a hare up close and the effect it had on him, he then jumps straight into the life of the hare, how we have hunted them, how they have been woven into mythology and he even goes into how to cook them. Just to keep things interesting and not being all about the facts he has included snippets from literature, diary entries, poems and limericks are included.

This is just one book in a series and it's the first one I've read, I have enjoyed it a lot, it will not be the book for you if you want an in-depth look at a hare, this is more a celebration of a magnificent creature. At around 100 pages long there is still plenty to learn and it will inspire you to go and carry out your own research to gain more knowledge. A couple of favourite parts were the physical description of the hare and all the animals it seems to have been made out of, you can see why its mistaken for a mythical creature, and the proverbs were great too, my particular favourite is:

Even a hare will insult a dead lion

I have no idea what that's all about, it's not like there are many dead lions in English fields waiting to be insulted but I shall be using this proverb as often as I can.

An enjoyable read, a fantastic cover and I shall be most definitely checking out more in this series.

Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2022...

[Alex Sarll]

A celebration of the wilder and more mysterious of our nation's lagomorphs, the dancers of the fields and the fastest British life on legs. John Lewis-Stempel's Meadowland is a wonderful book whose deep grasp of the land's rhythms helped me through a difficult time; unlike many nature writers he is himself also a farmer, of old farming stock, and it shows. This is not on the same level, though given it's also slim enough to read in a single lunch hour, one can't be too angry about that - at least, so long as one hasn't dropped one's hard-earned on it, which is always the problem with these pretty little books. In a sense it's even shorter than it looks; JL-S (and yes, now I've noticed that, you bet your life I will be persisting with it) has written an essay and embedded it in a miscellany, featuring poems (including a couple by William Cowper, who kept three hares as somewhat incongruous pets), artwork and even recipes running right back to the first English cookbook. Because one of his points is that while hunting the hare is now unacceptable, it's important to remember that there was formerly a great respect for them which was not incompatible with sending hounds after them, as seen in everything from Henry VIII's stern penalties for anyone hunting hares in the snow, to an Irish hunting song expressing the hope the prey will get away. Though, as he notes, it's part of their charm that for a prey animal they're far from meek, or as timid as proverbs sometimes suggest; they'll fight cats, stare foxes out, even box a buzzard on the snoot. The problem is that where Meadowland was born from an absolute understanding of one patch of earth, albeit spinning out in all sorts of directions, this is taking on a broader subject, with attendant risks. JL-S points out the many distinctions between rabbits and hares, which of course seem obvious to us now, but this is exactly the sort of point on which earlier eras could be very hazy; when it suits him, however, he's happy to assert that Tinners' Rabbits and Br'er Rabbit are simply and definitely hares, which seems plausible but hardly certain, or to refer to the Easter Hare, which frankly feels like sleight of hand to me, because I've heard only of the Easter Bunny, who seems a far rounder and more rabbit-y sort of figure. And if he is bringing in figures of modern myth, surely a better one to claim as hare despite all the times he's called 'rabbit' would be that great trickster, shapeshifter and subverter of norms, Bugs Bunny? Meanwhile, there are an awful lot of mentions, sans caveat, for that most debatable deity Eostre*, and a reference to homosexual and heterosexual men in ancient Greece as if they were distinct categories, and similar wince-inducers which then lead one to doubt the new information too. Which is a shame when it includes such beautiful notions as the old Chinese folklore that hares "are conceived through the touch of the full moon's light (without the need of impregnation by the male), or by traversing moonlit water, or by licking the moonlight from a male hare's coat", or the equally startling word from modern science that they can be impregnated even when already pregnant.

*Although of course if we consider gods as a sort of eddy in ideaspace, the fact that there are now untold millions who believe Eostre was once believed in is probably enough in itself to make her at least as solid as the direct belief of a few thousand ever would have, the latter being the most the majority of deities would generally have managed.

