Cal Flyn

A warning for the top of my feed:
I find it hard to keep up to date with all social media channels. I'm primarily to be found on Instagram for now (where I'm also @calflyn), although I check in here every so often

:)

'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

Nature reclaims the spaces abandoned by people. www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/features/lif... @penguinbooksusa.bsky.social @calflyn.bsky.social #booksky

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...

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...

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...

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

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

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.

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...

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...

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

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

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!

I hadn't - thank you

The Case Against Travel It turns us into the worst version of ourselves while convincing us that we’re at our best.

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-...

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/environment/...

Thank you!

That's too kind. Thank you.

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

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.

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.

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...

Haha I can see there being a market for it

Same same but different: Ben Denzer's 20 Slices of Meat (actual sausage slices this time: "Bound in mortadella with inlaid fat lettering.")
Which pairs well with his "20 Slices of American Cheese" (hardbound Kraft slices in their plastic wallets)

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...

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

This is lovely & quite aside from the mention of Islands of Abandonment has lots of great book recommendations!

Made a list of new nonfiction books to look out for this spring:

you too!

Hello! & Merry Christmas – I hope you and your family are all well.

Brilliant