{"product_id":"is-a-river-alive-9780393242133b","title":"Is a River Alive?","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/span\u003e Bestseller and #1 \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eSunday Times (\u003c\/span\u003eUK) Bestseller.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eShortlisted and longlisted for multiple major nature \u0026amp; nonfiction awards (2025 Banff Mountain Book Competition; 2026 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction).\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eIs a River Alive?\u003c\/em\u003e is a lyrical, deeply reflective work of travel writing and natural history in which Robert Macfarlane explores the idea of rivers as living beings — deserving of imagination, reverence, and even legal recognition.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe book traces three main river-journeys: from cloud forests and mountain streams in Ecuador, to polluted creeks and lagoons in India, and onward to wild rivers in Canada — each threatened by environmental degradation like mining, pollution, or dams.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eInterwoven with these journeys is the author’s intimate relationship with a fragile local stream near his home — a memory stream whose changing flow mirrors broader ecological and existential questions.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThrough rich, evocative prose, the book challenges readers to reconsider humanity’s relationship to waterways — suggesting rivers are not inert resources, but vibrant entities whose fate is intertwined with ours.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“As beautiful as the rivers — and the hope — he’s describing.” — \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“A lyrical inquiry into the implications of treating rivers as living beings worthy of reverence and legal rights.” — \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eNPR \/ Independent review\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"W. W. Norton \u0026 Company","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42822793199696,"sku":"9780393242133B","price":17.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780393242133-l.jpg?v=1785889536","url":"https:\/\/bookoutlet.com\/en-ca\/products\/is-a-river-alive-9780393242133b","provider":"Book Outlet","version":"1.0","type":"link"}