[Fern Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best way to describe this I think would be an anthology of all things hare. There is information about sayings and proverbs to do with the hare, myths and legends, types of hare, hares in songs and poetry, hare hunting, hare recipes and the future outlook of the hare. Interesting, very readable, just slightly shorter than I would have liked.

[Shalini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely first chapter, and useful last one on the reasons for the decline of this beautiful creature. The rest was tedious page filler.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well done little non-fiction book exploring the different aspects of the hare, both biological and in human societies and folklore.

[Richard Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a delightful little book! I have come late to the magic of the hare after having a wonderful encounter with one whilst out on a long country cycle. I don't remember why I stopped between the hedgerows but as I did a hare popped out of the one and sat watching me for a while. Having concluded, I guess, that I was no threat they sat up, licked their paws, washed their face and then sprang across into the other hedgerow. After that I'm now on the lookout for this most magical of our native species and this short read does a wonderful job of introducing both the hare of nature and the hare of myth.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, I originally picked this book up mainly because hares are actually in my family coat of arms, that's what attracted me to picking up book up. There are some lovely poems and folklore about hares in this book despite the gruesome detail of hunting and cooking of hares.

[Nick Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently spent a few nights in a woodland cabin, just us and nature. The farmer on whose land the cabin stood told us that the nearby clover field was home to several hares and if we wished to see them there was a viewing platform the other side of the field. In the end we didn’t find the platform, probably due to the 10 mile walk and rather large lunch we had in the local pub so I bought this book instead.

A fascinating book that tells one everything one could ever wish to know about hares.

[Sarah Kimberley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay I admit I’m a bit hooked on nature writing and was itching to delve into this gorgeous piece of prose. A book all about the amber-eyed, long eared creature roaming our rural lands.
I found it really fascinating from beginning to end, learning all about the Hare’s biology, their home and their symbolism. Our fields and meadows are full of them and I just find them really intriguing. The Private Life Of The Hare has been my favourite so far with its mixture of lovely poetry, mythology and facts. It just felt mystical and had a warm energy about it. Definitely read best when hunkering down and cosy.
Not to be biased ( my area of writing is in folklore), but the folklore and superstition surrounding these otherwise guiltless animals was what drew me in. Witches were thought to shapeshift in order to bewitch livestock and bring terrible misfortune. Sailors even believed that white Hares harboured warnings of a storm. Let’s just say these guys have a bit of a rep to protect 🐇🤎🌾

I really recommend John Lewis-Stempel and this beautiful collection to all you nature lovers out there 🌿

[Sanjuro · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I understand what Lewis-Stempel is doing with this series: it's not a place for vivid prose and fresh insights; it's a place for a collection of facts and notes from cultural history. In the first book, on owls, this felt fresh and the information was engaging. With each subsequent book the formula has worn a bit thin. This book is the most guilty in the series of relying far too much on copying and pasting poems and old recipes on hare stew; it feels more like an assembling of material than the sort of observational and artistic prose that makes nature writing so wonderful to read. I read the book in one sitting, so I found it pleasant at points and I enjoyed the history lesson just fine, but after four of these books, losing a bit of flare and beauty each time, I'm not sure how many more I'd read.

[Keith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very disappointed by this. I wanted to like it, but it felt like a cut-and-paste job from Google results on"facts, proverbs and poems about hares" without much original input by the author. Harsh? Possibly, but for me, Sadly underwhelming.

[Tom Mooney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dull and a bit wooden.

[Kath Walsh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having being enthralled by Chloe Dalton's 2024 non-fiction book 'Raising Hare' - her account of finding a wee, abandoned leveret and supporting it as non-intrusively as possible until it was ready to fend for itself - I was eager to learn even more about these beautiful animals.

