Cal Flyn
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calflyn.bsky.social
Cal Flyn
@calflyn.bsky.social
1.1K followers 700 following 21 posts
Author of the Sunday Times bestseller ISLANDS OF ABANDONMENT: LIFE IN THE POST-HUMAN LANDSCAPE—a book about the ecology and psychology of abandoned places. Currently at work on THE SAVAGE LANDSCAPE, expected early 2026
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Reposted by Cal Flyn
manchesterup.bsky.social
'Hinde is a charming travel companion. An enticing blend of memoir, sociology and reportage.' -- @calflyn.bsky.social

In his new book, author @dominicmhinde.bsky.social travels across Scotland to discover whether the lessons of the past can help us build a more sustainable future. #booksky
October 18, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Reposted by Cal Flyn
wirobooks.bsky.social
Nature reclaims the spaces abandoned by people. www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/features/lif... @penguinbooksusa.bsky.social @calflyn.bsky.social #booksky
October 13, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Reposted by Cal Flyn
gorizaola.bsky.social
Tenemos múltiples ejemplos de lo bien que le viene a la naturaleza que la dejemos tranquila, sin obsesión de "domesticarla"

Muchos en "Islas del abandono" @calflyn.bsky.social @capitanswing.bsky.social
capitanswing.com/libros/islas...

o el ejemplo de #Chornobyl theconversation.com/visitamos-la...
June 22, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Reposted by Cal Flyn
david-farrier.bsky.social
I can't wait to chat with Alex Riley and @calflyn.bsky.social about Nature's genius for resilience and transformation, as part of @edbookfest.bsky.social!

www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival...
David Farrier & Alex Riley: Life Unstoppable
From Thu 21 Aug - Our planet teems with life – across four billion years of evolution, organisms have adapted to thrive in even the most inhospitable environments. This fascinating conversation will t...
www.edbookfest.co.uk
June 10, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Reposted by Cal Flyn
nicwilson.bsky.social
Today's @theguardian.com country diary by @calflyn.bsky.social is a fascinating exploration of bog iron and the creation of bacterial blooms.

#countrydiary #naturewriting
Country diary: Miniature ‘oil’ slicks in lofty locations | Cal Flyn
Killin, Perthshire: It was on the slopes of a Munro that I spotted a warning sign of this bone-dry spring – a tiny bacterial bloom with a petrol sheen
www.theguardian.com
May 19, 2025 at 6:27 AM
calflyn.bsky.social
Loved this.
"I made a vow to read one volume of the Penguin Little Black Classics each morning in bed, matins, for a hundred days."
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
A Hundred Classics to Get Me Through a Hundred Days of Trump
Each morning, before the day’s decree, I turned to a slim book, hoping for sense, or solace.
www.newyorker.com
May 14, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Reposted by Cal Flyn
I had a lovely time talking about Proust with @calflyn.bsky.social at “Five Books.” Hard to do justice to 3,000 pages in a short conversation, but we gave it our best shot! fivebooks.com/best-books/m...
The Best Marcel Proust Books
Joshua Landy, Professor of Comparative Literature at Stanford, talks us through the books that make up Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time
fivebooks.com
May 7, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Reposted by Cal Flyn
david-farrier.bsky.social
One week until Nature's Genius is out! Huge thanks to @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social, @calflyn.bsky.social & Isabella Tree for their kind words.
I'll be doing events in Glasgow, Brighton, London, Edinburgh, Bristol, Leeds & St Andrews - come and say hello!
Tix here: buythebook.online/natures-genius
May 1, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Reposted by Cal Flyn
katrinanaomipoet.bsky.social
My #favouritereads recently:

- Judith Schalansky - Pocket Atlas of Remote Islands
- Audrey Magee - The Colony
- @calflyn.bsky.social - Islands of Abandonment
- Marie Howe - What the Earth Seemed to Say
- Anna Funder - Wifedom

What have you read that you've loved recently?

#booksonbluesky
March 19, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Reposted by Cal Flyn
david-farrier.bsky.social
It's here! Nature's Genius is out on 8 May - available to pre-order now.
Thanks to @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social, @wanderinggaia.bsky.social, @calflyn.bsky.social, @casparhenderson.bsky.social, Charles Forster and Isabella Tree for some wonderful quotes!
March 25, 2025 at 9:15 AM
calflyn.bsky.social
Simply have not been able to stop thinking about this Agnes's Callard essay since I first read it. Against travel:

www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
The Case Against Travel
It turns us into the worst version of ourselves while convincing us that we’re at our best.
www.newyorker.com
February 6, 2025 at 10:50 PM
calflyn.bsky.social
🥳
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Rosebank oilfield go-ahead decision ruled unlawful by Edinburgh court
Court says UK government green light for Rosebank and Jackdaw permits does not take into account CO2 emissions
www.theguardian.com
January 30, 2025 at 8:38 PM
calflyn.bsky.social
Thought you might enjoy this archive photograph of the Cape Reclus refuge, Danco Coast, Antarctica. Built in 1956, a small party of surveyors overwintered there in close quarters the following year. Think of the endless night, the freezing fog, the slowly revolving icebergs in the bay
January 13, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Reposted by Cal Flyn
erwanrivault.com
NEW: 2024 has just been confirmed as the warmest year on record, and the first to breach the 1.5C threshold.

We used a ridgeline (Joy Division inspired) chart to visualise daily temperature anomalies since 1940.

2024 clearly stands out with 100% of its days above 1.3C and 75% above 1.5C.
Ridgeline chart showing the distribution of global daily air temperature differences from the pre-industrial reference period (1850-1900), for every year between 1940 and 2024. Each individual year resembles a hill, shaded in a darker shade of red and further to the right for warmer years. The trend is clearly towards warmer years, with 2024 standing out as first year above 1.5C.
January 10, 2025 at 8:04 AM
calflyn.bsky.social
It was a pleasure to chat to Zeinab Badawi about why we should be reading more books about African history written by African writers for @fivebooks.com

fivebooks.com/best-books/b...
Books About African History by African Writers
Five books about African history, as recommended by broadcaster and president of SOAS, University of London, Zeinab Badawi
fivebooks.com
January 7, 2025 at 9:41 PM
calflyn.bsky.social
Im a big fan of Christopher Hänsli's Mortadella—in which every slice of a mortadella sausage has been painstakingly painted (front and back) with commentary from John Berger on "the slow changing tenderpink constellations"
www.editionpatrickfrey.com/en/books/mor...
January 5, 2025 at 12:05 PM
calflyn.bsky.social
Came across the concept of the 'florilegium'—a visual catalogue of the plants growing in a specific garden. I thought you might enjoy these intricate and beautifully composed botanical engravings from Basilius Besler's Hortus Eystettensis (The Eichstätt Garden), 1613
January 4, 2025 at 1:19 PM
calflyn.bsky.social
This is lovely & quite aside from the mention of Islands of Abandonment has lots of great book recommendations!
December 31, 2024 at 9:07 PM
calflyn.bsky.social
Made a list of new nonfiction books to look out for this spring:
December 30, 2024 at 9:46 PM
calflyn.bsky.social
'The first, tackling the sunk-cost problem and political short-termism, is long-term planning: making “bold, courageous, anticipatory decisions at a time when problems have become perceptible but before they have reached crisis proportions”.'

www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘We need dramatic social and technological changes’: is societal collapse inevitable?
Academic Danilo Brozović says studies of failed civilisations all point in one direction – today’s society needs radical transformation to survive
www.theguardian.com
December 29, 2024 at 8:02 PM