'The Private Life of the Hare' (2019), I imagined, would be as comprehensive as R M Lockley's 1964 classic 'The Private Life of the Rabbit' but Lewis-Stempel's book is a slim volume - 99 pages. But less than 20 pages are devoted to a close study of the life and habits of hares. Some fascinating facts do include:

* Unlike rabbits, hares 'are surface dwellers, not burrowers'...they 'rely on the cryptic colouration of their fur for protection...'by day, hares sleep and shelter close to the ground in grass or earth depressions known as lairs or forms'

* Again, unlike rabbits they are 'as solitary and lonely as a hermit'.....'sometimes gathering in groups in winter to feed'.... This solitary nature is broken for mating, marked by kangaroo-like boxing'....'which can be decidedly violent'.

* Whilst baby rabbits are born bald with closed eyes, leverets are fully furred, have open eyes and receive little parental care other than suckling visits from their mother'..... 'At day one or two after birth the doe places each leveret is placed in its own form.'

*'The hare's distinctive leginess can deliver speeds of 48mph, making it the fastest land mammal in Britain', powered by 'its secret engine', a 'super-size heart.'

But Lewis-Stempel's close encounter with a hare as a young boy makes for softer, personal reading: He describes looking out of a bathroom window and finding himself almost on eye level with a hare, 5 paces away: 'The hare performed a toilette of licking its paws...I remember thinking that the hare seemed to take pleasure in washing; that it knew a simple state of joy. For maybe 5 minutes the big hare and the small boy washed on opposite sides of the glass.'

However, the remaining 80 pages of 'The Private Life of the Hare' consist of chapters devoted to the place of hares in the hunting history of Britain, hares as food, hares in world myths and religions,
superstitions surrounding hares, hare-centred verse, limericks and proverbs. And a final chapter on the conditions that threaten hares in today's Britain.

I came away disappointed. For a more detailed description of the private life of a hare I would recommend the above-mentioned 'Raising Hare'. Dalton's personal account is both informative and intimate in that it's closely observed and also moving as an unplanned for bond develops for the hare she tended with equal measures of care, love and unselfishness.

2 stars, as I think 'The Private Life of the Hare' failed to do what it said on the tin.

[Sylvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something alarmed the hare, and it bolted. No longer was the hare an enchanting friend; it became absolute motion, a process in physics, a kinetic event. Every cell of the hare was energy as it travelled across the earth.

I think this is a beautifully written novel when talking about the ecoloy of the hare. And I think it is a somewhat boring lecture when just listing recipes and sayings including hares. I feel this book could have been a lot better when it had been more of a coherent account or story and less of a collection of different facts. I did love the poems, but I kind of hated the history lessons. Not because they weren't interesting, but because it felt like the writer did make lists of some Wikipedia pages instead of feeling one way or the other about them himself. The opposite feeling I had when he talked about mythology and folklore, I loved those parts.

This book did leave me feeling conflicted about John Lewis-Stempel, but gave me a lot of love for the hare which I did not necessarily have to begin with. So that it did accomplish, which is no small feat indeed.

[Jacqueline · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with all the John Lewis-Stempel books I have read thus far, The Private Life of the Hare is brief but fascinating, weaving natural history, poetry, folklore, and conservation. This is a wonderful mixture but, due to the brevity of the book, none of them quite get the attention they deserve. That said, I learned a lot from reading this and will almost certainly read more of his books.

Just to say, the passages about the spring goddess Eostre/Ostara are almost certainly incorrect and there is very little evidence of her existence, save for a comment by Bede (who famously guessed about many things he wrote), and the many writings by modern day neo-pagan authors in books and on the internet, who are mostly copying incorrect information from one another. It feels that its inclusion here is lazy more than anything. It leaves me feeling that the book was written in a rush and I wonder what else in it might not be quite right. That aside, this is a fine read on a chilly Saturday afternoon.

[Norma · Rating 3 out of 5]

( Format : kindle ebook )
"Companion of the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite."
It does feel magical to see a hare in the meadow. One has recently started to appear close to our home, with a leverett, as well, which is hunkered down in the tall grass. Knowing almost nothing about these gorgeous creatures, and attracted by the fine cover picture, I purchased The Private Life of the Hare.

And found out that there seems little to be known about them beyond their being rarely seen where I live, that they are fast runners, do not burrow like rabbits, were introduced by the Romans (The brown hare, that is) and a few other little interesting tidbits reported in this book. Most of the content, however, was copied poems, tables and witch stories, together with a few pictures and sketches. Dissapointing.

[Anthony Robson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very quick read (at only a hundred pages), but a nice diversion into one of my favourite subjects. There’s a good mix of factual detail about the lives of hares, mythology and legend (I love the old tales of wildlife, and will be looking at the moon more closely tonight), and even a chapter on hares as food - something as important to their relationship with man as all of the rest.

There are frequent segways into quotes from old accounts, classic literature, folk songs and poetry, which add colour and context that may otherwise be missed.

I wouldn’t say that this particular work quite reflects the praise on the back cover, the author being declared the ‘hottest’ nature writer today, but it was a pleasant read, that had me taking mental notes for a project of my own.

[Simon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty abject stocking filler. He really doesn’t have much to say on this subject that isn’t borrowed from other sources. It is not a compendium of closely observed experiences of this most gorgeous creature. It feels like “how do I stretch this out to 100 pages”.

I read Lewis Stempel with glee when he first appeared and had something original and personally felt to say. Now I see his name too frequently in the press and perhaps this sort of vacuous publishing commitment is the result.

[Genevieve Helene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars of course! I have long been fascinated by hares. They are such private creatures and the glimpses I have had of them in the fields when out walking have filled me with such joy. This engrossing book gives snippets of their secretive lives and delves into the mystery and mythology that surrounds them. It is, of course, superbly written, with the flair for imagery that John Lewis-Stempel excels in.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this. Not so long that it grew boring, yet it covered lots of things - myth & legend, facts about today's hares, poems, hunting and other threats to its survival. I'd recommend this to all hare-o-philes. It missed out on five stars purely because there was no mention of the current mysterious illness affecting hares that has arisen in East Anglia and other parts of Europe.

[Esther Beck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hares are fascinating and beautiful animals. I see one or two occasionally on our local walk and love to watch them. This lovely, short book (only 100 pages) gives an insight into their lives in the natural habitat as well as the myths and stories that have formed around them over thousands of years.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a delightful little book that introduces the various aspects of the hare from their biology and life cycle to their place in human myth and folklore. There isn't a lot of new information in this but as an introduction to the species, or a pleasant reminder of how intriguing an animal they are, it is a joy to read.

[Nicky Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read book!

Marvellous book - my every spare moment was reserved for immersing myself in the secret & mysterious world of the beautiful hare. Whether you're familiar with the books of John Lewis Stempel, or whether you've come across his works & are wondering " Hmmmm, shall I or shan't I? the answer is yes, you should

[Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really enjoyable little book with a little taster of everything you need to know about our lagomorphs. Every page was interesting, but my favourite section overall would have to be the section involving hares and mythology and superstition. Really fascinating.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating little book, with all sorts of facts about the hare, including a section on the hare in mythology. I shall always look for the hare in the moon when the moon is full now.

Definitely a keeper as I will enjoy re-reading it.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely, as is usual from John Lewis-Stempel. Had no idea of the traditions and myths of the hare - really interesting. Did have to skip the chapters on medieval ways of cooking hare though 🤢 But that’s vegetarianism for you.

[Ehryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, not so much as a an in-depth look into the nature of the hare, but as a fun and brief cultural history. I was a bit disappointed that it was more cultural than natural, but it was still a great book to read and I’d suggest it to anyone who has an interest in lagomorphs.

[Grace-Elisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sadly disappointing, I had hoped for more personal insights from the author and the telling of personal encounters with hares. This book contains some nice poetry, retelling of myths and plenty of factual information but the content ends up being a fairly dry.